Thursday, January 15, 2009

Oatmeal for Breakfast...AGAIN?!?!

Photo courtesy of Kristin Brenemen

We have oatmeal a lot for breakfast in the winter. I generally make steel cut oats and I try to make them interesting sometimes by adding home canned fruit or apples and cinnamon. By this time of year though, I am hearing a bit of grumbling - and it isn't their hungry tummies.

However, I will not give in and buy cold breakfast cereal. I buy high-quality cold cereal occasionally in the summer, though I always prefer homemade granola. In the winter, though, it isn't happening. This morning, I came across a post at Robin's Heart of Wisdom/Heart at Home blog, which includes a huge list of toppings to spruce up oatmeal. Today is egg day at our house, but you can bet that tomorrow morning, I will be making jazzed up oatmeal!

Editing to add that I am not into all the 'low fat' and 'non fat' things she recommends. We will use this list as a stepping stone and substitute in the whole foods versions (or just skip some of the suggestions). Fat soluble vitamins, A, D, E and K, cannot be absorbed without fat. We, of course, don't microwave our oatmeal, either!

5 comments:

  1. Ooooh, that sounds so good. My husband can't stand oatmeal, and it seems that two of my kids got his genes in that area. I think I will make some for myself and whoever wants to give it a try tomorrow morning, though. I have nuts and raisins and dried cranberries on hand, so I think we'll give those a try. Thanks for the inspiration.

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  2. Can't stand oatmeal?! That's too bad! I don't know what they would eat at our house. LOL! Have you tried steel cut oats? That is actually what we eat most of the time. They have a different texture than rolled oats. Whenever I make oatmeal, I also use a bit less water than is normally recommended so that they aren't quite so mushy. :)

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  3. Oh, I forgot to mention that I am not into all the 'low fat' and 'non fat' stuff on her list. For us, we'll be using the full fat versions so that they are more whole-foody. Remember that you can't absorb fat soluble vitamins, like vitamin A,D, E or K without fat.

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  4. "Maple-flavoured pancake syrup"?! (It made her list a couple of times.) Why not use the real thing? My kids fav topping is frozen blueberries w/ maple syrup. (The frozen blueberries help to cool down the hot oatmeal.) I get tired of the same thing after awhile, but lately I've been using currants w/ hulled hemp seeds. I've also enjoyed coconut with chocolate chips (macaroon inspired :) , almond butter and raisins...dried cranberries and sesame seeds...apple and cinnamon...
    My kids don't like fruit cooked into the oatmeal, so we have separate toppings. (E likes date sugar & goats milk).
    I have an oat flaker, so we start w/ whole oats and can vary the thickness as desired...
    I'm glad my kids (well, 2 of the 3 that are old enough to eat breakfast, anyway) like oatmeal!
    Rachel

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  5. Rachel,
    I'm not sure. I am so far from the world of maple-flavoured syrup that I can't begin to understand its use.

    Great ideas for toppings. Maybe I should put together my own 'whole food' list and publish it on the blog.

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