Mushroom-Ginger Oat Congee for #FoodieExtravaganza

Welcome to the Foodie Extravaganza! v. January 2015 = All About Oats

We are a group of bloggers who love to blog about food!  Each month we will decide on an all-famous National Monthly Food Holiday in which we will base our recipes around. This month the ingredient is oatmeal. Get excited!! We hope you all enjoy our delicious oatmeal treats this month and come back to see what we bring for you next month.  If you are a blogger and would like to join our group and blog along with us, come join our Facebook page Foodie Extravaganza.  We would love to have you! If you're a spectator looking for delicious tid-bits check out our Foodie Extravaganza Pinterest Board! Looking for our previous parties? Check them out HERE.

This month's #FoodieExtravaganza is twice as much fun. You get the usual collection of recipes from the group's bloggers. Plus you have a chance to win an oatmeal cookbook.

When Kathy Hester found out that we were focusing on oatmeal, she offered a copy of her cookbook OATrageous Oatmeals as a giveaway. So awesome. And she offered a few of her recipes for us to use in this month's posts. Thanks so much, Kathy.

I was inspired by her Mushroom Ginger Congee recipe because I wanted to try my hand at a savory oatmeal.

Congee is a thick savory porridge, typically made with rice, I think. But Kathy makes hers with rolled oats. It was delicious. I was so excited to find yellow canary mushrooms and bluefoot mushrooms when I decided to make this; I used those exotics in addition to the shitakes.

My littlest Kitchen Elf's response: "I like this much better than your sweet oatmeals, Mommy." I guess I'll be making it more frequently. It's so easy and so fulfilling. I can't believe I've never tried this before!

adapted from OATrageous Oatmeals by Kathy Hester 

Ingredients makes 5 small servings

For the Congee

• 2 carrots, diced (I used one orange and one purple carrot)
• 2 green onions, cleaned and thinly sliced
• 1 T grated ginger (I used some lightly dried ginger from Gourmet Garden Herbs & Spices*)
• 1/2 t chili peppers (I used some lightly dried chili from Gourmet Garden Herbs & Spices)
• 1 T butter
• splash of olive oil
• 5-1/2 C organic chicken broth
• 1 C rolled oats
• 1-1/2 C sliced mushrooms (I used a mixture of canary oyster mushrooms, oyster mushrooms, bluefoot mushrooms, and shitakes)
• 1 T soy sauce

For Garnish

• soy sauce
• green onions
• micro kale
• black sesame seeds
• hot sauce

Procedure

Place the carrots, green onions, ginger, peppers, butter, and olive oil in a medium saucepan that's large enough to hold at least 7 cups of liquid. Cook till the carrots are fork tender.

Add in the broth, oats, mushrooms and soy sauce. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat to a simmer. Cook for 20 to 25 minutes. The oats will be cooked through and the stew beginning to thicken.

To serve, drizzle with soy sauce and provide green onions, micro kale, and black sesame seeds for garnish.

*Full Disclosure: I received complimentary products from  Gourmet Garden Herbs & Spices for the purpose of review. Feel free to use whatever herbs you have on-hand. I received no compensation for this post. All comments are 100 % accurate and 100% my own.

Here's What Everyone Else Made...check them out HERE.

• Apple Pie Overnight Oats / Wallflour Girl
• Bacon Whole Grain Granola Bars / Pantry Friendly Cooking
• Berry Oatmeal Super Smoothie / Keep Moving Forward With Me
• Brown Sugar Barbecue Meatballs / Fearlessly Creative Mammas
• Chickpea Veggie Soup / Food Lust People Love
• Homemade Cranberry Almond Granola / Rhubarb and Honey
• Little Debbie Oatmeal Creme Pies / Making Miracles
• Mango Poppyseed Oat Muffins / The Sweet {Tooth} Life
• Mini Meatball Subs / The Freshman Cook
• Monster Cookie Granola / From Gate to Plate
• Mushroom Ginger Oat Congee / Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Oat Cinnamon Rolls / Passion Kneaded
• Oatmeal Pancakes / Sew You Think You Can Cook
• Peanut Butter Oat Snack Balls / Mrs. Penguin
• Vanilla Salted Oatmeal Cookies / Baking in Pyjamas
• Southwestern Oatmeal Cakes / A Day in the Life on the Farm

Here's the Giveaway...
The oat-guru Kathy Hester has been so generous in donating one of her books to one of our lucky Foodie Extravaganza readers. You can find recipes such as Steel-cut Oat Sausage Crumbles, Chickpea Veggie Soup, and Blackberry Mojito Overnight Oats. Wish I could win...

a Rafflecopter giveaway
Terms & Conditions: This giveaway is open to residents of the United States and Canada only, age 18 and older. The OATragous Oatmeals Cookbook giveaway runs from Wednesday, January 7, 2015 12:00am ET through Thursday, January 15, 2015 12:00am ET. Winners will be randomly chosen and announced on January 16, 2015. Winners will also be contacted by email and will have 24 hours to respond to the email. If a winner does not respond in that time a new winner will be chosen.

And In Case You Can't Wait...
If you are interested in purchasing a copy of the book for yourself, I have included an affiliate link on amazon for your convenience (below). If you are uncomfortable using the affiliate link, feel free to visit amazon on your own and search for "OATrageous Oatmeals."