Thursday, April 28, 2011

Another way to enjoy oatmeal

Always looking for a new way to make my oatmeal, I recently discovered a love of savory oatmeal. But I found a recipe via Epicurious this week for the exact opposite: something sweet. This recipe is very much like a chocolate no-bake cookie in a bowl.

Chocolate, PB and Banana Oats

INGREDIENTS:
1 C. milk (or non-dairy version)
½ C. old fashioned oats
4 t. cocoa powder
1 t. peanut butter
1 banana, mashed
2 t. brown sugar

PREPARATION:
Mix the milk and oats, and cook as usual. Add remaining four ingredients, and mix thoroughly.

***I used almond milk and Bob's Red Mill Quick Cooking Oats -- delicious!

Found the recipe here.

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

He's Running For Research! In Dublin, No Less

My boss Jim at All Access Nashville is a survivor of stage 4 non-Hodgkins Lymphoma and now runs marathons with Team In Training to raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society research.

He's running a marathon in Dublin, Ireland in October and has a goal to raise $25,000 for research. All donations go toward research, not his trip.

If you can help, visit his fundraising page here.

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Choose Enterprise. They'll Pick You Up.

I often use Enterprise Rental Cars when I travel. Best customer service and experience with competitive rates. Have never had a problem until yesterday when I had a not-so-great experience with a local office here in Nashville. After making a reservation online on Monday, I called the office to schedule a "We'll Pick You Up" ride. All was set, or so I thought.

Tuesday noon rolled around. 12:15. No pick-up. So I called and they had no record of the scheduled pick-up. And the courtesy car was out on another pick-up. It would be an hour before they could be there. Which is when I needed to be on the road to Knoxville.

So, that office called another local office (equidistant to my house but further from I-40 East). That office had a car for my reservation and could pick me up. Nice. But they arrived shortly after 1 p.m. so the change of office probably didn't matter at that point.

After getting to the second location, I had another wait until a rep could pull up my reservation. Oye. Clock ticking to my drop-dead time of 1:30 to be on the road. The rep got the paperwork processed, took me to the car and found that it was dirty. She didn't want to give me a dirty car (nice!) but the car she did give me had only a half tank of gas. What a comedy of errors! I made it to Knoxville (barely) on the half tank and made it in time, thankfully.

I returned the car this morning and when the rep Melissa Mink (who wasn't there yesterday) asked about my experience, I explained what all happened. She took 50 percent off my rental fee straightaway. It was the perfect resolution to my trouble the day before without my even having to ask for it. Way to go! I feel like I can continue to sing their praises.

Also, the Twitter feed @enterprisecares also responded quickly to a tweet I made about the missing pick-up and asked for information regarding the reservation. I emailed the information before I left to return the car this morning. I "tweeted" about good experience as I was leaving the office and they replied to the email quickly saying that they saw things had been resolved. My faith has been restored in the customer service of Enterprise...except in the Donelson, TN office.

Monday, April 4, 2011

A New Way to Enjoy Oatmeal

OK, I haven't tried this yet (tomorrow morning!) but I hear it's an amazing way to make your oatmeal. Not sweet but savory - with an egg on top! Yes, please!

Savory Oatmeal:

(The recipe comes from this blog. She's a food photographer, too, so there are some real nice pictures to see as well.)

INGREDIENTS:

steel cut oats or rolled oats
olive oil
flaky sea salt
cracked pepper
aged sharp cheddar
additional toppings, poached or sunny-side up egg, sauteed veggies, or other savory ingredients to taste
 
PREPARATION:

Follow directions for making oats. I normally bring 2 cups of water to a raging boil, add 1 cup of steel cut oats and lower heat to low. Cook slowly for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Oats are done when they are soft unless you prefer them more al dente.

Dish the oatmeal into bowls. The remaining ingredients are to your liking.

I start with the olive oil, add a 1/2 a tablespoon, maybe a pinch of salt, a few twists of crack pepper, and a shaving of cheese. Mix it all together and taste. Maybe add a little more oil, a pinch more of salt, pepper and cheese…mix…taste…I find that I add as I go with this dish.