As the week rolls on, I get more urges to clean! It’s so weird. Instead of watching Gossip Girl this morning, I’m doing laundry and cleaning bathrooms. 5 minutes here or there really add up and then my weekends are totally free to play!
I had lots of fun playing with my oats this morning too. But I’m giving up on quick oats. They are sooo blah!! Just going to have to bake or something with the rest of this canister and get some rolled oats this weekend. The quick oats gelatinize, are not naturally sweet at all and don’t seem to blend with my banana. I dont’ get it because quick oats are really just pulverized rolled oats (to increase the surface area) but perhaps these are also par-boiled and that’s the problem. I need to restock my Quaker Old Fashioned. Oldie but goodie 
Chocolate Almond Coconut
The Mix
- 1/4 cup quick oats
- 2 tbsp 10 grain hot cereal
- 2/3 cup water
- 1/2 cup 1% milk
- 1/2 banana
- 1/2 tbsp chia seeds
- ~3 tbsp wheatberries
- Maranatha Dark Chocolate Almond Butter (the best part about it is that it MELTS!!)
- ~5 chopped almonds
- Coconut
I thought using my creamer dish would make them creamier – not so!
It’s only 40* here this morning – brrrrrrrr!!! My taste for coffee returned with the cold weather like Mary Poppins with the seasons.
A Seahorse!?
I’m still enjoying my internship and the busy days that keep my mind working hard. Time is flying, which is always a good thing
Hope y’all have a good day!
{ 67 comments… read them below or add one }
‘Oldie but goodie’ – oh my, that reminds me of something Jillian says in the 30 Day Shred DVD! Bad memories, bad memories!!!
Have a good day
Today’s oats look yummy! And I love the use of the creamer dish…too cute!
Can you pass on some of your urge to clean this way??
I’ve actually never tried quick oats and only used the rolled – after reading the gelatinize, dont blend with banana, and not naturally sweet at all, I’m happy thats the case! Have a good day!!
When you get to be my age, you’re not so glad that time flies. Your Uncle Mel, who is turning 100 next week, says it really flies when you are his age.
How about using the quick in the egg white pancakes. I love to add pumpkin, chia, cocoa nibs and either coconut flour or PB2. Such a staple for me! I use oat bran though.
Come clean my house please:)
I agree about the quick oats. They just aren’t as good!! I don’t like the texture- they seem gluey to me. Quick question: is 1/4 cup really a serving? That doesn’t seem like enough!
1/4 a cup is half a serving, but 2 tbsp of Bob’s Red Mill 10 Grain is also half a serving. Two halves = 1 whole
I’ve never had quick oats! Probably a good thing
Have a good day Kath
Quaker old-fashioned oats are definitely my hands down fave. But now that it’s getting warmer, it’s cereal time, baby! Woo hoo!
Yes, I get that excited about cereal.
your crazy love of cleaning is totally rubbing off on me!! i spent my morning free minutes cleaning the inside of the fridge door today (did the shelves and drawers thoroughly yesterday). it is lovely having weekends free!
the shape in your mug in the second shot looks like the moon.
The oats looked really cute in the creamer, even if they didn’t taste creamy! I’ve been a cleaning maniac since spring sprung too. Must be all that sunlight hitting the dust! Don’t work too hard!
I like the creamer dish…cute!
I agree, quick oats are kinda slimy? I use them to make pancakes and mix half-n-half with regular oats when making granola.
I love your morning coffee shapes – we use a bodum, but since we make coffee for two I never end up with much foam
1. In the second photo the coffee looks like a smiling crescent moon!
2. Every morning, when I am not teaching boot camp, I JUMP out of bed and clean like a crazy woman for about 7 minutes. It’s amazing how clean my house is with just those few minutes + another 10 minutes here and there to vacuum, mop, do bathrooms etc.
3. I LOVE the feeling of a super clean house- now if only I knew how to organize my stuff better! I need a KERFervention!
I can’t do quick oats at all anymore after having old fashioned. They are so much better!
