A while back, I got up early one morning and thought I would be a good husband/father and make breakfast for everyone. My wife came across a recipe several years ago for something we call “oatmeal bake.” It’s a dish of oatmeal in a cake-like form: thick, but not too sweet. We usually top it with bananas, applesauce and/or chocolate chips. The kids really like it, it’s reasonably healthy, and it’s easy enough that I can make it. Usually.
It was early — about 5:30 a.m.— when I gathered the ingredients. Everything gets mixed together in one large bowl before it gets put into a cake pan. My wife tinkers with recipes, and discovered that the oatmeal bake was better with a dash of vanilla and a sprinkling of cinnamon. I had all the other ingredients in the bowl when I reached for the cinnamon. I generously sprinkled it over everything.
Except, it didn’t look quite right. The cinnamon wasn’t as dark as it usually is. That’s when I discovered my mistake: Garlic is NOT cinnamon!
By the time I realized what I had done, it was too late. I couldn’t undo it. I couldn’t gather all of the garlic up out of the glop and put it back in the container. The garlic was there. I grabbed the cinnamon–making sure it was actually cinnamon–and sprinkled twice as much of it as I normally would, in the hopes that extra cinnamon would somehow overpower the taste of the garlic. I poured the mix into the cake pan and put it in the oven to bake.
Have you ever had spaghetti-flavored oatmeal? Of course not! There is a reason bakeries don’t offer Italian oatmeal cake. Cinnamon and garlic are NOT interchangeable! And no amount of cinnamon will completely hide the presence of garlic. I took a bite, and that was enough. I didn’t serve any to the wife or the kids, sparing them from experiencing that particularly unpleasant combination of flavors. I served them toast and butter instead. (Regular butter, not garlic butter.)
I learned a few things that morning:
1. Make sure you know your ingredients.
2. Make sure you use the correct ingredients.
C. Not all powders are alike.
D. Garlic is not a good breakfast garnish.
E. Never try to cook before 6:00 a.m.
Here’s how we (normally) make it:
Combine ingredients in a bowl: 6 cups oats; 1 cup brown sugar; 1 cup applesauce; 2 cups milk; 4 eggs; 1 tablespoon baking powder; 1 teaspoon salt; 1 teaspoon vanilla; 1 tablespoon cinnamon. (NOT garlic!!!) Pour into a 9×13 sprayed pan. Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes. Enjoy!
