Whenever the phone rings in the middle of the night my heart jumps out of my chest and I panic just a little on the inside. Less so since the bakery opened since Matt occasionally gets calls that the mixer is stuck or so-and-so slept through their alarm.
Around 6 this morning he gets a call from a different zip code. He answered it and quickly left the room. I, of course, started to worry.
Then I hear the following words coming from the spare room:
CHOCOLATE……BROWNIE……SUGAR.
I knew things had to be OK and smiled. As it turns out, he was talking to another bakery owner who was inquiring about the Chocolate Bliss Cookie recipe!
Ah the life of a baker 
Oatmeal was ready for me just as I woke up this morning. I had about 5 pages left in Catching Fire and took it back to bed to finish reading! Our basement can be so dark and our bedroom is SO bright in the AM, that I’m enjoying this ritual for its cheerful start.
I’ve been out of rolled oats and keep forgetting to pick up more, so when this duo of oatmeal mix came yesterday as an OpenSky product, I dumped some into the rice cooker and set the timer.
These get an RDs thumbs up for ingredients and nutrition:
Real food, and no added sugar! High in protein and fiber from the grains, chia and flax too.
Into the rice cooker went: 1/2 cup Holly’s multigrain oatmeal and 1.5 cups water. Porridge setting – go!
I stirred in a third a cup of milk when it was done. This always turns it into soup! That’s OK with me and I like the protein and calcium milk adds, but I have to think of other alternatives to keep the oats thicker and myself in my bed until it’s ready.
Topped with Mexican Hot Chocolate Nuts About Granola (was on sale at OpenSky last week – has a great spicy kick to it!) and Whole Foods peanut butter drizzle.
I have tons of things to do for the new blog (I forgot how difficult setting one up is!), a lunch date and bakery work to do today. Have a great one!
{ 108 comments… read them below or add one }
Ahhhhh, to go back to bed and read in the morning….bliss!
Looks like a great product – similar to Better Oats Raw, which keeps me full for hours with the mix of grains!
Zip or area? After overhearing CHOCOLATE and BROWNIE, I would have wanted a brownie for breakfast.
Hahah – AREA code!
I agree! It would have been either brownie or brownie oatmeal on the mind
I can’t believe you only had 5 pages left of Catching Fire to read! There’s no way I would have been able to put it down before bed. You must have been exhausted by the excitement of yesterday
Hope you liked the series; I really enjoyed those books. I’m finally going to catch up with the times and read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo soon.
I literally fell asleep! So tired
Can’t wait to start the next one!
I’m reading thd Tattoo one now too. Slow start, but it’s starting to get a little more interesting now. Hope it picks up and lives up to the hype though!
It will! The series is AMAZING! I liked it better then *gasp* the Hunger Game series. Not really comparing apples to apples (stories to stories?) but you get my point!
Hi Kate,
Do you have something on your blog talking on the exprience on opening your bakery?. We are looking to open our own bakery and any tips would be great!.
You are really loving your rice cooker! I bet is nice to wake up and have the bf ready
Another question I had for u (even must be a bit late for questions) is why have you reduced the veggies on your diet? Is because you don’t feel want to eat too much of them? Or because you rather have more calcium and proteins for the baby? (Just curious, I haven’t had a baby)
She explains this in her Itty Bitty Details post. Veggies have been making her sick!
Oh yes, I missed that part yesterday when read the blog. Thanks. I was too excited for the news!! HA!
If you look for http://www.katheats.com/tag/greatharvest you will find all of the bakery related posts. You might have to dig back a little bit to find the older ones about start-up. We opened on June 3, 2011.
And yes, veggies are unappealing.
Lovely! Thanks Dear!
To prevent the soupy oats, what about adding yogurt to the oatmeal instead of milk? Or adding chia seeds to soak up some of the extra liquid? …but the latter would require some more waiting time.
Yogurt is a good idea..I’m always afraid of it separating in the hot oats, but I guess I don’t care too much about cottage cheese in there.
