Bubble Oatmeal

Most of the time, I like to eat pretty healthy. I know that sounds kind of funny considering all of the posts I’ve shared with you so far, but I swear, it’s true! I read a bunch of healthy food blogs, and I’ve noticed something funny. A new superfood will pop up on one blog one day, and by the end of the week every single blogger has run to the nearest Whole Foods and tried out the same food.

Since I live in the South, and healthy food is more expensive than gold (I mean, with a pawn shop every 100 yards or so, that stuff is CHEAP!), I’ve been mentally making a list of all the different foods I want to try if I ever move back to real civilization.

This past weekend, I visited my sister in Daytona. Now, Daytona is equally as Southern as Pensacola, though a little different. It’s less Southern in the charming Paula-Deen-let’s-deep-fry-everything kind of way, but more Southern in the I-love-NASCAR-and-have-no-teeth kind of way. So I’d say it’s about equal. The good thing about Daytona, though, is that it’s only about an hour from Orlando, a real city! Or, as close to a real city as you can get while still being in Florida and not having to drive all the way to Miami.

In the year and a half that I lived in Daytona, Jaki and I drove to Orlando about once a week to go rockclimbing at a killer rock gym.

It was definitely one of the highlights of my time there, so we were absolutely making a trip during my visit. An hour drive isn’t too bad… unless you’ve just driven 6 hours across the state. In that case, another hour in the car can sound pretty torturous.

Eh, what’s a little torture. I still wanted to go, so we made the drive. Since we were already in Orlando, we decided to make the trip worth it and swung by Whole Foods. Whole Foods is heaven for me. Whole Foods is also hell for my wallet. I pretended not to think about that as I put a very small $8 piece of parmesan cheese in my basket. The cheese counter guy was cutting it up and gave us a taste. OMG. Normally I am very cheap when it comes to grocery shopping. I cut out coupons and I only buy things that are on sale. But trust me, if you had tasted this cheese, you would have bought it too.

Anyways, along with my very expensive cheese, I bought a few of the fun healthy foods I’ve been wanting to try. One of the things I love about Whole Foods is the bulk bins. You can buy a bunch of different grains, nuts and dried fruits by weight and it’s a whole lot cheaper than it would be prepackaged. Plus, you can buy small quantities, so if you try something new and really hate it, you’re not stuck with a boatload of leftovers. Not that I ever hate food.

I won’t tell you everything I got; I don’t want to ruin the surprise of future recipes. But one item I did pick up from the bulk bins was wheatberries! I’ve seen them all over the blog world lately, and have been really intrigued by the supposedly amazing texture they give to a morning bowl of oatmeal.

According to wikipedia,

The term wheatberry refers to the entire wheat kernel (except for the hull), comprising the bran, germ, and endosperm. Wheatberries have a tan to reddish brown color and are available as either a hard or soft processed grain; as a whole grain, they also provide nutritional benefits since they are an excellent source of dietary fiber.

I’ve become quite the early riser, so I often have an extra hour around the house before I leave for work in the morning. Good thing too, ’cause wheatberries require some work.

I put them in a pot, covered them with water, and simmered them for 40 minutes. I used this time productively to watch last week’s episode of Jersey Shore.

I drained off the water and let them dry for a few minutes.

In the meantime, I made a bowl of oatmeal. Normally I like to make plain old fashioned oats from scratch, but I kind of underestimated how long this breakfast project would actually take, so I ended up only having time to nuke a bowl of strawberries and cream instant oatmeal. This happens to be Nick’s favorite. I’m not sure if it’s the convenience factor or the sugar factor. Or both.

Once the oatmeal was cooked, I mixed in a few heaping spoonfuls of wheatberries.

Then topped it with banana and a scoop of peanut butter.

I have to admit, it was not love at first bite. I will liken it to my experience with bubble tea. If you aren’t aware, bubble tea is a sweet Asian iced tea drink that has big round tapioca balls in it and comes with a wide straw for sucking them up. You kind of chew while you drink. Nick introduced me to bubble tea, and my initial reaction was “Yuck! What a horrible texture combination!” But then I had another sip, another chew, another sip. It’s a weird drink, but once it grows on you, it’s awesome!

Well, that’s what happened with the wheatberry oatmeal. The first bite seemed to be a very odd texture. I was kind of unsure about it. By the fifth bite, I was totally hooked. Like everyone else in the blog world, I am obsessed with the texture.

I made the wheatberries yesterday and stored the leftovers in a tupperware in the fridge. I was super excited to make the oatmeal again this morning, and also to share my new discovery with Nick. Unfortunatly, I didn’t get to him before he got to his frozen Jimmy Dean breakfast sandwiches.

I guess I’ll just have to wait til tomorrow to introduce him to bubble oatmeal!