Facts I didn't know about oatmeal

Quaker oats here in UK are ok oats. But ‘instant oatmeal’ is the root cause of the problem, I suspect.

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one measure oats
three measures water
three and a half minutes in the microwave

a dash of honey for the ailing and infants

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Indeed. Those babies are expensive.

I’ve tried their ‘rolled’ version (to save time), but McCann’s steel cut beats them all… if one can make the time; cooking takes patience. The cooked product (when done right) has yielded me a natural creamy texture and with not quite al dente oat ‘kernals’. Great taste and mouth-feel.

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Many American oatmeal eaters also eat rolled or steel cut oats and avoid the candy coated versions.

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Another fact is that the company has nothing to do with Quakers, in fact used to have an arms dealer as a subsidiary. This was a cause for consternation among some of my fellow students at the Quaker school I attended, but that same school had once had an active ROTC, so glass houses and all that.

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I always hated oatmeal…
Slimy bits in a gelatinous stew; even worse when bits of fruit were floating about. Especially raisins.

Then I found out about Steel Cut Oats. Much better.
I fix 'em in a small crock pot with some cubed apple & a bit of cinnamon and honey.
Great stuff when it’s cold outside.

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looks like they corrected the article to “used to”

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More detail about the MIT study here.

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I like to cook plain rolled oats and a pinch of salt in water and also adding milk to make it quite creamy. I must have cinnamon and nutmeg - though easy on the nutmeg - too much will spoil it and add a good glob of honey (maple syrup would work in a pinch). You can live on that stuff. But I do like these savory porridge ideas.

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More like “fun” facts. Especially this one:

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Radioactive fun!

class of nuke em high gore GIF by Shudder

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Try toasting the walnuts before adding them to the cooked oats.

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Hell yeah! Adds a lot of flavor. Easy to burn, though.

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Well, that’s how we got things like x-rays, so it’s not entirely bad.

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To be sure, there are regional variations. I would cook my porridge with salt, if I was allowed, but my wife forbids me to do so, because of my high blood pressure. The matter of taking porridge with milk is more widespread. On high days and holy days I may add a dram of whisky to the porridge. This makes it even more agreeable.

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I found that regular parboiled rolled oats can be not-quite “instant” oats with a little patience. Add boiling water, cover the bowl with a plate and go on with one’s dressing, showering, shoo-shooing etc. The oats end up a little chewier than from an instant packet but it’s pretty close, and this way one can customize the flavor. I prefer a chunk of dark chocolate and handful of chopped walnuts.

The thing with oatmeal is that it just doesn’t carry me very far and I feel like I need lunch that much sooner. Usually I just have hummus for breakfast.

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When I was six years old, our family move from the back woods of Virginia to Michigan, where I immediately fell in love with ice hockey. My hero was Gordie Howe, who was known not only for his stellar skills, but also for his incredible strength. Years later in an interview he attributed his strength to hard work on the farm and mused that perhaps, since they were very poor, often eating oatmeal three times a day might also have had something to do with it. Personally, I can’t stand the stuff, as we too ate a lot of cooked oatmeal growing up. My mother use to stir in raisins while it was cooking and they looked like bloated ticks floating around in the bowl. I’ll have grits, thanks.

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When I was a wee little tot in late 60s and 70s whenever we spent the night at grandma’s house we would get oatmeal every morning. Seems it took forever to cook and involved salt. They were very creamy.

As for 35% less sugar, grandma’s involved at least 35% more sugar sprinkled on the top with plenty of milk, usually powdered milk.

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