Welcome to our series sharing Food Holidays: January 2nd, 2022. Today is National Oatmeal Month and as cold as it is outside, I think I will make me a bowl of Oatmeal. Now, I have a question for you. Do you like Oatmeal and if so, how do you eat your Oatmeal? I like my Oatmeal Plain with just Sugar and Milk or Cream.
National Oatmeal Month
Oatmeal is a famed breakfast Cereal lasting throughout the Centuries. Oatmeal is believed to have been discovered in the British Isles. There are many ways to prepare and eat Oatmeal. Oats can be rolled in order to hold more liquid while being cooked. Oats can also be Steel Cut for a thicker texture. Thanks to the passing of time, instant Oatmeal provides a quick way to get the Nutrients you need. National Oatmeal Month can be celebrated in other ways.
NATIONAL OATMEAL MONTH ACTIVITIES
- The best part about Oatmeal is even if you buy plain Oats, the recipes you can make are endless. There is all sorts of Fruits or Honey you can mix in. If you like food as natural as it comes you can add Nuts, or Grains including, Almonds and Quinoa. Spices like Cinnamon or Pumpkin Pie Spice enhance the flavor without adding extra calories.
- Oatmeal has not changed too much through the centuries, and that is what makes it perfect for creating beauty products. Oatmeal is known for protecting the skin and soothing the skin during the roughest of seasons. You can find online D-I-Y versions of body bars, facial masks, bath bombs, and body scrubs made with Oatmeal.
- Did you know you can use Oatmeal in your craft projects? If mixing one cup of Rolled Oats with half a cup of Flour, and half a cup of Water will produce a non-toxic Clay. You can even add Food Coloring to give your sculptures a pop of color. Oatmeal can also be sculpted to make jewelry.
HEALTH BENEFITS OF EATING OATMEAL
- Oats are nutritionally very well-balanced. Oats have lots of important Vitamins, Minerals and Antioxidant Plant Compounds, and a good balance of Fiber and Protein.
- Oats can help lower your blood pressure and they’re rich in Antioxidants, including Avenanthramides, which may help reduce Blood Pressure.
- Oats can help Lower Blood Sugar. Oats contain large amounts of Beta-Glucan, a type of Soluble Fiber, which can help Lower Blood Sugar and Cholesterol Levels.
WHY PEOPLE LOVE NATIONAL OATMEAL MONTH
- Did you know Oatmeal is healthier than other whole grains? Oatmeal tends to have the proper amount of daily fiber needed. Despite the sweet aroma Oats give, they have a lower Glycemic index compared to other Whole Grains. Oats also offer lots of energy without the crash!
- Oatmeal has a variety of uses and can lower Cholesterol significantly by using the Antioxidants in the meal. Eating Oats also controls Blood Sugar of those living with Type 2 Diabetes. High Blood Pressure can also be lowered with a bowl every day. Thanks to the high amount of Dietary Fiber, Oatmeal keeps us full and can shed off weight.
- Oatmeal is the best solution for getting ‘the munchies.’ Oatmeal is a wonderful breakfast food for those on the go by keeping us full until lunch. Oatmeal also suppresses late night cravings without giving into the guilt of tons of Calories per bowl.
National Buffet Day is always on January 2nd and it is the perfect excuse to fill your plate and feast. Let’s be real food unites us all. The ingenuity of buffets is the endless variety on offer. A good buffet is like getting all of the presents on your Christmas-wish-list. Every member of the family is left satisfied. Not only that you leave feeling like you won’t need to eat again for at least a week. National Buffet Day is for those who can never decide what they want from the menu. or for those who enjoy a plate piled high, and those who love to eat.
HISTORY OF NATIONAL BUFFET DAY
The buffet table derives from the Brannvinsbord, which is a type of Swedish beverage table from the 16th Century. Brannvinsbord was a buffet system where women and men ate in different rooms but still had an array of food to choose from. In the 18th Century, the modern buffet began appearing as a smorgasbord which was initially a table where pre-dinner drinks and nibbles were served to a group of guests separately from the main dinner, but over time people started to use it to serve the main meal too.
