An Ode to Oats and The Great Gado Gado

If you read yesterday's post, you will know that I promised you a photo of my breakfast. So here it is.

 

It is Voluminous Oats (you may know them as overnight oats), with sultanas, apricots and toasted flaked almonds. If you search the internet, there are many versions of voluminous oats (which I usually just call vol oats to save time! The one I use cooks the oats, some don't and there is, literally, a thousand different toppings out there. You basically cook the oats in double the amount of liquid ou usually would, and then leave it in the fridge overnight. And if all goes to plan, the oats should swell up and give you a multiplied bowl of porridge! I am curious to try it without cooking the oats, but I can't stop making this combination at the moment, purely because it is so, so filling! I eat mine cold, some people warm their's. Like I said, a million combinations. So Google it and give it a go!

 

 

On to The Great Gado Gado. Yes, I had another salad for tea tonight! But they are healthy. It's hot. Why wouldn't you have a salad? Whilst I was eating it, the thought crossed my mind that it would be best described as a fusion salad. The main body of the salad is quite like a traditional English picnic salad: lettuce, cucumber, carrot and boiled egg. But the dressing is sort of Thai/Asian inspired: crunchy peanut butter, soy sauce, honey and lime juice. It doesn't sound like it will work, but trust me, it does. The recipe said to add half to one tablespoon of honey; so to taste, basically. I was going to start off with half and then add more if I wanted, but for some reason I added the whole amount straight away! Not that it mattered. I like the sweet/salty combination in other places- salted caramel, sea salt chocolate etc- so I liked the sweetness of the honey next to the saltiness of the soy and peanut butter. And the zingy lime cut through all of that!

 

I must confess something though... mine didn't have cucumber in. Oh, I had cucumber in the fridge, but it was from last week and had gone a little but mushy. I was going to buy another on this week's shopping trip, but didn't see the point if I already had some, and didn't take into account the fact of how old it would be by the time I made this salad! To make up for the lack of greenery, I separated a few lime segments from the remaining lime and threw them in. Nice as it was, I'll try and stick to the recipe next time!

 

My base, sadly cucumber-less.

Even though the eggs were only supposed to be cut in half, I cut mine into segements as it was only for me, and you can't really arrange two halves around a bowl! Plus, it is easier to 'spread out' when you are eating the salad!

I would like to pretend that this is how the salad stayed, but right before I ate it...

... this happened! More variety in each mouthful, that is my excuse!