So today was the first day of our oatmeal challenge. The above is what we enjoyed this morning (steel cut oats-soaked overnight, berries, raw milk, ghee). Looks good, no?
Based off of my response to the original post about the oatmeal challenge, some of you don’t think it looks good, some of you agree entirely with me, and some of you wonder why I am picking oatmeal for my challenge!
Here’s some answers to different questions and comments.
The Point
I am doing this really just to save money. It’s not that I think that having oatmeal everyday is the most healthy thing I could ever do, but it’s nourishing food that’s cheap too! Since we’ve had some extra expenses this month, I’m having to really watch the budget. This challenge will help me,.
The Other Point
It keeps things simple for me, and that’s definitely an advantage! I love variety, but you know, some times the cook has to have a break! I will probably only have to cook a big pot of oatmeal up twice this week (to be reheated in small portions every morning). I love the simplicity of that, and I can flavor it different ways for variety.
What about the Carbs?
We went on a grain free diet for a month. My blood sugar stayed low the entire month….way to low. I may be wrong, but it seems like my body doesn’t do well on a low carb diet. So for my family, we do eat grains (properly soaked, of course) and carbohydrates. But it’s true that this won’t work well for everyone (and it’s not an indefinite plan for us either!).
We always serve our oatmeal with plenty of fat (cream, butter, ghee, coconut oil, coconut milk), to help us not have a sugar spike and the fiber content in oatmeal helps as well. Many of you had some great suggestions for adding nut butter to oatmeal (and interesting concept that I had never thought of!), and I’ve always liked nuts in my oatmeal too for extra protein.
Speaking of Protein
We almost always add chia seeds to our oatmeal. I love the smooth texture they add and it really ups the nutrient and protein value. I soak them with the oatmeal overnight.
And it looks like tomorrow, just one day into the challenge, I am going to have to switch our morning oatmeal to afternoon oatmeal! Our brother-in-law is coming over for breakfast and I don’t want to serve him just oatmeal. Crepes and eggs for breakfast, and oatmeal for lunch.
We will see how it goes the rest of the week and I will give a report next Wednesday. What about you? Anyone else starting the oatmeal challenge for a week too? Join in just for a day or two if you like!
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We had our oatmeal this morning, too. I soaked it overnight with some water and lemon juice but it was just too hot to cook it this morning. We just mixed in some maple syrup, bananas, cinnamon and raw milk and ate it cold. It was yummy, though. My girls had two bowls of it. It sure did make the morning rush seem less rushed since I didn’t have to cook.
Hey kimi, I can’t figure out how to email you so I’m letting you know via comment, today on this page, I saw a google ad for http://www.unjury.com/reg/coffee.html?tag=Google&gclid=CMvitPK5q5wCFRlcagodMElskg which I don’t think is the sort of thing you want to have advertising. I think with the link you can ban them from your adsense or something?
thanks for having such an amazing blog!
Caroline
I love oatmeal in the mornings! I always soak mine in a little bit of yogurt, I find lemon juice or vinegar makes it taste, well, kind of awful. I use bananas to cook the oats in and its wonderful. I haven’t thought of adding butter or ghee to help with the blood sugar spikes, I’ll definitely try it. It seems like it would be very satisfying.
I’m going to try and do oatmeal a couple times this week!
We love oatmeal so much in our house that we wrote a song. The song mentions raisins, nuts, and brown sugar, but once in a while, some of us will enjoy oatmeal even without toppings or even milk. We’d be honored if you’d listen to “Sometimes I Have Oatmeal for Breakfast” (by Peter Apel and his then 3-year old son) to go with these week’s theme. :O)
I’ve been enjoying oatbran each morning. I cook mine with water and add cinnamon, banana, apple, and a big scoop of peanut butter. So filling and yummy!
Yet more proof that I am still a TF neophyte; I didn’t know about adding fats to oatmeal. Is that just to get the fats in your system or does it help digestion? I’ve been doing oatmeal for breakfast for a while, soaked overnight with lemon juice, then cooked in the morning. (Not steel cut, I don’t have the time to cook it daily and I am not yet up to making it for a week at once.)
Hopefully for tomorrow’s I will remember to add some raw milk to it.
I soaked steel cut oats last night in water and kefir, drained it this morning and cooked with butter, organic peanut butter, a mashed banana, cinnamon and vanilla. Yum!
Yay I get happy when I see any articles about oatmeal. So cheap & nutritious & delicious! I’m on a low starch diet so I’ve cut out most refined flours but one thing I love is oatmeal pancakes! I grind rolled oats in a food processor until it’s a fine meal, then use it as flour in a basic pancake recipe. Sounds weird but I like it them with molasses, but fruit preserves would be good too.