The word ‘buffet’’ actually originates from a type of French sideboard used to serve food. This was used in the 17th Century by French men who would unexpectedly arrive at the home of women they wanted to woo, and it was simply a piece of furniture. This became popular in the second half of the 20th Century long after the smorgasbord. The word buffet was much easier to pronounce in the English-speaking world and was easier to remember.
It was 1939 when Swedish entrants at the New York World’s Fair exhibition debuted and displayed a smorgasbord while displaying the best of Swedish food to lots of visitors attending the New York World’s Fair that year. From then onwards, the smorgasbord was popular in New York and the word ‘‘buffet’’ was being used to describe it.
Then in the 1940s the American buffet began in Las Vegas. The Buckaroo Buffet was created by Herb McDonald with people choosing what they would eat from a range of food, a ploy used to keep people inside Casinos. The buffet expanded all over the country and in the 1980s, TV commercials for buffets were commonplace.
The buffet’s popularity has declined a little in recent years, but the buffets will always hold a special place in our hearts. January 2nd is the day to go to a buffet and make the most of what is on offer
NATIONAL BUFFET DAY ACTIVITIES
- Visit your nearest buffet restaurant with your family and dine out on an array of food choices.
- Choose a style of buffet you like which could be an Asian buffet, Italian buffet, or Seafood. Or maybe you just want dessert? Many restaurants cater to specific tastes or niches of food. Check online to find your favorite type of food then search for a buffet.
- You could prepare your own buffet which would take some time in the kitchen and host your family. Or host a potluck buffet at your place. Ask everyone who is invited to bring two dishes and voila, your buffet is served.
5 FACTS ABOUT NATIONAL BUFFET DAY
- Did you know Casino Buffets in the 1960s used to cost around $1.50.
- Some people see National Buffet Day as a way to welcome in the new year by eating lavish rich food.
- National Buffet Day is known as the USA’S favorite low impact, dangerous sport.
- In England, until the 1900s, a late dinner known as supper was generally eaten at 11 PM.
- In Sweden, Smorgasbords are still used today but are seen as incomplete without Pickled Herring.
WHY WE LOVE NATIONAL BUFFET DAY
- We love to share our food and post pictures of a buffet on Social Media. Share your choices on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Don’t forget to use the hashtag #BuffetDay.
- If you’re going to cheat on your diet or healthy eating plan, you might as well go big. Pack in your favorites at a buffet.
- Sitting down to eat is a great way to bond with friends. When you eat at a buffet, everyone is happy because there are so many choices!
Here are today’s five thing to know about Buffet:
The last feast!
- The concept of eating a buffet arose in the mid 17th Century France. Gentleman callers would arrive at the homes of ladies they wanted to woo unexpectedly.
- The buffet was popularized in the 18th Century France and quickly spread throughout Europe.
- The all-you-can-eat buffet made its restaurant debut in 1946, when it was introduced by Vegas hotel manager Herb MacDonald.
- By the mid-1960s, virtually every Casino in Las Vegas sported its own variation of a buffet.
- Today the Casino buffet costs a bit more than the average $1.50 price of the 1960s, but the buffets continue to be one of the best deals in Vegas along with the United States.
National Cream Puff Day
National Cream Puff Day is on January 2nd. Cream Puffs are light, airy, cream-filled desserts which may make your hearts sing. Other desserts may come and go, but a lot of people are team cream puffs forever. With good reason, might we add.
Cream Puffs are a classic; and they ooze elegance. The dessert transports us to quaint Parisian Cafes, sometimes even farther back in time to Renaissance Europe. Cream Puffs are delectable bites of history. We’re glad someone else felt the same way and called for a National Cream Puff Day. We’re eternally grateful to them.
HISTORY OF NATIONAL CREAM PUFF DAY
The history of Cream Puffs is a mystery. Culinary historians remain divided, and nobody can agree on who invented am Puffs. What we do know is that the story began somewhere in Europe.
Like all great recipes, Cream Puffs was passed along by word of mouth from one pastry chef’s kitchen to the next eventually crossing international borders.
