If I cook it in the microwave (either in my room or in the breakfast area) the hotel mug or paper bowl I use is never big enough to accommodate all of the bubbling that occurs in the cooking process and it boils over, making a mess.
And if I just add hot water to the oats in the bowl it never gets cooked enough for me. Instant oats would cook with this method, but slow-cook are the healthiest kind so that's what I start my day with.
Now, you might be saying that I should bring my own bowl. And that would be ideal..... Except I always forget. Always. If I'd remember to add it to my packing list I wouldn't forget, but I never do and have finally come to accept the fact that I never will. It's a mute point. I seem to have a bowl block. (And spoon block, but at least you can get plastic spoons from the hotel lobby.)
So we are back to my oatmeal cooking dilemma. And finally this time, I had my AHA! moment. It's so simple I wondered why I haven't thought of this before: Cook it IN the room coffee pot. Here's how:
Pour water into the reservoir of the coffee make. Use a bit more than you think you will need to cook your oats. (This is to compensate for steam escape and "Oh crap! That wasn't enough water!" issues.) Put the carafe onto the burner. Turn the coffee maker on. Let the water run into the carafe. At this point it should be scalding hot. Remove the carafe and put it on a heat-proof surface. Carefully take the lid off (most coffee makers won't let the water drip into the carafe without the lid on). Pour the water out until it's about what you will need to absorb the oats (for me, this is about 1 1/2 times the amount of oat I have- I like thick oats). Dump your slow-cooked oats in there and stir them with the hotel spoon, which you ran to the lobby to get while the hot water was running into the pot. Put the carafe back on the burner (which should still be turned on) and let it sit and cook for about 10 minutes, or until it's the consistency you like. Take off the heat and stir in anything you want to add (for me this is a packet of Stevia- I always keep a bunch in a baggie in my purse). I eat ir right out of the carafe because: #1- It has a handle, making it easy, and B.) I forgot my bowl, remember?
Oats, protein powder mixed in water, an apple and pepitas (pumpkin seeds) for some healthy fats. Breakfast is served!
Word of warning: Do NOT put the dry oats in the container before the hot water drips in. You'll burn the oats to the bottom of the carafe before enough water gets in there to lube them up. No, I didn't do this. I may be too dense to remember my bowl but I DID at least manage to have enough forethought to keep from destroying the carafe and making the hotel smell like burned oats.
To wash I rinsed all the stuck gook out in the room sink. Then, in absence of dish soap, I filled the reservoir to it's top margin and ran the water through again, let it sit heating for a few minutes, then turned the coffee maker off, poured the water out, and put the carafe back into the maker to let the hot water steaming off to both dry it and do a bit of a sterilization job on the carafe.
And if you have a traveling partner who wants coffee..... well........ he's either going to have to wait or you can send him to the lobby for the stuff at the free breakfast bar. ;-)