We love oatmeal and have it at least twice a week. Sometimes we make oatmeal pancakes with the leftover oatmeal… delish!! I am looking forward to getting new ideas for our oatmeal. Hmmm!!
I am eating grain-free now as it seems to be the only thing to help my digestive system remain calm, but I used to eat soaked oatmeal every morning. I would soak the oats with a little vinegar (just a little so it didn’t taste bad), a TB or so of flax, and raisins or chopped dates. The fruit would swell overnight and sweeten the oats by morning. After cooking a couple minutes in the AM, I would top with a little raw honey, PB, and cinnamon! I hope someone gets some good ideas from this…
I soaked my oatmeal in kefir & water, added flax seeds then cooked it with cinn., coconut oil and carob powder but you can use raw cacao, some stevia and walnuts! It was the best oatmeal I have ever eaten! And you are right, it took no time to cook! Thanks for this fantastic recipe idea!
Kimi– you mentioned you were grain free for a month and your blood sugar levels were too low. I have been grain free for a couple months now and feel MUCH better GI-wise, but have noticed a lot of fatigue occasional dizziness. However, I am not willing to put up with all the GI problems I have had just to get my levels up a bit. Wondered if you had any thoughts for people who are grain free, but wanted to keep stable blood sugar levels?
Thanks 🙂
Holly,
That’s hard to answer since I never “solved” that problem while going grain free! I think that it may have helped some GI problems I was having, but my blood sugar seemed to stay so low for so long that it just ended up not being doable for me.
But here are a few things that helped me some, carrots for carbs (I was doing the GAPS diet, where certain carbs are allowed), lots of fat and plenty of broth and protein. On the gaps diet, chestnuts are also allowed. They are high in carbs, while still being grain free. I wish I had gotten the chance to try them as they really might helped me. Out of season, you can buy them dried and they are a fairly good deal on some places online.
The first time I tried grains, I instantly felt so much better! I felt like a fog lifted out of my head, and my energy returned. So weird, because I was really expecting to feel great going grain free!
Hope that helps a little.
Everyone,
Thanks for sharing how your oatmeal breakfast is going! How fun to hear from all of you!
My 14-mo-old ate 5 servings of oatmeal this morning! I think she’s going to like breakfast this week. 🙂 My favorite is flax meal, crispy walnuts, unrefined coconut oil, and lots of cinnamon plus a splash of raw milk or cream. So delish, and no sweetener needed b/c of the coconut flavor. I was thinking the day you issued your challenge, Kimi, about using 6 pastured eggs for scrambled egg breakfast and how that just cost $1.50+ for one meal. Yes, much more nutritious, but I’d rather spend $1.50 for the week of oatmeal breakfasts!
i stir in an egg or two each morning into a bowl of oatmeal. it makes it more balanced. ITA about the carbs. I do better with some carbs that are properly prepared.
I keep meaning to make the soaked baked oatmeal I found on a website somewhere (could have even been yours, lol) but I keep forgetting to soak it. I bought Kefir b/c I couldn’t find buttermilk that wasn’t lowfat. Does it exist?
I am eating my way through my GIANT bowl of oatmeal right now! Mine is oats, almond milk [unsweetened vanilla], blackberry jam [1 tablespoon], peanut butter [1 tablespoon], dash of salt, dash of honey, a good amount of pumpkin pie spice. It’s delicious! *nom nom nom*
I’m also doing this challenge for money reasons. I have a giant thing of oatmeal and very little money so it’s oatmeal all this week for me! I can’t wait to see how you jazz yours up! I have some frozen fruit that might be a good addition for tomorrow for sure!
Thank you for mentioning the chia seeds. I am going some to our oats tonight, to soak for tomorrow. 🙂
We have steel cut oats for breakfast several times a week. I got 50lb from Amazon for about $60…Not organic, but it’s a great start I think.
I soak mine in water and a little vinegar for about 12 hours, but then I rinse before cooking to get rid of the sour taste. They are still soaked, just not tart. Hadn’t noticed anyone else mention that, so I thought I’d throw that idea into the mix.
Can you give us a recipe for cooking up a big batch and then storing it all week to eat thru the week???
My family asks me to make oatmeal (which we soak with a little yogurt and water) just so they can have “fried” oatmeal the next couple of days.
Once our leftover oatmeal has cooled and congealed, I scoop off 1/4 inch “slices” and fry them in butter or coconut oil in a hot cast iron pan. With patience (and plenty of butter) it gets a crispy browned coating (flip the slices to brown both sides)…delicious with flax meal, raw honey and cinnamon. I even like it plain!
This works well as a snack , or like toast as a side for eggs.
