Peanut Butter, the Farmers' Market and A Simple Oat Groat Recipe

Heh, I caved and bought the peanut butter.  I was feeling more flush today because I'd gotten some unexpected sales. (Thank you!)  And when I went to the supermarket this morning to buy olive oil and distilled water to make soap, I found organic peanut butter for $2 less than it cost at the co-op.  So as much as I want to support the co-op, the truth is I'll buy something elsewhere if I can save a few dollars.  Especially if I'm elsewhere anyway.

I also went to the farmers market for pears and Swiss chard.  Jake and I each eat a pear, an apple and a handful of greens most days in our breakfast smoothies, so these are items we go through quickly.  The turnip was an impulse buy because it cost twenty five cents.  I've used my food processor to turn raw parsnips into something resembling rice, and I think this technique will work well with turnips, too.

Speaking of food processors, it occured to me that people might wonder how to prepare the oat groats I bought yesterday.  You can cook them like rice, but you don't need to.  I soaked mine overnight, rinsed and drained them, then buzzed them up raw in the food processor with a few tablespoons of water, some dates and some cinnamon.  Then I topped them with a small chopped apple and sunflower seeds.  I wouldn't say it was gourmet--palatable would be more accurate--but it was healthy*, filling, quick and cheap. And you could make it yummier by adding honey, maple syrup, nuts, raisins, bananas...anything you'd like in traditional oatmeal would work in this raw porridge.  And of course you could heat it up.   

*Healthy is a relative term.  If I had more money and if the garden was still producing a lot, I wouldn't be eating oats or rice.  Over the summer I lived almost entirely on vegetables, fruits, nuts and seeds.  I must have eaten twelve cups of vegetables a day.  So when I ate my oat porridge for lunch, it felt almost like junk food to me because what I really wanted was an enormous salad.  (I did treat myself to an enormous salad for dinner.) Now don't get me wrong--I know I spend more than most people do on food, and that the way I eat is a luxury.  But I wish that eating healthily--even super healthily, with at least a pound of greens a day--wasn't a luxury, for me or for anyone.

I've decided not to include my business purchases in the blog, at least for now.  That would be more work than I want to devote to this, and I don't think it would be useful or interesting for most people anyway.  So, minus the olive oil and distilled water, here's today's total purchases and gasoline consumption:

Food: (Swiss chard, pears, peanut butter, turnip) $7.49

Miles driven: 4.2