Oatmeal

Q. I have long suffered from severely dry, chapped hands, especially after working in dirt, washing dishes or handling certain vegetables. My hands would not only be very dry and bleed, but would also develop tiny blisters that would spread. My dermatologist prescribed Lotrisone, and I used it for several years. This ointment had to be applied to the affected area often, however, so my prescription lasted only a couple of weeks. And it is expensive. I finally found a lotion containing oatmeal (Aveeno)

Just because you're trying to eat healthy doesn't mean totally abandoning your sweet tooth. Healthy eating guru Joy Bauer i ncludes many healthy deserts in her healthy recipe library. This week we feature her soft-baked, chocolate-cherry oatmeal cookies as our healthy recipe. If you have a recipe you would like to share email me at andrea.walker@baltsun.com and I will include it on this blog. Ingredients: 1 1/2 cups oats, rolled, quick cooking, or old-fashioned rolled oats 1/2 cup whole wheat flour 1/2 cup all-purpose flour 1/2 cup granulated sugar 1 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt 1/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips 1/2 cup dried cherries, or dried cranberries 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce 1 tablespoon canola oil 2 egg whites lightly beaten 1 tablespoon vanilla extract Preparation: Preheat oven to 350 degrees and coat one or two baking sheets with oil spray In a medium bowl, whisk together the rolled oats, flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt until the ingredients are evenly distributed.

THE SIGHT OF THE oatmeal bubbling away on the kitchen stove was reassuring on those cold mornings. Whenever the mercury dropped below 50 degrees, this steaming, stick-to-your-ribs breakfast was required eating for all young scholars going off to school.My grandmother Lily Rose and her sister, great Aunt Cora, believed that few foods were as essential to youthful stomachs as cooked oats doused with milk, butter and sugar. They turned up their noses at Kix, Cheerios, Rice Krispies and all their Battle Creek offspring.

Ramona Cooper from Baltimore was looking for a recipe for making a cookie similar to the "Dad's old fashioned oatmeal cookie" that used to be available in Baltimore many years ago. It turns out that Dad's Original Scotch Oatmeal cookies have been around since the turn of the century and, while no longer available in Baltimore, they are still being made by Dad's Cookie Co. in St. Louis. The cookies are available at the company's retail outlet in St. Louis or by mail order through their website.

Last call for groceries Today is the last day to send us your suggestions for the best ethnic groceries in the Baltimore area. Fax or e-mail us the store names, addresses, phone numbers and the kind of products they sell. We will be compiling a list for a story later this winter. Getting your oats January is the month Americans buy the most oatmeal, but Quaker Oats says oatmeal isn't just for a hot breakfast and oatmeal cookies. Oatmeal can be substituted for up to one-third of the flour called for in recipes for quick breads and even added to meatloaf.

Item: Fantastic Hot Cereal Cups What you get: One 1.7-ounce container Cost: About $1.40 Nutritional content: Cranberry Orange Oatmeal - 180 calories, 2 grams fat, 0 grams saturated fat, 210 milligrams sodium; Wheat N' Berries -170 calories, 1 gram fat, no saturated fat, 230 milligrams sodium Preparation time: 5 minutes with boiled water Review: As an oatmeal lover, I had high hopes for these organic cereal cups. Unfortunately, my hopes were dashed with the first bite. While the Cranberry Orange Oatmeal and the Wheat N' Berries Hot Cereal smelled good and fruity, they both had the consistency of sludge and tasted about the same.

What are they -- A new line of breakfast cereals from the makers of Bear Naked granola and snack foods. Breakfast products include all-natural oatmeal, low-sugar cereal and organic hot cereal. What we like about them --The lightly sweetened cereals are a welcome relief after the holiday excesses and one way to keep those New Year's resolutions to eat more healthfully. The all-natural oatmeal features freeze-dried fruits and nuts. The low-sugar cereal comes in Triple Berry Crunch and Vanilla Almond Crunch.

Marla A. Colton of Titusville, N.J., wrote to say she was seeking a recipe for "No-Bake Cookies. They are made with chocolate, peanut butter and oatmeal. "I enjoyed them as a child when they were served in the public school cafeteria." Nancy Lindsay of Salem, Ore., responded. "This is the recipe requested by Marla A. Colton for my favorite `candy' cookies. They are called Three-Minute Cookies," Lindsay said. No-Bake Cookies Makes 3 dozen cookies 2 cups sugar 1/4 cup cocoa 1/2 cup milk 1 stick ( 1/4 pound)

Gertrude Lyles of La Plata said she wanted a recipe "for a dessert served in the employees' cafeteria at the Greater Southeast Community Hospital. It had apples, and cranberries with oatmeal, I think. It is similar to a brown Betty dessert." Gail Ellis of Westminster responded with this version. "This recipe was given to me over 25 years ago by Carolyn Roeth, a friend and Catonsville neighbor. It is simple to make and great as a side dish or as a dessert with Cool Whip or ice cream." Cranberry-Apple Bake Serves 4 3 cups chopped apples, unpeeled 2 cups raw, whole cranberries 1 cup uncooked quick oatmeal 3/4 cup granulated sugar 1/2 cup brown sugar 1/2 cup flour 1/2 cup chopped nuts 1 stick margarine, melted Mix apples and cranberries and put in the bottom of a 2-quart greased casserole.

