Gloriously Fluffy Oatmeal

Is it possible? That a measly 1/4 cup of oatmeal can magically puff up to 1.5 cups of bliss?

Yes.

See, I don’t know if you’ve realized this, but oatmeal soaks up water.

Bask in my intelligence.

Normally when you’re cooking oatmeal in the morning (we’re talking old-fashioned oats here), the oatmeal doesn’t have enough time to soak up enough water to be puffy and glorious enough to amaze your mouth.

I mean honestly, if it takes you 20 minutes in the pool to turn into a human prune, how do you expect the oatmeal to be soft and pillowy in 10 minutes?

So the trick lies in giving your oatmeal time to soak up water. Much more time than 10 minutes.

We’re talking 5 full days.

Kidding! We’re talking overnight.

This trick is so handy and easy that one time on a school trip, knowing that breakfast would be hard to come by the next morning, I brought along some dry oats and made Gloriously Fluffy Oatmeal in this here glass cup, in the hotel room, at 10:00pm. I didn’t do a very good job, but at least I had food. Yeah, I even brought almonds. I came prepared.

Notes: I usually halve this recipe and use 1/4 cup of oatmeal, which puffs up to about 1 1/2 cups. If you have hungry parents/siblings/children/hippos, you can easily multiply the recipe.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup old-fashioned oats. Did you know January is National Oatmeal Month?
  
• 2 1/4 cup milk or water. You can add 2 cups if you want; I prefer my oatmeal somewhat porridge-y.
  

Steps:

1. Throw everything together.
2. Heat in microwave for 2 minutes. Or until it starts to bubble over the rim. Stir.
3. Leave it somewhere overnight. Preferably a place where you can find it the next morning. In the fridge, the microwave, on the kitchen counter.

Now say good night and sing it a lullaby.

In the morning, you can warm it up in the microwave or eat it cold from the fridge.

So obviously, there are a lot of variations that can stem from this basic oatmeal trick. You can add flaxseed, almonds, berries, granola, brown sugar, anything but the kitchen sink.

I suggest adding the extras right before consumption though, because while oats enjoy soaking overnight, the other add-ins definitely don’t appreciate it. The almonds get soft, the granola gets mushy, the berries get weird. Then you get sad.

Now eat up, Goldilocks. The bears are coming home soon.