Oats

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21. What three endless food supplies would you take if you were going to be stranded on an island? (Imagine your nutritional needs have been met, these are a bonus!)

Okay - so you already know what my number one food supply would be- but here's my second one. 

Oats. 

I have an addiction to oats. The first few days here when I didn't have any were almost unbearable. Anyone who met me on those first few days is very aware of just how much I was missing oats. 

And then I almost had some sort of meltdown in the store because they DIDN'T HAVE ANY OATS. The shop assistant tried to convince me that they did - pointing to those little instant oat sachets - but they DIDN'T HAVE ANY OATS. Not real oats anyway. 

I had to go to the other store (which was more expensive) pretty much just to get oats. On the way home from the first store. Even though I had frozen veggies from the first store and so was almost certain to get food poisoning. 

Seriously - what type of store doesn't have oats? 

But I was talking to one of my new made friends about just how deeply this crisis had affected me - about just how lost I had been without oats. And he totally agreed with me - that sachets weren't really oats - that little bags are kind of pointless and not worth the effort - and that he loved oatmeal (or porridge) for breakfast. 

He said that he has oatmeal with raisins and nuts for breakfast practically every single day and never gets bored. 

At first - I only partly agreed with him. My mind was racing with all the variations that you could have of dried fruit and nuts. Fresh fruit and nuts. Fruit and seeds. Adding spices. Nut butter instead of  chopped nuts. All the specific variations.... strawberry shortcake oats. Lemon meringue pie oats. Carrot and blueberry oats. Cinnamon and raisin oats. All the variations were flashing threw my mind. 

Later I realized that he was right. That I didn't need all the endless variations- although I will still continue changing everything and coming up with many oatmeal variations. I didn't even need the nuts and the raisins. 

All I actually need is the oats. Because I will never get bored of them. 

Even if I had oats for every meal - I probably wouldn't get bored of them. They're creamy and comforting. And now I sound like I'm being soppy over a boyfriend or something. 

Is it possible to marry a bag of oats? Although it might get into the record book for shortest lasting marriage. 

Because a bag of oat's never lasts long in my life. 

Oatmeal with Nuts and Raisins

Serves 1

• 1/4-1/2 cup of oats - I normally use 1/3 of a cup. 1/2 cup is a bit to much for me- and 1/4 of a cup is more like a snack. 
• Twice as much liquid as oats (so I use 2/3 cup). I use all plant milk - but you can use all water- or half and half if you want. All water is obviously cheaper- but all milk is slightly creamier. My Mom doesn't like all water (she thinks it's gross) but personally I don't see anything wrong with it
• 1 Tablespoon of raisins (okay - so I used sultana's because that's all I had) 
• Chopped nuts- about 1 Tablespoon - although I used more because I was picking out nuts and chopping them - and I was too indecisive. 

• Add the liquid and oats to a pan. Put over a low heat and stir pretty constantly. It normally takes about 5-10 minutes. I'm pretty impatient - my oatmeal isn't always completely cooked when I eat it - but cook it until it's the consistency you prefer. 
• Top with the nuts and raisins. Alternatively - you can add these at the start of the cooking- so the raisins will because soft and juicy and the nuts soft. 
• If you want to cook these in the microwave- just stir the oats and milk together in a heat safe bowl and cook on high for a few minutes - watching to make sure that they don't boil over.