Day 79- Oatmeal

I'm sure it's a huge surprise to everyone, but I'm back to oatmeal. It's easy, fast, and other than the paste-texture, no worse than anything else. Heck, something that's ready to eat from scratch in less than 5 minutes can't be all that bad, can it?

Although I don't do much with them, oats are a super versatile ingredient. Rolled or crushed, or cut and cooked they make hot breakfast porridge that's easy to flavor. Soaked overnight in a bunch of water, blended to liquid, and strained they turn into "milk". The bran makes a super filling, ultra healthy addition to muffins and other baked goods. Flakes go great in cookies. Oh, yeah, and a couple cups with some fun additions and some time in either the oven or a good large frying pan makes rockin' homemade granola.

Heck, you can add oats to meatloaf as an extender, mix them into stuffing, or grind them up a bit for breading.

Talk about flexible. For some reason, though, I only ever toss them in a bowl with vanila, sugar, water, and cinnamon, and nuke the mix until it could be used to set fence posts.

When I was planning for this whole eating (or not eating, depending on your POV) extravaganza I made a list of all my favorite cheap meals, and some that aren't as cheap, but that I thought I might be able to play with a bit. I added a couple things to the list later that, while not favorites- or even in my top 20- are super cheap, and can be used for more than one thing. Enter oatmeal.

It's never going to be my favorite thing to eat. I suspect that if there's ever a reasonable chance to cut it from my diet completely I'll jump at the chance. For now, though, it's cheap, filling, and healthy. Just... maybe not twice or three times a day anymore....