6-Grain hot cereal

The other day, I discovered that cracked what, or kasha, would cook in roughly the same amount of time as old-fashioned oats. i.e. the amount of time it takes for me to shower in the morning.  And, that they add a really nice wheaty flavor to oatmeal, and some different textures. I remember the last time I cooked kasha, I thought that it was just mush, and kind of gross because of that.  Well, it turns out oatmeal is also just mush. Oatmeal is also cheap, easy, and good for you, and I've learned to tolerate it (though not quite tolerate it enough to eat a large enough quantity to get me through the entire morning without a snack).  Anyway, kasha was a welcome addition. Yay!

From there, it was not a giant leap of imagination to consider if I could make my own fancy 7-grain cereal.  You know, like this. The only major failing is that I like some chew to my cereal, which you can get with old fashioned oats, but not so much with quick cereals, and when it comes to things like brown rice and barley, you kind of have to grind them up finely to have them cook in 5 minutes. So, the major failing here was that the cereal mostly tastes like mush. But, mush with a wider variety of flavors than just oats.  I suppose leaving some of the flax seeds whole, and having an interesting nut/seed mixture to sprinkle on top, would help with the texture.  Anyway, if you're bored of regular oatmeal, and want to mix things up, give this a try.  

Homemade 6-grain cereal 

probably not any cheaper than the real stuff, and probably doesn't cook up as neatly.

1C old fashioned oats

1/2C bulgur

1/2C kasha

1/4C brown rice, ground up roughly (I did this in our spice grinder)

1/4C barley, ground up roughly

1/4C flax seeds, ground up 

To cook it, well, doesn't really matter, but I found using a smidge more water than usual was helpful in making more of a porridge and less of a solid glob.  So, 2/3C cereal + 5/3C water, more or less. And a good pinch of salt.  I like to dump it all in a pot and stick it on medium-low-ish while I shower, and once I'm clean it's done.  If you let it sit for a minute or two (while you put on moisturizer, for example), then you can stir up anything that stuck to the bottom of the pot.  

Top with tasty things. Maybe some milk, nuts, seeds, dried fruit, frozen fruit (protip: frozen fruit will cool it off so you can eat it sooner), ice cream... 

Oh and if you were really thinking ahead, you'd have made some overnight iced coffee.  Because obviously if it's iced coffee weather it's hot cereal weather. Geez, I am so confused when it comes to food temperatures!  (we can all agree that ice cream is an every-weather food, right?)