Oats Are Crummy... in An Awesome Way

I was born and raised in New Jersey and although I am blonde-haired and blue-eyed, I am Italian. My relatives grew up in Newark and some came from a small town outside of Rome. I remember the smell of my Grandmother's kitchen when she cooked and I remember that I was told from a very early age that you always cooked too much in case other people showed up (you would never want to be short on food!). Food has always been a large part of my life- when I was young, the new ways I had to look at my foods when my son was diagnosed with food allergies and now, how to utilize the products that are available. This includes people and companies who contact me, asking to try their products. With my family history and love of food and authentic cooking smells, I could not resist Josie's Coat of Oats. 

What Is It? This 8 oz. package is like a piece of my Italian Grandmother's kitchen in a bag. Josie's Coat of Oats is an oat-based breading that includes Bob's Red Mill Oats, a handful of spices and maybe even a little bit of Italian love. Spices include salt, dried chili peppers, dried garlic and dried onions. This product is certified by the Celiac Support Association and contains no MSG, gluten or dairy. So let's go through what I thought:

It Stands Up Give it a minute to sink in. I know this may sound completely irrelevant to some of you but it does make cooking easier in my kitchen. Most flour and/or mixes come in a plastic bag that (most of the time) refuses to stay upright, causing a bit if not more of your product to spill out all over the place. When I am in the midst of cooking, the last thing I have patience for is to stop and clean up a mess that I wasn't expecting. And wasting extra product because the package wouldn't cooperate? One of my personal pet peeves since food allergy shopping tends to put a maximum on your food shopping and budgeting. Josie's Coat of Oats is also resealable....is it me or can anyone else hear their Italian Grandmother pinching their cheeks, saying "Who takes care of you? I do!"

I Love The Smell Since the spices are already included, when you open the package you feel as if your childhood has been kept right inside. The coating is soft to the touch and not one ounce of anything that may make your recipes feel too dry or too rough. Cooking with gluten free recipes and products can sometimes end up with the roof of your mouth inflamed if you use the wrong products and nobody wants that.

Egg Free- No Problem! Most of my recipes are egg-free since that is one of NutriSon's major allergens. I am surprised at how many people feel that cooking without eggs is impossible, especially with Italian recipes. Because of this, I wanted to perform a cooking challenge with Josie's Coat of Oats to see if they would make the egg-free cut. To coat without using egg, simply cover your food item with a thin layer of oil (I use Winona Pure Oil) and then coat as usual. I also recommend giving your foods an additional spritz of oil before baking to keep the coating a little less dry and to help give it the crispy effect that we all know and love. When I used egg, the only difference was the coating was a bit fluffier. There was no taste difference. I also did not add any additional spices - I used the coating alone.

The Josie's Coat of Oats breading stays very well and although it's soft to the touch, this doesn't take away from the hearty look of the finished recipe. 

Not Just for Coating You know that I am also a stickler for using up as much food as possible. You will very often see me posting, saying "Waste nothing". I was making my usual Sunday breakfast and we had leftover potatoes. I decided to put Josie's Coat of Oats to the test and see how some homemade potato hash rounds would come out. Some oil, a few minutes of mixing in some of Josie's Coat of Oats and we had a tasty item which was quickly eaten up by my ever-hungry teenage son. These were also egg-free and dairy free.

I want to thank the lovely lady from Josie's Coat of Oats for reaching out to me and asking for my opinion. I also want to thank her for creating a product that is delicious, is low in fat and sodium but abundant in family love. Whether you are in Staten Island, NY where Josie's Coat of Oats is based, on their website or their Facebook page be sure and check them out. Nothing says love more than great home style cooking and Josie's Coat of Oats has that corner of the market taken <3

PS- Not Italian? No worries 

Give this product a try and share a comment below on what you made

As always, never any compensation except for the products themselves to review as all of my reviews are always honest.