The Art Of Not Asking Why

I’ve been enjoying oats for breakfast for the last week or so. It’s an old habit I’m picking up again. I’m not a big eater, and I usually skip breakfast altogether (just coffee, then I eat a snack and go straight for lunch), but as I’m starting to exercise again (very slowly), I’m getting hungry again, and this is good and quick.

First, I want to share how I make my oats; then further down you can read my grumbles about what went wrong this morning and why. There’s a hidden tip in there..! So hit click and sub… err.. sorry, I’ve been watching too many YouTube flicks. Anyway! Oats!

Here’s how I make my oats in the morning:

1. This is more of a recent “hack”. I don’t start with the oats; instead, I pick my frozen “fruits of the day” from the freezer. I have strawberries, cherries, and blueberries. Not a lot, about 1/5 of a cup is enough. Microwave for 30 seconds (full power), stir lightly, then microwave for 30 more seconds. They come out soft and a bit slushy, which works well here.

2. Rolled oats (some are better than others; don’t use those small ‘meal size’ sealed packs, they usually come with additives that give them a weird saw-dust flavor). I’m currently enjoying Bob’s Red Mill “just oats” with apparently more protein. I usually use 3 to 4 tablespoons per cup. If I do fruits, like in the first step, I cover them completely with oats.

3. My espresso machine dispenses hot water at a perfect temperature for tea (70 Celsius, more or less 150 F), which also works well for the oats. The trick here is to fill it just under the oats, so it doesn’t cover them completely (otherwise you end up having oats “soup”). I let it sit for a minute as I make my coffee in a separate cup. By the time I’m done with the coffee (about a minute, give or take), the oats will have absorbed the water, and I can stir them lightly.

4. Throw in golden raisins (black ones are too sweet in my opinion) to taste, about two teaspoons (can always add more later). This gives it all the sweetness I need.

5. Stir well again and add a handful of almonds (roasted but not salted) on top. Stir again.

So, what went wrong this morning?

Today specifically, I wanted to try Mango in my oats. I had a pack of frozen mango for a while. Well, as it turns out, it wasn’t really Mango, it was a Mango mix, which is basically more like “there’s a lot of crap in here, but you may find a piece of mango here and there”. I wouldn’t have gotten a mix if I’d known it was a mix, but my brain saw the bag’s yellowish mango color and the word Mango in bold, and that was it. Take a look, wouldn’t you miss it if you don’t read it carefully? Marketing people: 1, JTR: 0. Well played, guys…

What they don’t tell you is how much of the other crap is in there versus the actual thing you want, in this case, mango. Of course they added carrots. Carrots are everywhere. It’s the main ingredient in my stir fry mix, it finds its way to my trail mix, and when I get frozen vegetables to add to a soup or a quick salad, they take over the whole thing; I might as well make a carrot soup. There are so many carrots everywhere, which is why I started hating carrots years ago. I’m trying to slowly recover, but boy, these mixes make it difficult. I guess carrots are much cheaper than mangoes.

Also, since I’m giving you my recipe for quick oats: pumpkin seeds, or any seeds or nuts for that matter, you need to add on the top of the oats. You don’t want them to absorb water; they get mushy and lose their crunch and some of the flavor with it.

Enjoy your oats! And be careful of the carrots conspiracy.