This isn't a huge recall, but I guess a recall is a recall.

Quaker Oats has recalled a small number of their Aunt Jemima pancake and waffle mixes, including Aunt Jemima Pancake & Waffle Mix Original, Original Complete, and Buttermilk Complete. The sizes include two pound and five pound boxes, and they have "Best Before" dates of Feb 9, 2009 through Feb 16, 2009.

The mixes might have been contaminated with salmonella. The states involved in the recall are New York, Utah, Illinois, Florida, Kansas, Minnesota, Ohio, Wisconsin, Colorado, Texas, Alabama, Georgia, New Mexico, Missouri, and North and South Carolina.

One of my goals this year is to eat more oatmeal, so I'd like to thank the Official Food Holiday Naming Gods for making the very first month of the year National Oatmeal Month.

Quaker has a bunch of great recipes, including Banana Bread Oatmeal and Berry Almond Crumble. Alton Brown has a couple of recipes, Steel Cut Oatmeal and Overnight Oatmeal. Or how about trying this Crockpot Apple Oatmeal?

Of course, you could put the oatmeal in cookies, as in these Black and White Oatmeal Cookies, these Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies, and The Best Cookies in the Galaxy.

I mentioned a while back that I could no longer find Kellogg's Nutri-Grain bars at any of the supermarkets in my area, and several of you left comments and sent e-mail saying you couldn't find them either. I'm pretty sure they're not being made anymore (though Nutri-Grain does have various breakfast pastries). Now I think I've found a great substitute.

Quaker has just released their own Breakfast Bars (so new they're not on their site yet), and in the same flavors that the Nutri-Grain bars came in, blueberry and banana muffin! The verdict? They're quite good. They're smaller and not as moist as the Nutri-Grain bars were. These have a slightly tougher, toastier look and feel to them, but I like them a lot.

Note to Quaker: don't discontinue these! Or, if you're going to, give me a heads up so I can buy several cases from you. Thanks.