Ick, I hate trying to use things up that I don’t like… I’m sure you’ll get lots of brilliant suggestions for how to use them up, but they are very useful as a thickener/binder- e.g. in homemade burgers, smoothies, fruit crumbles etc. I wonder if quick oats tend to gelatinise more readily than rolled oats because the amylose and amylopectin chains are cut shorter, so maybe are released into the liquid to gel more readily-or maybe they use an oat with higher levels of amylopectin (gels) than amylose (thickens)?! Ok, geek now leaving the building
I miss the combination of brain work and physical activity that comes with straight up studying… hmmmm. Have a lovely day!
I envy you. Given the choice between GG and cleaning, well, I don´t know if I could ever choose to clean
Especially when there is Blair and Chuck to be had!
That’s one funny looking seahorse! I totally love reading what your coffee foam shape is every morning, though. I miss hearing about your internship, even though I know why we’re not hearing about it anymore.Very glad to hear you’re still enjoying it, though.
Quaker is the best! I love buying their bulk oats at Costco — under $20 for 10 pounds of oats. What a deal!
I just have to jump in to say that most grocery stores (around here, at least) have bulk old fashioned oats for about ,85 cents/pound…so 10 pounds would be about $8.50. Even 10 pounds of organic bulk oats would cost maybe $14 or so? If you’re really paying $2/pound of oats, I bet you could find a better deal (not that oats are what’s breaking most of our grocery budgets
)
The Costco oats are the cheapest around – I think it came down to $.77/lb. My guess is Erin just rounded the price
This is reminding me that I haven’t used quick oats since the packs I had growing up sometimes. I really love the creamer filled with oats, too bad ours is so much smaller! And spring should come back to us soon!
I love how we food bloggers are so particular with our oats!! I don’t think I could do quick oats either, rolled oats are best!!! Lately I’ve been cleaning in little spurts too!! Its a win-win situation: you get to enjoy a clean house AND don’t have to clean on weekends!!
I don’t like quick oats either! I need to try some of that Maranatha chocolate peanut butter…. I saw it in my health food store the other day and nearly bought it but couldn’t bring myself to do it.
I only like quick oats in baked goods. The best ones are the Bob’s Red Mill thick rolled oats, I think
I think oats are cheap enough and you made a good enough effort that you should just throw out the rest of the quick oats and not worry so much. I am not one to waste food ever but in this case it just makes sense. Why eat something you are enjoying so little!?! life is too short. Honestly, even baked goods aren’t as good with the instant ones.
you puts your oats in the cutest containers
i’m glad you’re still liking the internship and everything…and can’t wait to see where it takes you!
Those oats look so pretty in that creamer.
I am glad you are enjoying your internship! That makes it something to look forward to. The oats looks delicious…as always! I love baked oatmeal. Great for quick breakfast or snacks! Have a great day!
I just bought the dark chocolate almond butter yesterday and it is so so good! I also bought the unsweetened coconut flakes to put on this morning’s oats—-more please!
It’s freezing here too! But totally worth it for tomorrow’s 84 degrees forecast!
Fun idea to use your creamer cup! I’m not a huge fan of quick oats either… I think my favorite are Bob’s Red Mill Regular rolled oats….
I have found that quick oats actually work best in oatmeal pancakes since they absorb the egg white a lot easier than the rolled oats do, but i definitely agree with you on eating them as oatmeal; they just don’t cut it!
Coffee from the french press is the best way to enjoy a cup of joe, in my opinion.
Hope you get some warm weather soon!
that looks like a manatee to me!
Hi there Kath
I have a question about coconut: according to some sources, its fat is super saturated and really bad for you, and according to others, we had gotten it completety wrong and it’s actually almost good for us? What should I believe?
Thank you!
The sat. fat in coconut is not bad for you! It’s high in medium chain fatty acids, which can be used for energy. Unless you are at a very high risk for CAD, I wouldn’t worry about it.
It’s crazy how cold it is in some areas of the south!
