Product Review: Old Wessex Ltd. Scottish Style Porridge Oats

Breakfast in my house growing up was all about cold cereal and peanut butter toast.

Sometimes, I would pretend like I was working on the set of a major cereal box photo shoot. I would make myself the very breakfast which was featured on the front of my cereal box. You know, when cereal boxes used to have pictures of breakfast rather than movie stars and silly looking characters.

Huge bowl of cereal with milk. White bread toast with copious amounts of margarine. A banana. Orange juice.

Amen.

Now that's a health, well-balanced breakfast!

Right Food Pyramid?

The only time when there was a change of breakfast pace was when my dad made pancakes and bacon on Sunday mornings. The smell of bacon would wake my husky little ass up out of bed, I would run downstairs, and the feast would begin.

Most mornings, my mother ate puffed rice cereal. In my opinion, puffed rice cereal is the thing that makes people want to go on hunger strikes. To cease existing. To fall on the ground and plead for something to eat other than puffed rice cereal.

Puffed rice cereal?

Why?!

Some mornings, however, my dad would whip out his culinary expertise (I kid), and surprise mom with a nice steaming bowl of oatmeal.

In my childhood huskiness, when breakfast only included those things which were advertised on the front of the Lucky Charms box, oatmeal was strictly off limits. Moms ate oatmeal.


Now, I'm a fan of oatmeal, but I'm picky. I don't do packets of oatmeal. I don't like how they chop up the oats so much. I like my oats whole and hearty. Husky, if you will.

This morning for breakfast, I partook in a bowl of Old Wessex Ltd. Scottish Style Porridge Oats.



I picked up this container for $3.75 at MOM's (My Organic Market) yesterday. I thought the price was reasonable, and I was ready to try some new oats, so I went for it!

The Preparation:
I cooked my oats in the microwave for 3 minutes at 50% power, stirred, then cooked or another 2 minutes at 50% power. I always cook my oats at 50% power when I'm at work because otherwise, I blow them up and make a mess of the microwave. My boss doesn't really like it when I do that, especially since then it takes me like 10 minutes to clean blown-up oats from the microwave. Not the best way to get my quarterly bonus.

After taking them out of the microwave, I added a tablespoon of almond butter, and about 1/2 cup of almond breeze. Then I sprinkled the top with some HempPlus granola.

The Initial Impression:
I really liked the way that the oats smelled when they came out of the microwave. They looked cooked, but still retained their shape. For me, this is key, because I don't really do mushy oats. I'm just not a fan of the texture.

The Verdict:
I might be partial to these oats due to familial heritage alone, but I love them. I really liked how the individual oats did not mush out. They were actually chewy, which was a very welcome surprise for me.

I will be adding these oats to my short list of foods to buy on the regular. They are hearty, good for you, and chewy. That's fun.

Product Review: Truvia & Story Time

I must first say that I grew up on artificial sweeteners. My Momma has been type I diabetic since I could remember, so our house was padded with plenty of diet soda and sugar free candy.

In the 4th grade, I went on a field trip to The Burnet Park Zoo, which was a huge deal since I had never been to a zoo before in my life. Or, if I had, I just didn't remember it. I was so excited about the trip, and I loved the fact that my Momma so lovingly packed me a great lunch. She also packed me a root beer soda, which was really a treat, because I very rarely got to drink soda.

Since my school was way too cheap to rent a pavilion at the Zoo, we had to retreat back to the bus to eat our lunch. This was back in the days when the seats on buses weren't 16 feet high. You could see everything that was going on around you without even trying.

In the 4th grade, I was a little on the husky (see definition #1) side, and for some reason, everyone was always worried about what I was eating.

Needless to say, it was 'all eyes on the husky girl' as I pulled out my lunch.


Peanut butter and jelly sandwich...check.

Barbeque chips...check.

Disgusting creme-filled cookies...check.

Waist Watcher Root Beer soda...check!


I got completely blasted by my classmates for having this Waist Watcher soda. They thought it was hilarious that the husky girl was trying to watch her waist. They were relentless. I tried to justify that the name was not "weight watcher"...it was "waist watcher", so this somehow made it more reasonable for a husky 4th grader to partake in this beverage. They didn't see my point.