In Canada, a woman came home to find a bear in her kitchen, eating a bowl of oatmeal. She called the West Vancouver police, but they couldn't persuade the bear to leave. The oatmeal was neither too warm nor too cold. So they shrugged and let it finish eating, and then it ambled away. At least it didn't go upstairs to take a nap. On this side of the border, similar encounters always seem to escalate in the most unfortunate ways. In West Milford, N.J., a bear wandered into a yard and was very sorry it did. It was treed - by a cat named Jack.

Gaila Droegemeier from Centerton, Ark., was hoping someone would have the recipe for a Weight Watchers oatmeal cookie. She had a recipe some years ago but misplaced it and she has not been able to reproduce the wholesome-tasting cookie to her satisfaction. A quick search on the Internet turned up several promising recipes. I tested one by Michelle Marshal that she posted on a site called Suite101.com. I decided not to tell my testers that it was a Weight Watchers cookie. Based upon how fast the batch was gobbled at my house, I doubt anyone was aware that the chewy and delicious cookies were also low fat and relatively low calorie.

Lumpy, bumpy and hopelessly old-fashioned, the oatmeal cookie lacks any semblance of foodie street cred. Panache? Style? Decadence? Modest oatmeal's got none of that. But its very plainness, its unabashedly humble stance, could explain the very reason people seem to love oatmeal cookies a teensy bit more than all the rest. America, it seems, loves an underdog. Even in a cookie. And in oatmeal, people have got their Cinderella. When The Baltimore Sun put out a call last year for holiday cookie recipes, editors were surprised to see quite a few spins on the traditional oatmeal cookie.

Susan Ingram of Winchester, Va., was looking for a recipe for low-cholesterol oatmeal muffins. She said that a recipe was printed on the back of a Quaker oatmeal box sometime in the late 1980s, but she no longer has it. Christine Todd of Cleveland searched the Quaker Oats Web site and sent in two different recipes for oatmeal muffins, both of which were low-fat. I tested the one that had a streusellike topping because I thought it sounded like the more interesting of the two. While this may not be the exact recipe from the 1980s that Ingram was searching for, it is without a doubt a heart-healthy and delicious muffin.

The Essential Chocolate Chip Cookbook By Elinor Klivans Little Cakes From the Whimsical Bakehouse Cupcakes, Small Cakes, Muffins and Other Mini Treats By Kaye and Liv Hansen Clarkson Potter Publishers / 2008 / $24.95 As a general rule, for me dessert does not need to be cute. The authors of Little Cakes, however, beg to differ. The cunning little creations in this book are bound to draws ooohs and ahhs for their resemblance to cheerful bumblebees or baskets of violets. But these little treats are more than what meets the eye. The recipe for Almond Coffeecakes caught my interest because I had some sour cherries frozen fresh last summer.

Florence Belton of Baltimore was trying to find a recipe for an oatmeal cake. She tried the cake while she was working as a nurse in the 1960s, but can't remember how the cake was made. Sandra Miller of Winchester, Va., saw Belton's request and immediately thought of her recipe for "Lazy Daisy Oatmeal Cake" that was given to her by a friend of her mother's. She says she has been making the cake for at least 30 years and everyone always loves it. This is a simple spice cake that is very moist and yummy.

Some people may wear their hearts on their sleeves, but the second-graders at Manchester Elementary School added other major organs to their outfits. With glue, scissors and brown paper bags, the pupils fashioned anatomy aprons - vests on which they attached pictures of organs that they had cut out and colored in. The project was part of a Carroll County lesson plan at Manchester that culminates each year in a public performance that combines biological education with musical presentation.

Sky Lounge Tango Tapas Situated in a charming alley off Federal Hill's Cross Street strip, this lounge features Spanish-inspired tapas, homemade sangria and creative cocktails in its plush downstairs seating area. If the urge to let loose hits you a few drinks later, head upstairs to do your thing on a clear, springy Plexiglas dance floor. Where --1041 Marshall St. Call --410-625-1615 Notable --The drink list includes a host of imaginative favorites, including the watermelon-tini and the oatmeal cookie.

Here's a wonderful recipe for Mary Kirschner of Severna Park. She had asked us to find her a recipe for a chocolate chip cookie that included crushed graham cracker crumbs, ground oatmeal, shaved chocolate and of course chocolate chips. This recipe is from Jacqueline Priester of Bowie. She says her family doesn't like nuts so she substitutes the cereal grape nuts instead. "This is a delicious cookie," Jacqueline says.John's Totally Excessive Chocolate Chip Cookie1 cup butter, slightly softened2 cups white sugar2 cups dark brown sugar1 cup corn oil margarine4 eggs, room temperature3 teaspoons vanilla extract2 tablespoons maple sugar syrup2 cups all purpose flour1 cup whole wheat flour1 cup graham cracker crumbs, finely crushed3/4 teaspoon salt2 teaspoon baking soda2 teaspoons baking powder5 cups whole oatmeal, powdered1 cup walnuts, finely ground, toasted1 cup raw cashews, chopped, toasted24 ounces dark chocolate morsels1 8-ounce Hershey bar, roughly chopped1 cup pecan halves, brushed with melted waterPreheat oven to 350 degrees.