Hi Kath! I’ve been reading your blog for a few weeks now — and I’m really enjoying it! You’re so organizied with your blogging!! I often spend a large amount of time on the weekends cleaning — I definitely want to start cleaning a little every day! That’s going to be one of my goals for May
Thanks for reading!
Glad your internship is going well!
Nothing like the old fashioned oats..
I ADORE that mug. Those oats put it to shame of course
I’m glad things are going well for you Kath! You totally deserve it!
Blech–I used quick oats last time I was staying at my parents’ at they were DISGUSTING. I don’t know how my mom eats them every day (but if she’s eating oatmeal every day, I’m not going to question it)!
What about making some (fitnessista) breakfast cookies with the quick oats? You could make mini ones to have for snacks and treats. Of course, using them in a baked good is never a bad idea, either.
The creamer dish is a great idea!
I’m glad your internship is going well
It’s been a little chilly here for the past two days, and my craving for coffee totally returned as well. Isn’t it weird how that works?
Ahh! It’s totally a seahorse. That’s the husband and my animal…if a couple can have an animal lol. Something about how they mate for life or something. We even had them on our wedding invites!
Yum, I bet that melted MaraNatha chocolate almond spread is sooo delish in there! It looks SO good!
Jenn
A seahorse in your coffee? LOVE it! I spongepainted my bathroom and Ted Danson’s face showed up. No lie. I think I’d rather the seahorse.
I’m not a fan of quick oats either. I tried steel cut, but couldn’t stand their texture either. I prefer rolled oats and about half as much liquid as most people use.
I think your coffee figure looks like a manatee!! Haha
I always spend a few minutes cleaning in the morning. That way I can come home and have a little less to do. I hate leaving the house dirty, so as long as I clean here and there, it never gets too bad.
I like the bowl. I love getting things done in the morning and feeling setup so I don’t have to stress about it.
That’s exciting the the weeks are just rolling on by! Soon you’ll be going on vacation and moving.
5 minutes definitely adds up! I always try to clean up the kitchen while my oats are cooking, then it’s not waiting for me at the end of the day
Kath! It’s not a seahorse, silly! It’s a 1/2 moon! Check pic #3 of the coffee
i wish i was finding the urge to clean – unfortunately, the springier it gets the less spring cleaning i wanna do…i have to read home magazines and sites to get myself “in the mood” – i call it my cleaning porn!
I gave up on quick oats awhile ago and used them in making quick breads.
when I get home from work, before I even sit down, I try to clean for 10-15 minutes. Once I sit, I a not getting back up, so I go while I am alreayd “going” and it works well!
quick oats are so lame
i totally agree. i miss my rolled oats, too! i accidentally bought quick oats at the market last time and my roommate and i buy the BIG containers so i gotta wait it out 
…but your oats still look yummy
!
40*??? I hate how unstable spring weather is… it’s sort of like, “Warm, summer, yay!” and then a few days later… “F@#&$ it’s cold! #$%#$!!!”
I really like how you used that bowl by the way… Too cute! Sometimes we need to take a break from the traditional! (Like how some people eat oats in measuring cups?)
Wei-Wei
I can’t get over that table! I didn’t ask before, because I figured I’d be that straggler who was asking the same question that had been asked 500 times, but …please tell me where you got it????!!!
It was a gift to my mother a long time ago
Your breakfast is so cute! Looks amazing with nuts and coconut! And you’re making me crave a good French press of coffee.
The one cup looks like Goodnight Moon. 
I’ve really enjoyed your blog! Keep it up!
I always have quick oats on hand for baking and for oatmeal pancakes! They seem to work better for me in pancakes than the old fashioned, but I agree – old fashioned are the best for oatmeal.
I love cleaning and usually once I get started it’s hard to stop since I keep seeing more things I want to get done!
However, when the weather is really nice I just want to go outside and never come back in!
you could consider ODing on oatmeal pancakes to use up the quick oats hahaha
I think your coffee image looks more like a beaten-up boxing glove
And good idea to bake with the oats instead – there’s no point forcing yourself to eat something when it really doesn’t work for you!