Can you reduce the amount of water you use and add milk during the cooking process? (or do you not do that because you add the oats and water the night before?) I usually make my oats with just water, but I feel like I would do either water or milk, but not both, or not as much water if also adding milk. Anyway, now I’m wishing I had oats for breakfast instead of an egg scramble!
well I want them to be ready when I get up, so I don’t want to have to do anything midway through. I’m sure I’ll figure something out. Cottage cheese sure is a good solution!
Yogurt doesn’t separate in hot oats, at least not in my experience. I think as long as you use a dense Greek yogurt, which has a better protein count, it’s fine.
I will try it!
I was loving the ingredients until I got to barley – I’m allergic! BOOO!!!!! They do look delicious though!! And such cute packaging!!!!
Yummy combo! Robin’s egg blue and sunny yellow make for a very cheery breakfast setting! Your off to a great start to the day! Not such a sunny start to our day here, though the temperature is nice and crisp. Hopefully I will get started on my next chocolate adventure in baking…first attempt last week… not so good. Just needs tweaking…so much fun!
Specialty oatmeal with no added sugar?! I need that oatmeal in my life.
I’m hosting a giveaway today for V-Day cookies form Cookie Underground, a company that makes cookies from veggies. Thought you might be interested – you know, extra nutrients for the baby.
oh man they called at 6! startling! Glad everything was okay. I’ve never thought to set my rice cooker overnight, something about leaving an appliance on unattended scares me but I guess I’ve done it with a slow cooker during the day before plenty of times.
With all the knowledge you have from this blog, starting a new one has to be SO cool! I can’t wait for its launch!
Chocolate and Brownies are two words I wouldn’t mind waking up to. It would be better if I woke up to the smell of chocolate and brownies.
Yum! I love that polka dot bowl! Can’t wait to read your new blog!
You have such a feel-good blog. I can’t get enough. Thanks for the daily inspiration
Thanks Erin, what a nice compliment
When the new blog is up, will you still be posting thrice a day?
On KERF? Yes. 3 meals!
New blog will be posting when I feel like it
Oo good! I’m glad to hear this!
Yay!! I love the 3 food journal type posts. so many other blogs have gotten away from this and have turned into recipe blogs…which is ..eh…ok… but I prefer the food journal entries since thats why I started reading food blogs in the first place!
LOVE your pictures btw.
We own a bunch of rental properties and anytime the phone rings between the hours of 10pm-7am, I know it can never be a good thing. I usually cringe waiting for my husband to spill the news about whatever household thing isn’t working properly. Thankfully, I’m not the one who has to (or can really) deal with it
What an interesting wake-up call! The oats sound delicious – love the goji berries and chia seeds in there. Need to track some down! Have a fun lunch date!
Hmm, did I stop getting your OpenSky updates!? I haven’t seen a notice about your new products in a while! I thought maybe you just hadn’t had any…I’m going to have to figure this out!
Regardless, that granola sounds fab!
Hmmm – There have been quite a few newsletters going out. And there is GRANOLA coming up soon so you won’t want to miss that!
AHHHHHH!! I just fixed my newsletter settings – somehow they changed on me! THANK GOODNESS I fixed that before the granola!!
That’s definitely a good wake up call! Chocolate and sugar! Have a great day Kath!
Congratulations!
Thanks DadHTP!!!
Can’t wait to read your new blog!
I lost my rice cooker in hurricane Irene when my basement flooded with 4 feet of water! I kept telling myself that it was down there because I never used it. You have made me rethink my decision of not replacing it. Although, I am afraid I will start eating too many grains if I have one. I love them all and overeat them when I do include them in a meal. I cannot help myself, they are just so good.
The phone ringing that early would certainly give me a heart attack. Glad it was about cookies
I’m looking forward to reading your new blog. I’ve got serious baby envy 
Love how happy and upbeat you sound in this post! Babies (and babies on the way) are magical
YUMMY! That b-fast looks rockin’!
phone calls in the middle of the night would freak me out too! I always feel like only bad things are happening when you get a call like that, but I guess not when you have a business that’s still running in the middle of the night!
Maybe adding chia seeds to the liquid while the oats are cooking might help thicken it up? Just a suggestion
I love that nutriional profile, especially glad there’s no added sugar and salt – so common with packaged cereals. And, the packaging is adorable!
