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| The OG Scottish oatcakes. Yum. |
I've been teaching myself to bake for years now. It's artsy and inventive, and sharing my creations with my friends/kids/grand-turkeys is joyful. It's also nostalgic; many of my recipes are connected to my past, including the Scottish oatcakes of my youth.
A family member had already provided my childhood recipe:
🥣Melt 1 cup of butter.
🥣Stir in 1.5 cups of brown sugar (vanilla & salt to taste).
🥣Stir in 4 cups of rolled oats (I added 1/4 c chopped almonds).
🥣Add mixture to greased muffin tins and bake at 350℉ for 18 minutes.
A totally "healthy food staple" right? Nope...but easy-peasy and delicious? Oat-ally!
Sure, the cookbook offered some tweaks, but then I (over)thought... I should revamp this recipe... I should make them healthier... I could use a sugar substitute... Applesauce...? Crushed bananas...? I could add protein... Hmm, my version isn't good...YET... I should add jam to my recipe... they're still garbage.... Notice what happened?
There's nothing inherently wrong with reinvention; it's a key component in creativity. But it can slip into something I've struggled with that I'd call "self-surveillance."
If you grow up in a neglectful or highly critical environment (both), that tricky inner narrator likes to monitor, judge, and urge you to adjust and adjust expecting improvements. Sure, it's a growth mindset but one that has run amok. It also elevates product over process, and when the product (for me) is food, shame will inevitably show up to gatecrash this party. But then I recall that there are those truly healthy alternatives. Being yumped. Living in the moment. Peace. (Insert cleansing breath here.)
Dear friends, how do you ignore/quiet/bludgeon your inner Statler & Waldorf?
Not everything you eat has to be healthy-it's okay to have something decadent now and then.
ReplyDeleteCorrect, and I will tell my brain this reminder too.
DeleteThat looks yummy. Hence the yumped.
ReplyDeleteYes to being yumped. :)
DeleteWe are bludgeoned daily with what we 'should' eat or do to keep ourselves from ever dying,
ReplyDelete'Moderation in all things' and 'a little of what you fancy does you good' are reasonable rules to live by.
I've never heard 'yumped' before. What a delicious word.
So true. Good advice. Thank you about the word: I coined it. :)
DeleteI am not like that for the most part in most ways, so there is nothing for me to say.
ReplyDeleteI admire that; however, I've noticed you are sometimes unnecessarily critical of yourself in your posts. We all are. Just sayin.
Delete...to put it plainly, I never give things this much thought!
ReplyDeleteTo put it plainly, I am jealous of you. ;)
DeleteThose oatcakes look WAY too delicious. Anytime you combine brown sugar, butter and oatmeal, something good will happen!
ReplyDeleteThey are indeed fantastic and they smell amazing. And a scoop of ice cream on top? Yumped.
DeleteI think it's human nature to want to "tweak" something...even if it's already close to perfect. Like me, forever trying to improve upon my mom's stuffed cabbage rolls–which I love!
ReplyDeleteInsert fist bump here.
DeleteOh dear. Confession time. When I have a negative, self-critical thought or memory (usually about some horrible or stupid thing I did in the past), I yell out loud "FUCK YOU!" and it stops me from thinking about it any more. So that's fine insofar as it goes. It DOES work. But here's the problem. When I am a senile old lady in a nursing home and still doing that, the staff will think I'm yelling it at THEM, and then they'll stop turning me over in bed so I don't get bed sores. So I need to find a new coping strategy that is not going to be self-sabotaging in the long run. Any advice in this regard will be appreciated, thanks.
ReplyDeletehahahahahahahhahahahahahhahahahahahahhahahhahahahhahahahahahh no advice...it's PERFECT, hahahahahahahahhahahhahalol...and thank you...because I will now move your (salty) inner life-coach into my brain, hahahahahhahlolololahhhahahala
DeleteBelieve it or not, I'm not a fan of oat cakes but my wife is. She loves them, I just pass on them.
ReplyDeleteDude, you're missing out on some seriously delicious sugar and butter (and okay I'll include the oats).
DeleteThose sound very good, maybe a pinch of cinnamon.
ReplyDeleteThey ARE good, and easy.
DeleteThe ingredients look similar to those in Oatmeal Squares we made while I was growing up. They always were/are crumbly though. I might try them in muffin tins --like you've done -- but the tiny ones I bought recently at a garage sale so the whole thing can be popped into your mouth, no mess! Ooh that would make me happy ...
ReplyDeleteThere was enough brown sugar (it seemed) to make them a bit candy-like and sticky; I also let them cool in the muffin tins and then froze them. Easy.
DeleteWell, thanks for sharing the oatcake recipe from your youth. I think I might try that version. Oats are healthy right? And you aren’t getting 1.5 cups of sugar and 1 cup of butter in EVERY oatcake. A single oatcake with lunch shouldn’t be too damaging. As for those inner tapes, I’ve begun to think it’s a soundtrack that never quite goes away, though I hope that’s just me.
ReplyDeleteHa, yes, easy and delicious and yes, one is a good treat. I might add protein? And thank you for acknowledging the soundtrack some of us hear...sometimes it plays quite loudly, doesn't it?
DeleteOhh, that sounds really good to me.
ReplyDeleteThey're so easy and quite tasty. Enjoy.
DeleteThis looks so very yummy!
ReplyDeleteSo easy and so yum.
Delete