Glug-in-a-Mug

One of the challenges that Dad faces is a lack of appetite for food of any kind. His oncologist sympathetically told him that this is the cancer talking to him.

Morning after morning Dad declined all breakfast food suggestions except for a bowl of oatmeal. He assured me that if it was prepared with lots of sugar, plenty of milk, and a chunk of butter that he could eat it. I immediately recognized this as Grandmother’s recipe. Many mornings when I lived with her, she presented me with a bowl of oatmeal prepared just this way. I thought Grandmother’s concoction tasted like desert!

True to the tradition of Grandmother, I prepared Dad’s oatmeal. Every morning I observed him smelling the oatmeal, stirring the oatmeal, looking at the oatmeal, and studying spoonfuls of oatmeal. Thirty minutes later, after three or four bites, he would say that he couldn’t eat another bite. One morning, as I discarded yet another bowl of much-needed-calories in the garbage, I suddenly remembered Glug-in-a-mug!

Glug-in-a-mug is a different way to prepare oatmeal that I had read about in a Christmas book called The Night the Stars Sang that Mom had given me years ago. One of the stories in the book described a family’s tradition of celebrating Christmas day on their grandparent’s farm, and drinking “glug” before heading out to the barn to help with the chores. The next morning I prepared oatmeal according to the recipe, poured it into a mug, and presented it to Dad. Fifteen minutes later he had swallowed the contents; I knew it was a success when he pronounced it as “good as desert!” Now Dad’s breakfast consists of a cup of coffee and a mug of “glug.”

Here’s the recipe if you want to drink your oatmeal. Add a tablespoon of butter if you don’t mind the calories.

Glug-in-a-Mug
1 package instant oatmeal
2 cups hot milk
1 tablespoon honey
cinnamon or nutmeg
banana or other fruit desired

Put instant oatmeal, either plain or spiced, in a
blender. Add hot milk and honey heated until
runny. Whirl to mix well and serve with a
dusting of cinnamon or nutmeg. Half a banana
or a piece or two of canned fruit may be added
for variety if desired. Serves one person, but
several servings can be made at once.