Ideas for Oats?

I bought some "Old-fashioned" rolled oats at the store the other day. I made some this morning following the instructions (simmer 3-5 minutes in boiling water) and mixed it with my Kashi GoLean Crunch! cereal and two tbsp PB.

I liked the taste of the oats fine, but not the warm mushy watery texture...it just made my crunch soggy! I don't even like milk in my cereal - I like it really crunchy.

Any suggestions for something I could do to make it less mushy? - Less water, less cooking, ... could I eat them raw? Or what if they soaked overnight in the fridge..?

Any suggestions are helpful. This is my first time making oatmeal.

I don't especially like mushy, but I do like creamy. I make my oatmeal with 1/2 cup oats, 1/2 cup water, 1/2 cup plain soy milk (you can use milk instead), about 1/6 cup raisins, a dash of vanilla and some good quality cinnamon. Cook it over low heat until it is thick and creamy - not watery tasting in the least!

Technically you can eat oats raw, but you might find it a little challenging. Soaking them overnight is a good way to make them cook quicker, but not necessarily the answer to your mushy problem.

I think raw oats would taste good in my cereal. What would be difficult about eating them? Digestion?

Or perhaps, I was considering cooking them, and leaving them in the fridge. At least it'd be COLD mush... not warm. :X

Add less water. You can't really make them not be mushy though, unless you make granola out of them instead.

That's a good idea. I like granola much better (just not the cost!). It would be much cheaper to make my own.

Edit: I looked up granola recipes, but most involve ingredients I don't have (wheat germ, dried fruit, honey, vanilla). Any recipes with just oats?

You could feasibly bake just the oats on a sheet with maple syrup, sugar/brown sugar, a teensy bit of salt and some butter or a vegetable oil. I wouldn't reccomend baking them just plain - they would probably burn and not taste very good. But I'm sure you must have at least sugar and oil or butter at home. Things like dried fruit and nuts are just additional garnish. Follow the recipe for the key ingredients that you do have (oats, oil/butter, sweetening agent of some sort) and it will be fine.

You can make your own dried fruit to go into the granola. Well, at least your own banana or apple chips. And bulk containers of raisins are quite cheap.

Also, you can make your oatmeal crunchy by adding crushed nuts or seeds to it, or a chopped apple or pear on top.

I've put granola ontop of oats. And that didn't get soggy. Did you cook the kashi with the oats, or just sprinkle on top? Sprinkling on top after the oats were cooked shouldn't make it mushy.

You could also try a bircher-muesli. Soak your portion of oats over night in water, milk, or juice - just enough liquid to cover the oats. In the morning, drip out some of the excess liquid, and mix it with yogurt, chopped/grated apple, nuts/nut butter, dried fruit if you like. You can even add some crunchy cereal to this and it will stay crunchy. Yogurt doesn't make cereal get soggy (not even Kix! I swear!) and it will help you get in the calories you need in an easy way. If you use a plain yogurt, I would suggest sweetening it a little with maple syrup or honey or something.

Thanks rebel! :) Yeah, my Kashi seemed a little more soggy than usual. At first it all tasted fine, but near the end I just could not handle the texture and warmth of the oats. :X It grossed me out.

The idea of soaking them a little overnight sounds like a good idea. Once I can find a yogurt I actually like I will try this!

I was considering doing this...

Taking 1/4 cup raw oats (not too much since I heard it can be hard to digest..?) with 1 cup of my Kashi crunch cereal, adding some chocolate soy milk to give it some flavor and then throwing some PB on top. Do you think this would work?

I loooooove overnight soaked oats - it is a staple breakfast for me!

Before I go to bed I throw a serving of oats in a bowl, add some raisens and nuts, then pour over enough soy milk to cover and leave it in the fridge. Then in the morning when you stir it around you get this lovely bowl of soft creamy oats, the raisens get all plump from soaking and the nuts are softened and deliciously moreish, I definitely recomend you try!

Sounds pretty good dondons. :) Maybe I will try overnight soaking it with my chocolate soy milk. That could be interesting lol!

I don't know how you feel about pumpkin, but I mix 1/3 oats, 1/3 almond milk, 1/3 c. canned pumpkin together, add sweetener (2 packets), cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and a couple drops of vanilla - stir then put in the fridge overnight. It tastes like pumpkin pie (more so if you use real milk) and an extra tsp. of powdered fat free milk also seems to make it creamier. Sometimes I add raisins and walnuts. I have this as dessert sometimes as well. The oats are soft, but I don't find they get as mushy as being cooked.

By "challenging" I just meant that dry, uncooked oats are hard to chew! If you put them in milk though, it is considerably easier.

I eat raw oats all the time!  Is that bad?

Not at all, sakura. Muesli is raw oats. Sometimes soaked overnight. Brands like Familia or Alpen are raw oats mixed with chopped nuts and raisins, and you can eat those just as they are, mixed into yogurt or applesauce. Just make sure you get a good amount of fluid to help digestion.

And askewing - something might consider is using about 1/2 to 2/3 cup water called for in your oats. I do that and they always have a nice chew, not mushy at all like instant oats are. Adding some still semi-frozen fruit and nuts (or crunchy PB) = crunchy and chewy. And I think putting 1/4 cup raw oats in with your Kashi will be fine, and that soaking them over night in a bit of soymilk would be quite good. If its chocolate, you could try topping it with whipped cream and strawberries for a dessert, since it would get quite thick and pudding like (assuming its regular Chocolate Silk, and its as rich/thick as I remember)

Thanks for all the help! :)

I soaked them overnight in the chocolate milk and it tasted pretty good in the morning with some kashi crunch and PB. I liked how they were cold and a little mushy. Not soaking!

Soon I may stop buying kashi crunch to save $ :-( so I will be experimenting with these oats and other things to add instead of the kashi.

I like mine really thick!  I use the same kind of oats and here is what I do:

heaping 1/2 Cup oats

slightly less than 1 Cup water

stir and let sit about 50 seconds

microwave for 1 min. 35 sec.

stir

let sit for about 50 sec.

mix about 1/3 cup of yogurt (any flavour you like) (I use fat free, sugar free fruit flavoured yogurts)

It is soooo yummy... I have it and an apple for dinner EVERY DAY!!! If you want something more, I would just double the amounts!! 

I use rolled oats in my oatmeal protein pancake and they're delicious. A dollop of apple butter (or prune butter for those adventurous types!) on the top, great breakfast!

Another thing to think about is steel cut oats - they aren't mushy like regular oats.  They DO take a long time to cook but IMO are very worth it - kind of chewy-crunchy.  I've only been eating them for a week but I adore them.  So does my picky 2-year old. 

My favorite way so far is to cook the oats with some cinnamon, then when they are done I add a mashed banana (half a banana for each serving) and a splash of vanilla.  They are fantastic and reheat well once they are cooked - I generally split up my morning oatmeal and eat half a few hours later on my first break at work.