Answers to Your Questions #2

A: Yes, you should combine your breakfast and lunch leftovers and create the ultimate hybrid dessert: The Oatmeal Taco.

Step 1 - Lay out your tortilla of choice. My preference is soft, as it forms around the softness of the primary filling, but I can see how a hard shell might yield unexpectedly positive results, too.

Step 2 - Spread your base. Here, I've chosen Nutella. For me, this takes the place of refried beans, or some other sticky foundation on which to lay the remaining ingredients. Note: You don't have to go overboard; a little hazelnut-chocolate goes a long way.



Step 3 - Additional flavors/textures. I've used small dollops of Crunchy Natural Peanut Butter from Trader Joe's. (For my money, TJ's does the best natural peanut butter on a pure value basis. Not quite the stuff that Teddie's is, but for almost a dollar cheaper, it's tough to argue with the Hawaiian-shirted ones.)




Step 4 - The Oatmeal. And I don't mean any quick 1-minute stuff, or instant sugary packets with dinosaur eggs that reveal little candy-dinosaur pieces once you add milk. I mean real, normal, "slow" cooked Oats. I added raisins and a dash of cinnamon to mine.




Step 5 - The topping. Oatmeal isn't oatmeal without a sprinkling of brown sugar. Think of this as the shredded cheese of the standard taco. Some heap it on there; some add just a wee bit. This is your Oatmeal Taco, so do it up as you please.





Step 6 - Fold it up and nosh away.






Okay, to be honest, I was a tad skeptical of the O.T. The ladyfriend companion was less on the fence. "I'm going to leave before I blow chunks," she said, choosing the slushy mess of a New England sleet-storm to a warm tortilla filled with luscious oats. And yes, at times we use Wayne's World-era jargon in passing. That's for a later discussion.

Sadly for her, she missed out on a surprisingly robust treat. Each flavor rose to the forefront with each subsequent bite, no one element overpowering the whole. The nutella's foundation added a creaminess and underlying tang of hazelnut. The peanut butter's peanuts gave a much-needed crunch to what would otherwise be a one-note texture of varying mush. And the oatmeal itself holds up incredibly well; you get the oaty taste, you feel the smooth ripples of grain and cooked wheat, but the raisins add a brightness that cuts through the many rich flavors on offer. Halfway through, I bit down and crunched into a small pile of brown sugar that had yet to dissolve into the larger filling. It reminded me of my youth, when I'd pack a spoon full of Domino's dark brethren and drop the clump in my mouth whole, allowing the nugget to dissolve. Back in the present: Nary a speck of crumb was left on the plate.



The Oatmeal Taco is well worth discovering for yourself. The collection of familiar tastes in an unfamiliar surrounding tricks your palette into delighting at something in a new way, even if you've enjoyed these flavors, in this same combination, for years. The Oatmeal Taco is many things: Creamy, crunchy, sweet, even--dare I say--sensuous. You owe it to you and your loved ones to give this a shot.

Speaking of shots: Has anyone seen my epinephrine? I think I might be going into anaphylactic shock...