Thursday, April 23, 2009

Oatmeal, old-school

Breakfast: It's the most important meal of the day. There is a mind-blowing variety of convenient breakfast options available today. You can have your cereal in cereal form, as a bar, in a little packet to funnel directly in your mouth, or even as a straw itself. With so many choices, it's easy to forget about humble oatmeal.
In my house, oatmeal comes in one form: plain, in the big cardboard cylinder that most people buy only when they're making a boatload of oatmeal raisin cookies (which I have a great recipe for and will post soon!). However, don't think that I rise at the break of dawn every morning to slave over a boiling vat of oatmeal for an hour. That's not how I roll (my oats). My oatmeal cooking method is fast, convenient, and nutritious. I don't have oatmeal for breakfast every morning, but my six year old daughter does. She has had oatmeal for breakfast pretty much every day since she was about 8 months old, and miraculously still likes it.
So, here's the deal: First off, make sure you buy quick cooking oats, not steel cut, Irish, or even regular. For a quick breakfast, 1 minute oats is where it's at. Put a good handful into a microwave-safe bowl. (I used to use plastic bowls adorned with Elmo for the oatmeal, until my mother, convinced that the plastic in the microwave was slowly poisoning my child, guilted me into switching to Corelle.)
Now here's the trick: I use MILK in my oatmeal instead of water. It makes it creamier, yummier, and healthier. I don't measure the milk, but rather pour it on until the oatmeal is saturated with milk but not floating in milk. It's better to put too little milk rather than too much, because you can easily add more milk after the cooking time, but you it's harder to add more oatmeal and cook it all over again.
Pop the oatmeal in the microwave for one minute, and then flavor as you like. I put in a tablespoon or so of brown sugar and a good sprinkle of cinnamon. There is evidence that cinnamon suppresses blood sugar spikes, so in addition to tasting good, I figure it balances out the brown sugar. I keep both the brown sugar and the cinnamon on my countertop, so they're easy to get to every morning. If I'm feeling particularly virtuous, I will also add a sprinkle of ground flaxseed and a sprinkle of wheat germ. I got this idea from the book Super Baby Food, which has a whole chapter about fortifying your child's oatmeal with everything from flax and wheat germ to avocado, egg yolk, and (ewww) dessicated liver. I wouldn't try to sneak egg yolk in oatmeal past my kid, but when the flax and wheat germ is mixed it, she doesn't notice, especially when she is shoveling her oatmeal down, glassy-eyed and half awake, in front of Spongebob.

1 comment:

  1. I'm trying the oatmeal tomorrow. I LOVE the flax/wheat germ sneak!

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