Oatmeal Enthusiasts: Meet Cathy G.!

Hey, oatmeal lovers. I know, I’ve been absent a few weeks. As always, I blame it on lots of cloudy days and an inadequate camera. Thankfully, today I can introduce you to Cathy, whom you recognize thanks to her guest recipes, Cherry Chili Brownie Baked Oatmeal, Vegan Scrambled Eggs Oatmeal, and Cinnamon-Tahini Icing. I can’t believe she hasn’t been an Enthusiast yet, but that problem is solved today!

Hi!

My name is Cathy (well, it’s Kasia in reality but on the Internet I’m known as @cathyhope9).

Lauren has honored me with the title of Oatmeal Enthusiast of May 2017 and I’m proud to be included in such a noble group of oatmeal lovers!

I’m a 22-year-old Chemistry student from Poland. I discovered oatmeal about three years ago and I quickly got addicted to it! Now I need my cup of oats daily!

I never had oatmeal for breakfast until I started college. I got interested in working out, eating clean and being fit. I learned about overnight oats, and I made them only with Greek yoghurt and banana. My classes started early, so having ready-to-eat breakfast in the fridge was perfect solution. On weekends I made stove-top oatmeal with apples (and with water! I was vegetarian but I hated cow’s milk). I discovered that when I don’t eat yoghurt, my face is clearer so I cut down on dairy. I found out about veganism and made slow transition to plant-based lifestyle. (My mom threatened me that she will stop cooking for me if I ever go vegan, but she still cooks for me.) I’ve never had vegan overnight oats! (And I need to change that soon!)

My favourite type of oatmeal is definitely baked oatmeal. I can have it only when I’m at home (because we don’t have an oven in dorm) and it makes it very special breakfast I impatiently look forward to. I learned about baked oatmeal from Jasmin (@jasmin.clean.eat) whom I “met” on fitness app. She shared a recipe with me and I fell in love with baked oatmeal from the first bite 😉

I don’t remember how I found The Oatmeal Artist blog or how or who recommended me it but I’ve been a faithful reader since then. I learned so many useful tricks from Lauren, like segmenting orange, mixing PB2 with fork…. I read about soaking oats before cooking on the blog. Lauren’s imagination and creativity has no limits and I have never been disappointed in any of her recipes.

I eat oatmeal everyday, before classes, before working out, I ate oatmeal before running my first half marathon! When I can’t eat oatmeal, like when I don’t have access to kitchen, when I’m travelling, I start missing my oats very quickly.  Need proof that I’m an oatmeal lover? Some time ago I bought new shoes and a 2-kilogram bag of oats on sale and guess what made me more excited? Of course oats!

Day 1

It was Palm Sunday (that’s why I pictured my palm with my oatmeal) and for breakfast I had oatmeal with the best plant based milk I’ve ever had: rice-coconut milk (It was so delicious that I drank it straight from the carton and when I used it for oatmeal, I didn’t add any spices because I didn’t want to mask its flavour) and grapes.

Day 2

On Monday I made Orange-Sweet Potatoes Oatmeal and topped it with walnuts. I think my roommate has gotten used to the fact that I add potatoes to oatmeal 😉 She was very surprised with my food choices when we moved in together 😉

Day 3

Tuesdays are very tough days. I have classes from 9am until 5pm with only one short break so I need breakfast to fill me up for long time. I made oatmeal I call “Root Vegetables” Oatmeal (with sweet potato, parsnip and carrot) and added some apple, raisins and pepitas.

Day 4

This is what I call “Dump Oatmeal.” I made it on a day when I went home for Easter break and had to use as much of my fruits as I could. There were apples, oranges, banana kiwi, grapes and nuts. Honestly, this is the oatmeal I usually do, I don’t follow any recipe, I just throw whatever fruit I feel like eating.

Day 5

First morning back at home means one thing: baked oatmeal. I couldn’t decide what fruits I wanted to put into my oatmeal… so I added everything: pear, grapes, frozen pineapple and frozen plums. I love having a supply of frozen fruits. That way I can feel like it’s summer when there’s snow outside!

Day 6, 1 & 2

Yes, you see right: I ate two different bowls of oatmeal on Saturday 🙂 One was Orange Rhubarb Oatmeal with Orange PB2 (that I had to make perfect for “Spring” Oatmeal contest) and Mango-poppyseed Oatmeal that was inspired by my friend Jasmin’s (jasmin.clean.eat) picture on Instagram. I love mango and poppyseed so I fell in love with Jasmin’s idea and had to try it. The combo is perfect! I topped it with blackstrap molasses.

Day 7

This baked oatmeal is a combo of Lauren’s Coconut Banana Baked Oatmeal and Lemon Lover’s  Baked Oatmeal. It was delicious! I think lemons are very underestimated fruit in oatmeal! (TOA: I AGREE!!!!)

Thank you Lauren for giving me a chance to write this post and  I hope you enjoyed it!