Let’s be honest, when you’re a busy college student at an expensive university trying to milk your tuition for all its worth, cooking falls to the wayside. And while we all condemn the people who survive solely off instant ramen, it’s hard to blame them. Who wouldn’t want to save money and hours every week by just eating purely carbs and sodium?
But it’s important to get vitamins and nutrients as well, so let’s look at some other ways you can make quick and healthy meals — actual quick and healthy meals using an often overlooked tool: your microwave!
Mushroom spinach oatmeal
I learned of savory oatmeal from @nutritionbykylie on YouTube. Kylie is a nutritionist who always advocates for focusing on nutrition you can add to your meals instead of what you can subtract from your meals, which I love.
If you’re not familiar with savory oats — like I was before I heard about it through YouTube — it’s basically savory porridge or congee but made with oats instead of rice or grits. So you can top it off in a similar way.
The ingredient measurements are quite flexible, but the key is a 1:1 ratio of oats to water in volume. While it might seem to call for a lot of vegetables, the vegetables do cook down a lot, and are pretty high in protein as well.
One serving
½ cup of rolled oats
½ cup of water (or milk if you prefer, any type of milk is fine)
1-3 mushrooms (amounts to about 1/2 – 1 cup of thinly sliced mushrooms). I use white button mushrooms, though I imagine other mushrooms like shiitake would work just fine
1 cup of spinach
Seasonings of your choice (I use oregano, thyme, and pepper, though I think soy sauce, garlic powder, or onion powder would also work great)
Get a bowl that preferably has a lid. If not, you can use an upside-down plate as a lid later.
Prepare the vegetables:
Thinly slice your mushrooms. The thinner they are, the faster they will cook.
Place mushrooms in a bowl and add a sprinkle of salt. Add other seasonings of choice, just enough to cover the mushrooms in polka dots (or just season to taste).
Microwave the bowl in one-minute increments, stirring after every time. You can pull the mushrooms out of the microwave after two or three minutes once they’re no longer stiff and have some floppiness. Note: The mushrooms will have expelled some water, and that’s okay. It can serve as the “broth” of our oatmeal.
Add in spinach and microwave for an additional minute.
Make the oatmeal.
In the same bowl, add your oats and your water. Mix!
Put the bowl back in the microwave and cover loosely with a lid so the steam can escape.
Microwave for one minute. If the oats are not fully cooked (they should darken slightly in color and be soft), keep microwaving in on minute intervals until cooked. Add water if necessary to get it to your desired consistency.
After that, they should be done! You can give it a taste test and add more salt or seasonings until it’s the flavor you like. At this point, if your oatmeal is too watery, you can stir the oatmeal until the excess water evaporates. Happy eating!
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