OATMEAL: 2 versions

We have oatmeal almost each morning. It's simple, fast, satisfying, and so, so good for us. I do not like mushy oatmeal nor "quick" oats and prefer it to be chewier. The following is my own way of preparing this feel-good meal (I don't follow the container's directions) as well as the way my youngest son likes me to make his.

One of the key features of my version is that I barely cook the oats. So, get everything prepared before adding the oats to the water because it'll go fast (about 40 seconds). The reason I go quickly is for 2 reasons. One reason is because we don't like mushy oats, and the other reason is because we don't like mushy apples. Granny Smith apples are good for cooking longer (and the typical apple for apple pie and cobblers) but are on the sour side. We like sweeter apples, but those typically mush-up very quickly when cooked. (And shorter cooking may help foods retain their nutrients, too).

The Main Recipe

1/2 cup (40 g) 100% whole-grain oats "old fashioned"

1/2 cup (125 ml) water

1/3 of an apple, diced (approximately 1/3)
1 large medjool date diced

More-or-less of cinnamon, raisins, walnuts, hemp seeds

Have all of your ingredients ready.

Pour water into small pot, put onto stove, set heat to medium.
Add madjool date pieces. They will separate in warm water.

When water begins to boil, reduce heat to lowest setting (or just remove from heat if using electric stove).

Add oats then immediately add apples and sprinkle with cinnamon.

Briefly stir to gently warm apples. Do not boil or cook for long...just a few seconds.

Pour into bowl.

Add the hemp, raisins, and walnuts (or whatever variations).

Stir

To dice: cut the section of apple lengthwise then crosswise.
Flip down sections to cut into shorter pieces.

Heat on medium. When beginning to boil,
reduce heat to lowest (or remove from heat).

This series of steps should be within 40-ish seconds
if you want ingredients to stay firm.

Add your desired toppings, stir

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Recipe for My Son

1/2 cup (40 g) 100% whole-grain oats "old fashioned"
1/2 cup (125 ml) water
2 medjool dates or 3 smaller pitted dates diced
More-or-less of cinnamon, hemp seeds

Have all of your ingredients ready.
Pour water into small pot, put onto stove, set heat to medium.
When water begins to boil, reduce heat to lowest setting (or just remove from heat if using electric stove).
Add diced dates, stir to separate.
Add oats and sprinkle with cinnamon. Stir.
Do not boil or cook for long...just a few seconds.
Pour into bowl.
Add toppings. I double the hemp for my son because he doesn't have walnuts

Cut dates lengthwise then crosswise

This series of steps should be within 40-ish seconds
if you want ingredients to stay firm.

Add hemp and stir
 

Kitchen Snippets
This painted stone with rock owls hung
above my grandmother's stove. Now it
hangs above mine.

Something else I didn't know: Feeding our growing population industrial meat is extremely inefficient. While about 40% of the world's grain is fed to livestock (and about 70-80% of the USA's grain is fed to livestock), a billion people go hungry each day. When we get this grain back in the form of meat, it comes at a significant calorie loss. For every 100 calories of grain fed to livestock, we only get 3 calories of beef and 12 calories of chicken back.

Good news: We can all fight world hunger by choosing more sustainable foods every time we eat. The less animals we eat, the less ranchers will artificially reproduce them. If we redirected all crop production for human consumption instead of livestock, we could feed an additional 4 billion people.