Oatmeal Recipe

One of the highlights of my week is Torah study at United Hebrew Congregation on Saturday morning. Ostensibly, it starts at 9:00am but many of us grey-haired geezers show up 30 minutes early (or more!) to make oatmeal and waffles and schmooze over breakfast and coffee. The synagogue staff might have tried to dissuade us from turning up so far ahead of time but none of us noticed and it would not have done any good (had we paid any attention).

Covid-19 made us move our Torah study online. The dialog and the laughter translated well to Zoom but the waffles and the oatmeal did not. So in the interests of keeping the clergy and my fellow students well fed, here is my oatmeal recipe or, as Mark named it, Art-meal.

Single Serving Oatmeal

I’m lazy. When I make oatmeal at home, I do not want to wash a pot so I cook it in the microwave in the bowl.

Ingredients

• 1 serving of uncooked oatmeal (1/4 cup steel cut oats or 1/2 cup regular oatmeal)
• 1/8 tsp. ground cinnamon
• salt (more than you think it ought to have)
• 1 cup water
• microwave-safe bowl (glass or Pyrex)

Instructions

1. Put everything in the bowl. Don’t skimp on the salt; oatmeal really needs salt or it tastes bland.
2. Stir.
3. Put the bowl in the microwave on high for 2 minutes. If the oatmeal starts to boil over, turn the power down.
4. Stir again.
5. Put the bowl back in the microwave on about 40% to 60% power for another 2 1/2 to 3 minutes (until the texture is the way you like it). Set the power so that the oatmeal simmers but does not boil over and make a mess.
6. Add your favorite toppings and enjoy.

That’s it. This is super easy and much healthier than the little packets of instant oatmeal; those are loaded with sugar. Before you dump a bunch of sugar into your cereal, try things like

• fresh fruit
• some chopped nuts
• some chopped, dried fruit
• a couple teaspoons of real maple syrup

If you give it a chance, you may find that you enjoy oatmeal with a lot less sweetness than you expect.

What are your favorite oatmeal add-ins? Post them in the comment section below.

Torah Study Version (Feeds a Minyan)

Use the amount of water not oats to guess the recipe size. Each person eats about 1/2 cup to 1 cup of cooked oatmeal, which translates into about 1/2 cup to 1 cup of water. Scale everything else appropriately. Here is what I cook most Saturday mornings at UH.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups regular oatmeal (6 servings)
• generous 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• scant 1/2 tsp. salt
• 6 cups water

Instructions

1. Bring the water and salt to a boil.
2. Add oats and cinnamon.
3. Boil gently, stirring occasionally, until the texture is a little wetter than you want to eat.
4. Serve and enjoy.

The only trick is to stop cooking while the oatmeal is still soupier than you want to eat. It will thicken on the table while it waits for people to serve it.

Now you know my deepest, darkest kitchen secrets. Feel free to experiment. What’s the worst that can happen? You will throw out a bit of oatmeal. The world has lots of oats; don’t stress about it.