Goldilocks… and her oats!

The Story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears

Once upon a time, there was a little girl named Goldilocks.  She went for a walk in the forest.  Pretty soon, she came upon a house.  She knocked and, when no one answered, she walked right in.

At the table in the kitchen, there were three bowls of porridge. Goldilocks was hungry. 

She tasted the porridge from the first bowl. 

"This porridge is too hot!" she exclaimed.

So, she tasted the porridge from the second bowl.

"This porridge is too cold," she said

So, she tasted the last bowl of porridge.

"Ahhh, this porridge is just right," she said happily and she ate it all up……

Ok, well I can’t really blame her for eating the bears porridge...it would have been tempting after all (although if I was one of the bears I would have put my foot down and decided that we would not leave the house until we’d eaten all of the porridge- just in case!)

I figured today would be a fitting opportunity to re-live a little oatmeal magic. I eat a bowl of oats every day for breakfast, and often at other times of the day for a little snack to keep me going. It’s not just porridge that gives me a kick…we have the breakfast cookie, the bakewell oat tart, gorgeous granola, the simplest most versatile crumble topping, plus many of my pancake recipes such as have a hefty serving of oats!

So..i’ll get to the point. Today’s post is simply a little tribute to the humble oat to give you a little inspiration…and maybe a drool-worthy moment. Catering for all tastes and textures (as I know for many people it is the 'gloopy' texture of porridge that doesn't appeal) check out the teasers below..... I will take this opportunity to remind you that ALL these recipes are super healthy  (even when it doesn’t look that way!)

step by step: oats and soy milk- pre cooked... cooked oats with grated apple on top...apple mixed through plus toppings

This pictures above are my go-to everyday breakfast bowl. I usually eat when I get to work and keep oats, seeds, nuts and soy milk in the cupboard/fridge in the office. I then take an apple in with me each morning  and concoct this monster! If I’m feeling like a lighter breakfast I will reduce the amount of oats and keep everything else the same so once the apple is mixed through it’s simple ‘light’ oats and not so filling and heavy. I add quite a lot of soy milk so that the oats have a lovely creamy milky texture,  The best thing about this method is that grating the apple makes the bowl of oats look huge once its mixed through and it offers plenty of sweetness without any thing needing to be added. A few raisins/seeds/nuts are the perfect finali! I use this method in many of my variations with different toppings. Typically I go for ½ cup oats (usually porridge oats not steel cut), slightly under 1 cup soy milk- microwaved together for 90 seconds then with 1 grated apple mixed through before toppings added last.

Now, check out some more oat love below...............Mmmmmmmm!

 apple and mango oats- using thegrated apple method

 my favourite chocolate granola

 oh yeah... the breakfast cookie!

 a very milky PB&J styled combo

 (peanut butter oats with strawberry and nectarine)

 strawberries and almonds

 the bakewell almond oat-tart

 another breakfast cookie...coming to my blog very soon...

 plums and nuts

the banana choc classic...or go crazy with carob

super simple crumble topping

banana coconut granola

spiced apple and date and walnut pancake

For tips and info on recipe measurement conversions, ingredients, substitutions and the methods behind how I do things.... check out my 'baking tips' tab at the top of the page.