Fucked Up Porridge

If you know me, you’ll know that I hardly ever swear. I have nothing against swearing, my husband does it all the time, its just that I’m not very good at it. So why then, the sweary name for a lovely looking blog? Well, sometimes only the word ‘fuck’ will do.

After the same breakfast of tomatoes, a kiwi and brown bread for eleven days in hospital my husband, understandably, wanted something different when we got home.  We’ve never been ones for cereal, I’m a toast lover ideally with Nutella and my husband is quite happy with scrambled eggs or omelette or fruit and most recently we discovered overnight oats.

Not having much time in the mornings like most busy people, I liked the idea of preparing the oats the night before (when I remembered of course) and just adding whatever topping the next day. It’s quicker than standing over a pan making traditional porridge and I find it easier to get the right milk to oats ratio. We’d been eating overnight oats on and off for about a year. Usually with banana and sometimes just sugar!

When we came home from hospital, I really latched onto making overnight oats for breakfast as a way of coping 

When we came home from hospital, I really latched onto making overnight oats for breakfast as a way of coping I suppose. It was something I could easily control, gave me something to focus on and it was fun to experiment with different toppings, it still is.

Not only do the oats taste great, you can get a really fab looking bowl of bright colours and different textures, plus it ensures that we get a head start on our five a day. It was experimenting with overnight oats that I first discovered chia seeds and I happily sprinkled generous portions of Omega 3 all over!

My favourite toppings include banana with cinnamon and peanut butter, just plain banana and honey, berries with honey and nuts (I especially love hazelnuts as it tricks me into thinking there is nutella there somewhere!) Oh we did try chocolaty overnight oats once with posh 90% cocoa but it wasn’t my favourite.

This chopping, slicing, peeling, drizzling and sprinkling has become sort of a morning ritual, it helps to set the tone for the day, it means we sit down together and I will often light some incense and a candle to help with the relaxed, cosy morning vibe. I am making an effort to give food the time and importance it deserves instead of eating standing up in the kitchen as I make school snacks, do the dishes, put the washing in, check my email and sign random bits of paper at the same time.

I enjoy looking at my morning creations and will often take a photo before we eat (I know!) So, when  we had my Mother-in-Law and her partner over to ‘help’ for a week or so after we’d been home for a couple of weeks, I was most put out to realise that they didn’t share my enthusiasm for overnight oats, instead preferring toast with butter and jam.

Which is fine, I love toast too but given the opportunity I am very happy to experiment and try something new. I offered a bowl of our gorgeously presented oats with kiwi, almonds and chia one morning to my Mother-in-Law’s partner.

“Oh, what’s that?”

“Overnight oats with kiwi and almonds”

“Oooh no, that’s porridge gone wrong, that is, won’t eat that”

Well fuck me!

I told my husband and he said, “Fucked up porridge”

Overnight oats are no longer overnight oats in our house, they are fucked up porridge and we take great pleasure in preparing the most beautifully fucked up bowls as we can. Except this morning because I forgot to prepare the oats last night – fuck!