Oh well.

I thoroughly enjoyed that soda anyway, and I survived the abuse.

The moral of the story is that I am no stranger to artificial sweetener.

You didn't think that was the moral?

Surely, it was.

*****

Lately, I have been trying to cut out all sweeteners, natural or artificial. However, I do still enjoy the occasional cup of coffee--extra sweet, of course. I have been using Splenda religiously for many years, but one day in the grocery store, the giant boxes of Truvia were on sale. I had a coupon. And, you know how I feel about coupons.

Coupon + sale = heaven.

I purchased 80 packets of Truvia ("Nature's Calorie Free Sweetener") for $3.99, and since I was so excited about trying a new sweetener, I was very excited to get it at such a great price.

The following morning, I tried 2 packets in my morning coffee.


Initial Impressions:

The flip-top lid on the box is way cool. I liked the simple design on the box, and the strawberry looks delicious.

Upon opening the packet, I smelled the contents (which is a bad habit of mine), and the granules smelled sweet. There didn't seem to be a strange smell, which was good. I touched the contents of the packet, and they felt like sugar. When I moved the contents around in the packet, it sounded like sugar.

I put both packets in my coffee with regular creamer.

Although Truvia looked and sounded like sugar, unfortunately, it didn't taste like sugar.

I took one sip of my coffee and had to dump the rest out and start over. The taste was so bad that I can't even explain it with words. I opted for no sweetener that morning, since I was out of Splenda because I had given my heart and soul to that $3.99 box of Truvia.

And, because I had no words to describe the wretched taste, I had to ask my coworker to try it as well. I didn't tell her if I liked it or hated it, I just told her that I had "that new Truvia stuff" if she wanted to try it. She tried it, and said that it tasted like "iron".

I'm not sure what iron tastes like exactly, but it's probably not something that I want in my morning coffee.

Virgin Athlete Contest

I've said it before, and I'll say it again.

I love socks.

Considering this fact, there was no way that I was going to let Steve's Drymax sock contest pass me by without an entry. The deadline is tonight at midnight, and I was finally able to put in my entry this morning. The contest is called "Tales of a Virgin Athlete", and in order to enter, one must write a story in 300 words or less that falls in the line of the title theme.

This was no problem for me.

I just had to wait for my mother to email me an appropriate photo depicting my budding childhood softball career. I was quite the athlete. It was apparent to all who knew me.



What...you don't see it?



My mother emailed this beautiful picture to me yesterday morning, but I was at home dying and didn't get the email. When she didn't get the attention that she needed from me, she proceeded to also send this picture to My Sista. According to My Momma, My Sista responded back with the following:

"Hey...I don't remember Beth when she was a beaver!"

Man, I love that girl.


Here is my entry:
-------------------------------------
The fact that I am entering a contest that has the word "athlete" in
the title is laughable. Sure, sure. I jog, I sweat, I lift weights
and do core work. I "train". However, athletes have been doing those
things since they were in their mother's womb.

My first word was "hungry".

Luckily, my father embraced the fact that he was blessed with two
little girls in his world. As soon as we were allowed to participate,
he got my big sister and I involved in softball. On summer evenings,
we would hurry outside after dinner to get in as much practice as
possible before dark.

We would stand in a triangle formation, throwing the ball to each
other on the front lawn. Sometimes my dad would throw the ball really
fast, just to see if we could handle the pain. Sometimes, he'd pitch
us a fast grounder, causing us to scramble to keep the ball from
rolling into the cornfield. He’d get out the aluminum bat, and
Jessica and I ran after the balls as he batted.

I still remember the "clink" of the ball on that aluminum bat.

I was a terrible softball player. Since I was not especially
coordinated, talented, fast, or athletic, I was ousted to center
field. Very few balls ever entered center field. When I did encounter
the occasional fly ball, I would struggle to field the ball solely to
get it out of my area. I knew the ball had no hope with me. I had to
immediately deliver it to a capable, talented, coordinated athlete!

Although I sucked, I loved softball.

The way my Dad laughed as I clumsily floundered for the ball. The way
he never missed a single game.

The way the memories have stuck to my brain like glue.