2024-06-27

Blackberry season has begun

A small white porcelain bowl full of ripe blackberries

A mason jar of dark purple blackberry smoothie with a straw

A yellow bowl containing baked oatmeal in front of a window. The oatmeal is mixed with blended blackberries so it's purplish pink with apple wedges across the top

Tiny Life Journal - The first blackberries of the season have been teasing the past few days. I harvested a small bowl today, half for a blackberry lemonade smoothie and half for blackberry-apple baked oatmeal. I eat oatmeal almost everyday, sometimes twice a day. It's at least 30% of my daily calories so I buy it in bulk in 50lb bags. It costs a lot less and I can compost the paper bag.

I say baked but really, it's microwaved because I don't use the oven in the summer as that works against my effort to stay cool. But what I've found is that it's entirely possible to make baked oatmeal in the microwave. A recipe for a one person meal or perhaps a 2-3 serving snack:

First I do this bit: 1/2 cup oatmeal blended into flour with 1tsp sugar, 1/8th tsp salt, 1/4th tsp cinnamon 1/2 cup oatmeal

Then 3 tsp sugar and 1/4 cup soy milk blended into blackberries for a second. Mix that into the oatmeal. It's thick like batter, evenly wet but not soupy like oatmeal. I usually make this without the blackberries in which case I use 1/4 cup soy milk and 1/4 cup water to get the right consistency.

Then slice a small apple or half a large apple. And put it on top, kinda push it into the oatmeal a bit so some is mixed in, some is on top.

Microwave 2-3 minutes. Cover it with a plate and let it sit for 10 minutes.

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