Oatmeal

[Owlie]

Normally I hate the stuff, but it's warm, cheap and reasonably nutritious, so I've been trying to eat more of it.

I think I've found the ticket to tricking my brain's reward center: ground clove, cinnamon and cardamom, sliced almonds and somewhat less milk than the box calls for. (And a fair bit of brown sugar. ) I slightly overdid the sugar and clove, but it's pretty good for oatmeal.

Share your ideas!

[jobob]

These might help get you started ...

Oatmeal

Steel Cut Oats

the quest for the perfect easy bowl of oatmeal

pumpkin oatmeal

For you oatmeal lovers

[nscrbug]

I usually prepare mine the same way every time...half skim milk (or almond milk) and half water, six banana slices, a handful of wild blueberries (the really tiny ones) and a small dollop of natural PB. The bananas melt down making the texture a bit thicker and creamier. Warms me up just thinking about it.

[jobob]

Nowadays breakfast in the Bob household consists of steel cut oats, either McCanns, or our current fave, Bob's Red Mill (no relation ).

After microwaving* and portioning out into serving bowls , I add a squeeze of honey and some Silk Light vanilla soymilk to mine. I also add a tablespoon or so of lightly toasted flax seeds (for those all-important Omega-3's and a nice bit of crunch).

Leebob adds honey, lowfat milk and sometimes flax seeds to his.

* The Bobs' tried & true method for microwaving steel cut oats (makes 2 servings): Adapted from SadieKate's method

Mix 0.5 c steel cut oats with 2 to 2.5 c water in a very large Pyrex mixing bowl.
Seriously, you'll need a very large bowl to prevent a boilover disaster in your microwave. Our bowl just fits inside our standard size microwave, and it hold 4 quarts. If you have a compact microwave you'd best not prepare oatmeal this way.
Stick it in the microwave and nuke on high for around 10 minutes (we set our timer on 9:99)
Open the door, stir the oats, shut the door and nuke again on high for around seven minutes (we set it at 6:66)
Remove the hot bowl carefully from the microwave & portion the oats into 2 serving bowls. Flavor it up as desired.

These are guidelines; you'll want to experiment with the amount of water to get the consistency you like, and the nuking time will depend on the power of your microwave.

Oh, and please, allow the freakin' bowl to cool off some before you put it in the sink and dump cold water in it!!!
Yes, I know that sounds obvious, but DH has continuously ignored that. He's a stubborn one.
So one morning a couple of weeks ago I heard this loud bang come from the kitchen followed immediately by some epithet from Leebob of the sort that would be **'d out here. I ran into the kitchen to find Leebob standing over our sink, which was full of large chunks of shattered Pyrex glass and blobs of oatmeal.
Luckily, the sink was deep enough so most of the glass stayed in the sink. And the bowl exploded into large pieces so cleanup was relatively easy.
And Leebob, who thankfully was unhurt and only mildly shaken up, won't be pulling that stupid stunt anymore.

[OakLeaf]

I usually figure if it's more than ten minutes, it's quicker and healthier on the stovetop than in the microwave.

My failsafe* method for a single serving of old-fashioned oats is 7 minutes at 40% power. No stir, no boilover.

(*presuming the large bowl jobob mentioned - a 28 oz Corningware bowl works just fine for 1/3 c oats and 1 c water, with or without dried fruit)

[GLC1968]

If we are talking oatmeal - you all have to try this!

http://shesinthekitchen.blogspot.com...-cinnamon.html

I made it exactly as stated the first time and since then, I've dropped the sugar (just use cinnamon) and the butter and we still love it. I top it with our own raw honey and some chopped walnuts. YUM!!!

[SadieKate]

I usually figure if it's more than ten minutes, it's quicker and healthier on the stovetop than in the microwave.

Why healthier?

If I use the microwave, I can go do something else. Stovetop must be babysat and I'm not very good at that.

[Roadtrip]

Yes on the nuts and yes on the brown sugar.. Yummmmmm... I like to add some dried fruit too.. raisins.. cranberries.. they plump back up as the oatmeal cooks/steeps. Will have to try the cinnamon/cardamon.

Shannon

[featuretile]

I eat an oatmeal, oatbran cereal mix every morning. It's easy, tastes great and has lots of nutrition.
1/4 regular oatmeal
1/4 oatbran
a few raisons (keeps it from boiling over in the microwave)
7/8 cups water
Microwave for 2 minutes (if using frozen blueberries), then one minute more
or
Microwave 3 minutes and add fresh fruit
Add:
1TB flax seed
2 TB vanilla protein powder
cinnamon
milk
Doesn't need any sugar, and you get some protein. It's ready by the time my coffee is done. Enjoy!

[nscrbug]

I eat an oatmeal, oatbran cereal mix every morning. It's easy, tastes great and has lots of nutrition.
1/4 regular oatmeal
1/4 oatbran
a few raisons (keeps it from boiling over in the microwave)
7/8 cups water
Microwave for 2 minutes (if using frozen blueberries), then one minute more
or
Microwave 3 minutes and add fresh fruit
Add:
1TB flax seed
2 TB vanilla protein powder
cinnamon
milk
Doesn't need any sugar, and you get some protein. It's ready by the time my coffee is done. Enjoy!

Hmmm...interesting idea adding the protein powder. I'll have to try that the next time. I've never done anything "hot" with protein powder before, because I always feared it would clump up...but I'll give it a go.