In case you haven’t noticed, I really love oatmeal. Here are a few fun facts about oats:
- Oats are higher in soluble fiber (which has been proven to lower cholesterol) than any other grain
- Oat protein in equal in quality to soy protein
- Oats are part of a gluten-free diet when they have not been processed near gluten-containing foods
- In Scottish English oats might be called “corn”
- The oldest known oats were found in Egypt and dated approximately 2000BC – at that time however oats were probably just weeds
I don’t tend to eat oats for breakfast as I am a breakfast smoothie girl through and through.
I prefer to have a big steaming bowl of oats for lunch. Usually I make old fashioned rolled oats (which only take 10 minutes to cook), and if I have time I’ll make steel cut oats in my crockpot.
I tend vary the toppings for my oatmeal, sticking mostly to fruits, nuts, and sweetener. I was especially pleased with today’s creation:
Apple Cherry Oatmeal
Serves 1
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup old fashioned rolled oats
- 1/2 cup cold water
- 1/2 cup cold vanilla soymilk (or favorite non-dairy milk)
- pinch of salt
- 1 Honeycrisp apple, or whatever awesome apple you have, chopped
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- handful of sulfite-free dried cherries
Directions
- Combine the oats, water, milk, and salt in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for about 7 minutes.
- Add in the apple, brown sugar, and cinnamon and continue to cook for another 3 minutes or so. The apples should be warm and slightly soft but still firm.
- Pour the oats into a bowl and top with the dried cherries. Add any additional seasonings as desired.
What’s your favorite oat recipe?
