Saturday night is turning out to be a big frakkin’ deal. The tickets have been purchased, the hotel room’s been booked, and the friend who’s going with me (I didn’t know how she’d feel about being mentioned on the blahg, so I’ll keep her anonymous for now) is as pumped about seeing The Replacements as I am. I’ve been listening to them non-stop for the past week. It’s bad enough I had to explain to the bambino why he can only sing “Bastards of Young” at home. I will probably cry if/when they do “Can’t Hardly Wait.” I won’t go into why here, but that song holds SO much meaning for me, so many memories, some painful, some wistful. Heck, I had tears of joy streaming down my face when I watched their performance on The Tonight Show:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZi-dw03fE8
And the next day, in spite of my exhaustion, I walked around with a huge grin on my face, like I’d won the lottery or something. And in a way, I kind of feel like I did, by snagging tickets. I feel bad for those who desperately want to see the hometown show, and aren’t able to go. I know I’d be highly pissed if I had been one who didn’t get tickets. As I posted in one of the ‘Mats Facebook groups to which I belong, these guys got me through high school and college. They always seemed to be the awkward outsiders–Not quite punk, not quite alternative, not quite rock. And to the oft-reserved, ever-observant tween/teen/young adult I was, these guys got it. That feeling of always being outside, always looking in. The desperate poignancy of Paul Westerberg’s lyrics took hold of my 13-year-old heart, and haven’t yet let go. I do love that I’ve found such a cool group of people to share this experience with…People to whom I don’t have to explain The Replacements and what they’re all about. They get it. And this is why I am so excited, so thrilled, so nervous about the concert Saturday.
While I waited for the Tonight Show to come on Tuesday night (which also happened to be my mum’s birthday), I made this Steel-Cut Oat Snack Cake:
According to my recipe card, I apparently first saw this cake on Cooking Light.com, but I have no idea how long ago (and I am too lazy to go to the website and look) I chose to write it down. It’s been ages since I’ve made it–I think the last time I did, we were still in our apartment! But I had about 2 hours to kill and steel-cut oats to use up, so I got to work.
It’s lightly sweetened, chewy, and makes a good breakfast, as well as a snack, with a cup of coffee. Or cocoa.
Combine the oats and the filmjolk in a small bowl. Cover, and refrigerate overnight. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Grease a 13 x 9-inch baking pan and set aside. In a small bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter and brown sugar together on medium speed, until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla and the egg and beat until well-mixed. Stir in the oats and filmjolk, and beat until well-mixed. Slowly add the flour mixture, mixing only until combined. Spread the batter into the prepared baking pan. Bake for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool for at least 15 minutes on wire rack before dusting with powdered sugar.
I’m glad I rediscovered this recipe.
Steel-Cut Oat Snack Cake
Ingredients
Instructions
So I’m off to the Twin Cities tomorrow morning. Saturday night can’t come fast enough, and yet, it’ll all be over before I know it.
I can’t hardly wait.
This looks great! I have a bunch of oats in my pantry, and can only eat so much straight-up oatmeal. I know Cooking Light called it cake, but would you says it’s more of a cake or a bar?
Honestly, to me the texture is more bar-like. If you leave off the powdered sugar, you can eat it by hand (unless you don’t mind sticky fingers!)–Like a softer granola-type bar, if that makes sense.
That makes perfect sense, thanks for clarifying. I prefer it more bar-like anyway. These are next on my breakfast list!
Let me know what you think when you make them–Hope you enjoy!
Hi Rachel,
Forgot to check back in, but I wanted to let you know that these turned out great! I had to replace the Siggi’s with buttermilk, but kept all else the same. Thanks for sharing.
Since I’d never be able to find Siggi’s Vanilla Filmjolk anywhere in my region, I went and checked Cooking Light’s original recipe and it called for buttermilk. I hope this helps those like me that are not fortunate enough to have these items available (I miss Kefir so much since I moved from Dallas!). I would think you could also get vanilla yoghurt and thin it with either sweet milk or almond milk which would also work. Can’t wait to try this recipe as I love steel-cut oatmeal.
I’ve used both–Buttermilk before I discovered Siggi’s–And had good results. Please let me know what you think, if you make it!