Again, every happiness to you and Matt…I haven’t stopped smiling since I’ve heard your news!
Mexican Hot Chocolate was my winning flavor from their contest! It’s definitely different – very good on top of banana “ice cream”. Glad you like it!
Oh fun!! It was good
With all the late-night calls and early morning wake ups for the bakery you guys will be well prepared for a baby’s schedule!
The flavors of those oatmeals sound delicious! Cranberry Almond & Goji Berry… yum!
That oatmeal sounds delicious! Cannot wait to read your new blog!
Glad that the middle of the night phone crisis was nothing more than chocolate, brownie, and sugar….whew!
I grew up in a house where if the phone rang in the middle of the night for my dad, it was not a good thing and quite that easy so middle of the night calls are never good. But chocolate ones are at least palatable, sort of 
Congratulations, Kath!!!
I am so excited for your new blog. Your blog here is so bright, happy and cheerful; it’s what I look forward to every morning. Plus, I get so many wonderful ideas from your food pics! Kath, I have no idea how you can make oatmeal and cereral breakfasts so gorgeous Every. Single. Day., but you do and I love it. All your different bread, though, kills me; I wish I was on the same coast so that I can buy 10 loaves from your shop a day, because this carboholic’s getting tired of drooling over my keyboard, haha!
Thanks for sharing your creations every day.
thanks Annie
In my next life…I want to own a bakery! Even if it involves hearing about chocolate chips early in the morning!
Congratulations Kath and Matt!
I cannot wait to see the new blog! How exciting to hear about your pregnancy along the way!
Ps- Enjoy every moment, and thank you for sharing !
I just want to thank you for all the thought and effort (and beautiful pictures) you put into your blog. It is the first thing I check in the morning and the last thing I check at night. I lOVE coming here and I really appreciate your happy, positive attitude and healthy outlook and lifestyle! I’ve been with you since the beginning and you’re blog has really inspired me and blessed my life!
Thank you Laurie!
Mexican hot chocolate granola sounds fantastic!!! I’ve never heard of a flavor like that!
your oatmeal looks delicious! question for you regarding flax… (it made me think of it when i saw it was in our oatmeal) i read somewhere that whole flax seeds aren’t as good for you as ground flax because the nutrients don’t absorb into your body as well. do you know if this is true?
That is indeed true. Flax must be ground to get the nutrients out. However, whole flax won’t hurt you and still acts as good fiber!
Ok, totally off topic, but I missed your posts for about the past week.
Congratulations!!! So wonderfully happy for you! Yay! Woohoo! Yippee!!!
Your breakfast looks amazing… I really need a rice cooker!
Wow. If only more products had an ingredient list like that.
I am so pumped about the new blog – I love everything and anything that has to do with pregnancy/babies, so I can’t wait!!!
Just wanted to say a (late) Congrats on your bun in the oven
I’m so excited for you & Mayfair can’t wait to read the new baby blog!
Correction: I’m so excited for you & matt and I can’t wait…
Dumb auto correct! Haha
I am very, very jealous of your morning!!
I used my rice cooker for the first time last night to make savory oats for dinner. They were definitely VERY fluffy (and delicious)! I’ll be experimenting with grains all throughout the week, and can’t wait for the weekend when I can set it to cook my oatmeal while I’m at the gym!
The life of a baker sounds pretty fantastic. What better way to wake up than to hearing about brownies?
Hope you get to enjoy this amazing weather today!!
always excited to hear about new oat product! thanks.
You blog posts on oatmeal cooked in your new rice cooker has made me seriously consider getting one too!!! Can you tell me where you got your rice cooker? did you have to order it online??? Thanks so much! LOVING all your breakfast posts as usual!! Hugs!
I ordered it from Amazon.com – easy as pie. Love it!
Thanks, Kath! I’m off to amazon now to check prices
)))
So, I researched the exact rice cooker you got from amazon, and found it on ebay for $128, so I’m super excited!!! It’s my Valentine’s present from the hubby.
so sentimental, i know, but I’m so excited and can’t wait to have my own rice cooker make oatmeal for me in the morning!!! Please keep the rice cooker blog posts coming, they are so inspiring! blessings!
