rolled oats

Often times we hear that it is essential in life to have a morning routine, something that you do every morning that gives you a head start on the given day. For some people I know it consists of stretching your body's muscles, breathing and meditation to increase consciousness of the body, write a to do list for the day, make a cup of stirring hot coffee and the list goes on. For me beside my spiritual practice, I make a daily effort to prepare breakfast because I grew up with my father telling me that 'you have to eat your breakfast, even if it's just a piece of bread and water, because sometimes you don't know what your day will look like'. Therefore nowadays breakfast has become an an important meal of the day, the one that I can't skip easily. My breakfast delight turns out to be the humble porridge.

Ingredients

Base

1 cup oatS (wholegrain)

2 cups water

Toppings

1/2 cup Milk

1 apple

1 tbsp honey

1 tbsp poppy seeds

1/2 tbsp cinnamon powder

Procedure

Pour the water in a pot and wait until it starts to form little bubbles on the bottom; once you see these bubbles coming up add the oats and turn the heat down to a medium low so that you give the oats time to soak all the water and turn into a silky smooth consistency. It is important that you stir every now and then for an even cooking. The cooking time depends mostly on the type of oats you choose: the classical rolled oats can take from 6 to 12 minutes depending on the type of grain they are made from or another option is to use instant oats which a cooking time less than 5 minutes. I often prefer to cook the oats in water or a mixture of half water and half milk but you can also try to use only milk, though be careful because milk can burn easily and mess up your porridge.

Many are the variations to this first meal of the day, what I gave you in this recipe is only my favourite one, so feel free to add anything you like. For example diced fruits like bananas or peers add a delicious flavour while consuming your daily portion of fruit; various types of nuts like cashew nuts, macadamia nuts, almonds are great to add some crunch and provide good fats and essential oils vital for a correct function of your body; dried fruits like raisins, dates, are great because they are natural sweeteners so you don't need any extra sugar for your porridge.

Where to get the ingredients

Most of the items in this recipe can be found in any local supermarketat a reasonable price. In my case the price for a not so fancy or super bio packet of rolled oats of 400g I pay 1.80zl which in my view is an accessible price. There is also a wide selection of oats in this country and it is because probably Poland is a great producer of grains in general.

Inspiration

This is something that my mother used to cook as breakfast for everyone so I grew up loving oats in all its ways and preparations. Like many things in life, as I was being exposed to new ways of food preparation I tried out many porridge recipes from cookbooks and fellow porridge lovers to YouTube video recipes. But I guess with porridge you have to do it over and over again so you can master the technique and make just as you like it to be: thick as concrete or smooth and runny.

Cheers everyone.

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