Uncooked oats: For the days when you'd like to eat like a virtuous horse.
Inspired by Mark Bittman’s opinion piece on oatmeal in Tuesday’s New York Times, we experimented with “instant” oats for breakfast this morning with 1/2 cup thick rolled oats, a sprinkle of brown suger (1/2 tsp in my case; 1 tsp for the husband), dried cherries and blueberries and a splash of milk. We let everything sit for a few minutes, and then dug in.
On first taste, I decided that this was the kind of breakfast for people who really enjoyed eating healthy and didn’t mind sacrificing in the name of feeling virtuous. The flavor of the oats really comes through, and instead of the creamy texture of oatmeal, this mix is chewy. I felt like we were eating a horse’s breakfast, and my husband said he could feel his cholestorol plummeting. But after a few bites, it kind of grew on me. I ended up eating the whole bowl and feeling pretty satisfied.
Would I eat it again? Yes. But I’m more likely to riff on the recipe for flavored instant oatmeal that Bittman linked in his story. (I don’t plan on bothering with the plastic bags/prepacking, though.)