One aspect of my blog that brings me more joy than almost anything else is my international audience. How cool is it to appeal to such a variety of people with such different tastes! When I discovered Mahrukh through Facebook and Instagram, I never even realized she was from outside the United States. Interacting with readers like her has taught me that it doesn't matter where we're from and what our regional cuisine is; anyone can love porridge. And peanut butter. ;)
Greetings, Fellow Oatmeal Lovers!
My name is Mahrukh and I am currently doing my M.B.A in Human Resource
Management from NUST University, Pakistan. Yes, this might come as a shock to
most of you. But I feel absolutely honored to have been contacted by the
Oatmeal Artist to exhibit my love for oatmeal on her highly drool-worthy blog. Isn’t
it simply wonderful how people living million miles away can connect on the
basis of love? Thank you, Lauren, for providing me with the opportunity to bridge
distances on a common ground. J
Oatmeal (or as many over at my side
of the world like to call it, porridge) might be one of the simplest and minute
things of life, but for me it means the whole world. I cannot imagine life
without it. Over-exaggerating much? Heh. I mean it! It became part of my life 5
years back, and now I am totally hooked. Joining the gym and wanting to lead a
healthier life is to be credited for this addiction. Initially, I was subjected
to a lot of criticism from my family and friends as oatmeal in my country is
normally a part of the older lot’s diet, but from simpler starts such as honey
or banana, I have slowly mastered the art of dessert-like combinations and
transformed the doubters into die-hard fans. And of course, until recently
Lauren became one of my major inspiration.
I came across her blog a few
months back and I am absolutely in awe with all the recipes. My only wish is to
at least try making more than half of them, but I am time-constrained or I
simply lack the essential ingredients required to make a delicious bowl of
oatmeal. Can you imagine we don’t have blueberries, raspberries, cranberries or
pumpkins over here? Sad, I know. Even then I try my best to come up with as
many combinations while incorporating ideas from her blog as well.
Oatmeal is love. Literally. But
my love for oats just does not stop there. I love using oats for making
pancakes, as well as mug cakes. These two are also a huge part of my everyday
routine and I absolutely love experimenting with different flavors and combinations.
This love for oats has now developed as a healthy addiction and even if I have
an exam one day (as I did the last week), I cannot fathom going a day
without an absolutely gorgeous meal. Many of my friends call it an obsession, and I wouldn’t disagree. But then most of them also suggest that I should take
this love to the next level and start my own small healthy food deli. Who knows? I just might!
Coming back to this post, I
decided to stick with oatmeal for most of the days. In case you guys are
curious about the other items, feel free to hop over to my Instragram for daily
updates; my id is: mahrukh_23.
Monday: Popeye Pancake
I hadn’t yet received a confirmation
e-mail from Lauren until now, so I had my Popeye Pancake. Why Popeye? The
reason being simple, it is made out of his favorite thing in the whole wide
world; spinach. I topped it off with peanut butter/banana sauce and crushed
nuts (i.e. walnuts, pistachios, almonds and cashews).
Tuesday: Fudgy PB & Banana Oatmeal
This is one of my ‘favoritest’
combination! I absolutely love chocolate, banana and peanut butter and when
these three mesh together? It is eternal bliss! Now as far as the presentation
goes, I love turning oatmeal into parfaits. It simply adds a bit more drama to
it.
Wednesday: PB&J Oatmeal
I have always been fascinated by
this combination, but never actually took the risk of trying it. I know it’s quite
popular in the US but at my side of the world, peanut butter itself is uncommon
which makes PB&J a myth. Anyhoo, for the sake of this post I decided to
finally take the plunge and I absolutely fell in love with this combination. I
used Sugar-Free Kiwi Jam for this purpose and since I had recently bought Kiwi
from the market, I decided to incorporate it as well. It was absolutely
delicious! I cannot wait to try a PB&J toast someday. Though I have a
feeling it might not triumph over this lovely oatmeal parfait.
Thursday: Fruit Chaat Oatmeal
Took inspiration from the Oatmeal
Artist, but I added my Asian twist to it or as we like to call it, the desi
touch. Fruit Chaat aka. Fruit Salad is highly common in my part of the world,
especially during the month of Ramadan. Hence, for this oatmeal, I took as many
fruits as I could get my hands on (i.e. apple, banana, pomegranate, red and
green grapes) and added them to my oatmeal. Then I added the secret ingredient
to it which is ½ tsp of Shaan’s Chaat Masala (i.e. Salad Spice). It simply adds
so much zest to the oatmeal! Tried this for the first time and absolutely
regret not doing it any sooner.
Friday: Applesauce Oatmeal
I recently bought baby food
applesauce from the grocery store and bumped into this recipe on her blog and
decided to give it a shot. I garnished it with pomegranate arils, diced apples, cinnamon and raisins. It was scrumptious and delicious!
Saturday: Mug cake with Choco-banana Sauce
This sauce, and in fact all her
sauces, are to DIE for! I find myself using them quite frequently, be it as a
topping on my pancake, mug cake or just drizzling it on top of my oatmeal.
In the end, I’d just like to
conclude by thanking Lauren yet again for providing me with this lovely
opportunity. It has been an incredible experience--one I am bound to cherish
for years to come. It feels great to connect with people on the basis of
similar interests and the love for food, good food, being the finest of them
all. As they say, ‘people who love to eat are always the best people’. I’d like
to add just an itsy bitsy to it; ‘people who love to eat good are always the best people’. Goodness being oats!
With love, from Pakistan!
[Editor's Note: If you're interested in becoming my next Oatmeal Enthusiast, be sure to show your enthusiasm by tagging your oatmeal pictures with #oatmealartist on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook! Thank you for all your love and support!]
**You can also find hundreds of other oatmeal recipes (as well as tons of other meatless recipes) on my Pinterest account! You can also like The Oatmeal Artist on Facebook. Thanks!
Yay! So excited. Been waiting for this ever since I woke up in the morning, but I know the time difference between our two worlds prolonged it. Today has been a good day! Thank you so much yet again for this opportunity, Lauren. Feel so honored. :)
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