One theory suggests that Catherine de Medici’s cook invented Cream Puffs. Stories of the legendary pastry made the rounds at her royal court of France. But the account is very likely a myth: Pastry chefs in Renaissance France were already experimenting with dough mixtures of Flour, Egg, Fat, and Water. Cream Puffs are a mixture we would come to know as Choux Pastry. Others say the origins of the Cream Puff go back to the Middle Ages. Long before the Medicis and the Renaissance period, French cooks of the 13th Century were making Puff Pastries with delicious Cheese and Herb Fillings.
By the 14th Century, cooks were whipping up different versions of Cream Buns. From Pate Feuillettée in France to the Butter-basted Puffs of the English. The Pastry comprised the same basic mixture of Flour, Egg, Water, and Fat.
The four-ingredient mixture has remained a constant, but how cooks prepare and bake the mix gave rise to different names including Puff, Profiterole, Choux, and Buns.
Puff Pastries became a culinary phenomenon by the 19th Century. Each one had distinct meaning and characteristics. Around this time, the Cream Puff we love became known in pastry circles as the Profiterole.
Making Cream Puffs was an art. Elegant Victorian dinner parties often featured Cream Puffs in elaborate designs. Cooks would make pyramids of tiny, delicate Cream Puffs that guests could have with after-dinner Tea or Coffee. In the United States, the first documented mention of the Cream Puff dates to 1851, at the Revere House Restaurant in Boston.
NATIONAL CREAM PUFF DAY ACTIVITIES
- Forget those dieting resolutions. National Cream Puff Day gives you the license to indulge. Visit your favorite Bakery and pick up a box of Cream Puffs and have these with a glass of Coffee, Tea, or Wine.
- Prepare Cream Puffs with your family and if you’re new to Cream Puffs go with the Classic Cream Puff recipes. Baking experts can consider trying unique variations to the Cream Puff. Including Chocolate, Ice Cream, or Whip Cream Fillings.
- Add to your recipe book collection today and purchase a book on French dessert techniques. You’ll find some that are devoted to the art of making Choux Pastry.
5 FACTS ABOUT PASTRY
- Cooks in Egypt, Greece, and Rome first used the Filo-type Pastry to prepare Fruit Pastries, Tarts, and Sweet Dumplings filled with Nuts or Dates.
- Nuns in Naples were the first to introduce Pastry in Italy, which they baked and sold to support themselves financially.
- The Viennese ‘Kipferl’ goes back to at least the 13th Century and is the O.G. ancestor of the Croissant.
- Europeans were introduced to Pastry by Muslim groups who invaded the Continent in the 7th Century.
- Boston Cream Pies aren’t really a Pie, and we don’t know the origins of this confusion, but they’re actually Cakes.
WHY PEOPLE LOVE NATIONAL CREAM PUFF DAY
- When it comes to dessert, the variety is dizzying. But we’ve found that the best desserts are always the classics. Cream Puffs are light, airy, and delicious. No frills, just simple and elegant.
- Cream Puffs help to kickstart the New Year on the sweetest note. We know it’s usually a time for resolutions. But resolutions must consider balance and not necessarily deprivation. Today’s resolve is indulging in things we love.
- It’s not very often people end up making Cream Puffs but today is a good day to turn our homes into a French Patisserie.
Recipe for Cream Puffs:
Ingredients
- 2 (3.5 ounce) packages instant Vanilla Pudding Mix
- 2 cups Heavy Cream
- 1 cup Milk
- ½ cup Butter
- 1 cup Water
- ¼ teaspoon Salt
- 1 cup All-Purpose Flour
- 4 Eggs
Directions
- Step 1 Mix together the Vanilla Instant Pudding Mix, Cream and Milk. Cover and refrigerate to set.
- Step 2 Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
- Step 3 In a large pot, bring Water and Butter to a rolling boil. Stir in Flour and Salt until the mixture forms a ball. Transfer the Dough to a large mixing bowl. Using a wooden spoon or stand mixer, beat in the Eggs one at a time, mixing well after each. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto an ungreased baking sheet.
- Step 4 Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, until golden brown. Centers should be dry.
- Step 5 When the Shells are cool, either split and fill them with the Pudding Mixture, or use a Pastry Bag to pipe the Pudding into the Shells.
Thank you,
Glenda, Charlie and David Cates
