Monday, May 3, 2010

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....

3 comments:

  1. When you talk about oatmeal it reminds me of my childhood. When my mother made it I hated it. When my grandmother made it it was great. It was made from old fashioned rolled oats and not cooked to death. Served with brown sugar and half and half. So Good

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  2. I know it's possible to make it better... But it's kinda like ramen- you *can* make it better, just tough to want to bother.

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  3. if you hate the texture, you could always try steel cut oats... they have a nutty taste and a slightly more interesting texture... Trader Joe's sells them pretty cheaply.

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