Steal!!! way to go!
Yum, mexican hot chocolate granola! Sounds amazing!
What do you do to your peanut butter to get it to “drizzle” into your morning oats? Mine is always big gloppy spoonfuls. What’s your secret?
The secret is buying brands that are in the liquidy side. Whole Foods is one of them!
Could you just drink the 3rd of a cup of milk on the side? That way you get the nutrients but don’t turn your oatmeal to soup.
Another great solution
Have a great day. Where was the orange juice this morning? I was obsessed with oj when I was pregnant. Never drank it before and don’t drink it now but could not get enough while I was pregnant!
Didn’t have any – had water instead. But I did have some after my workout!
Ahhh I hate that feeling when you think something is wrong. Maybe you could stir Greek yogurt in your oatmeal? It would still be thick and not soupy
Holy yum!!
Am I the only one missing out on Hunger Games???
Yes. Read them!
Isn’t it sad that we now have to classify foods like oats as “real” because there’s so much fake crap out there trying to be passed off as real food (ahem, Twinkies). I looked at the ingredient list on the side of a packaged baked good the other day and could barely pronounce any of the words listed. Kinda sad, huh? Oh well, I’m hoping someday we can go back to the time when there was no question as to what something was made from. If it said dried plum, it was just that. A dried plum. Not a plum with a bunch of sweeteners and preservatives. Ho-hum. Sorry to go off on a little tangent, but stuff like that really irks me sometimes. Your oatmeal looks absolutely delish, by the way. I love porridgy oats much better too. Kinda like an hot oat smoothie
Very excited to hear you are expecting. I’m also due in August, and am about 14 weeks along now. Also dipping my feet into the brave new world of baby blogs (though I’m not sure about the baby bump photos just yet.) Your healthiness during your first trimester is pretty darn impressive. I’ve been craving sour patch kids like mad!
Sour Patch Kids sound pretty good to me!
You’ve Inspired me to make my own blog! Check it out if you get a chance! any suggestions?
also you said you got the oatmeal from open sky but I cant find it on there?
Thank you so much for the inspiration!
Congrats Lauren!
This is going to sound so lame, but I don’t think I could ever eat my breakfast in bed because I’d never get the motivation to get back OUT of bed!
I’m always afraid of the phone ringing in the middle of the night or early morning. I always assume the worse. I’m glad it was only a bakery emergency for you!
Holly’s Oatmeal sounds wonderful! The flavors and ingredients are my favorites!
I love your blog and am even more excited now that we’ll be able to follow you through parenting. Just wanted to let you know that its ok with me if pregnancy/kid stuff comes up on the blog despite what was said in the comments yesterday
hehe life of a baker indeed!
Kath,
You are adding too much water to my Oatmeal cut back and trust me it will be real thick! Or do what I do and do half water and half milk. But your adding about a half of a cup too much liquid. Thanks for the plug. Holly of Holly’s Oatmeal
Hi Holly,
This was the right amount for a rice cooker – it was a fine texture when it was finished. It’s just that I added milk at the end, which made it too runny. My mistake.
Kath,
Their are no mistakes everyone cooks things difference do what you like! I cook mine in low fat milk because I like it real creamy. Some people tell me they use heavy cream, some even use butter can you tell I’ve been in the South. Do what you like its great just that people are eating more grains.
Oatmeal in bed sounds like a great idea!
By the way my husband is in need of those granola, he’s been bugging me to get more. How can I get those? Pretty please?
OpenSky deal – likely the last week of Feb. If you get my newsletters, you’ll be prepared!
Thumbs up for nutrition! Thumbs down for potential contamination with nuts.
I have never seen Mexican Hot Chocolate Nuts before. They look good!
http://faithfulsolutions.blogspot.com/
I feel like I say this all the time but I like that linen. Is it new?
Ah the creative projects — both internal and external — can wipe a person out! Hope you’re having fun with both
I hate middle of the night calls. They make me nervous. Glad yours was just about chocolate!