My oatmeal recipe

• 21 February 2025

Oatmeal is one of the greatest foods. It's tasty, healthy, filling, and both fast and easy to prepare. I eat it for most breakfasts. And in case I should die, it's critical that my recipe does not die with me.

Ingredients

• Old-fashioned oats
  • Quick oats are not actually any quicker in this recipe, and old-fashioned have a desirably chewier texture and seemingly a more favorable glycemic index.
  • Steel-cut take too long to cook. EXCEPT I recently discovered quick steel-cut oats, which seem like the holy grail of hot cereal?
• Milk
  • Whole, 2%, 1%, or Skim -- adjust based on taste and calories
  • Non-dairy milks probably work fine too. Oat milk is the funniest choice.
• Peanut butter
  • Chunky/creamy, peanut/almond/seed, any will do
• Flavor toppings (choose some)
  • Frozen OR fresh berries (ideally blue, but switch up for variety)
  • Cinnamon
  • Raisins or other dried fruit
  • Banana
• Health toppings (choose some)
  • Flax seed
  • Chia seed
  • Hemp hearts
  • Walnuts

Preparation

Take a microwave-safe bowl and add as much oats as you want to eat today. Fill the bowl with enough milk to cover the oats -- tune the exact milk:oat ratio over time according to your preference. If you have frozen berries, add them now.

Microwave until the milk starts to bubble up, and stop it before it boils over. Cooking time varies depending on quantity of milk/oat/berry, so just figure it out over time.

After heating, add peanut butter and any remaining toppings and stir.

Philosophy

This style of oatmeal is most similar to a smoothie. You have a large array of potential ingredients. Some form the base (oats, milk, peanut butter), and you are free to vary the rest in ratio and amount, according to personal as well as day-to-day variation in preference.

• Bulking? Use whole milk. Cutting? Switch to skim.
• Less hungry than usual? Or have a big lunch coming up? Just scale down the ratio -- you can make as much or as little as you want.
• Sick of one fruit? Switch to another.
• Sick of all fruits? Throw in some walnuts and cinnamon for variety.
• Like thick, chunky oats? Use less milk. Like it creamy? Use more milk.
• Like thick, chunky oats, but accidentally used too much milk? Add extra peanut butter and dry ingredients like flax/cinnamon to thicken.
• Don't like nut butters? This is hard one for me to accept, as it's the magic ingredient that makes this meal stick to your bones, but it's a free country. Skip it, and don't come crying to me when you're hungry later.

You must dance with the oatmeal. Get playful with it. Pay attention to the oat's individual character. And treat it with love.

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