Hi I have a question. I just found out that grains and oatmeal need to be “soaked” before cooking. I never knew that :s! Scarry in that we eat ALOT of this! Anyhow the soaking, does Every grain need to be soaked? And also for every grain …just 1-2 tbs yogurt or lemon juice to a cup and half of grain to soak 12- 24 hours on counter? Did I get that right? How about if I only need 1/2 cup rice? Do I just add less yogurt of lemon juice? And w steel cut oats just soak them the same as the plain ol oatmeal? I’m confused, can you please help me!!!!!!!!
-Jenn
I love oatmeal, as well as whole oats and other whole grain cooked in the slow cooker overnight into a creamy porridge. During the winter, we eat oats a lot! For breakfast these days, though, I am really enjoying two eggs from our backyard chickens, fried in bacon fat with a slice of toast from my own bread and a dollop of this amazing roast tomato sauce I’ve been making this month. The tomato and egg yolk are delicious together. With homemade bread and eggs and tomatoes coming from our yard, it’s a very economical breakfast!
My favorite additions to oatmeal are sliced strawberries and bananas with a splash of vanilla soy milk. I’ll add some ground flax seeds to it as well. I’ve never soaked it before but I think I will try that.
Hi Kimi,
I noticed that you’ve added raw milk to your oatmeal recipe. I also live in Portland and am wondering where you’re purchasing yours. I am mostly interested in raw goat milk, but raw cow will do.
Thanks!
I was inspired by your challenge and enjoyed steel cut oats this morning, with a scoop of almond butter and homemade raspberry jam – – yum!
I eat oatmeal every day… love it!!! Not a big steel cut fan, but plain old original oats, cooked with a huge dollop of natural peanut butter thrown in. Yum!
Well oatmeal is a staple, here. I bought 100 pounds of it last fall and we’re almost done. My kids will eat it every day. We have lots of fr0zen blueberries and other fruits around the house so they get creative with it!
Our favorite, hands down, is oatmeal with yogurt and blueberries. Right now it’s peach season so we’re having oatmeal with peaches and yogurt.
Great blog, Kimmi.
Keep it up!
We are starting out Oatmeal Challenge next monday for 7 days 🙂 I can’t wait. I am doing some different variations because I do need lots of protein with mine like baked oatmeal,m fried oatmeal mush & add some scrambled eggs on the side to leftover oatmeal muffins 🙂
I loooooove oatmeal. One of my favorite ways is to to enjoy it is to put crisped pistachios and soaked dates into the food processor w/ some of the date water and puree into a nice paste. Add to cooked oatmeal and the dates are usually sweet enough that no other sweetener is needed but honey is a nice addition along w/ cream. Enjoy!
That oatmeal photograph looks amazing! LOVE the chia addition….best way to eat warm cereal 🙂
What a wonderful subject! I had groats this morning for breakfast-eaten cold like cereal with fresh almond milk. Delicious, without being packaged or processed.
I always feel so sluggish after eating oatmeal, but I love it so much that sometimes I go for it anyway. I have noticed a conspicuous absence of recipes for savory oatmeal posted, so here is one of my favorite ways to eat it:
Soak the oatmeal in yogurt and water, but add way more yogurt than normal (like a 1:2 ratio) to just cover the oats. When cooking, add beef broth or water and chunks of ground beef. Season with salt, pepper, and raw butter. It’s amazing! I like the steel cut oats cuz the chewiness mixes with the heartiness of the beef to make for a solid meal.
Thanks for having one of the best food blogs around!
Try any nut butter in the oatmeal! YUM. Different flavour each day. We like almond butter and hazelnut butter.
We cut and toss in dried fruits to soak overnight in the whey & water – plump and yummy.
Raw honey, cinnamon, and we’re off!
That fried oatmeal sounds terrific – thanks, Chris!
Yes, I concur, great blog!
I love soaking my oats over night with a splash of orange juice. I usually have it on hand, and it is easier than squeezing lemons and more pleasant than vinegar. It adds a barely perceptable hint of sweetness to the oatmeal.
Here is mine from the week:
hhttp://kimsstateoffood.blogspot.com/2009/08/oats-week-challenge.html
so nice to read about your “oatmeal challenge” … i’m also eating a lot of oatmeal for nutrition and economic reasons, good thing i love it! My “usual” is gluten-free oats, (soaked overnight with kefir) ghee, dates, walnuts and cinnamon. i love the chia seeds idea!
PLEASE MOMS TELL ME WHERE TO GET 100 LBS OF OATMEAL CHEAPEST HIGH QUAILITY. LIKE QUAKER,,ORGANIC FIRST CHOICE..ALSO I NEED SUGAR IN BULK TOO AND A FEW OTHER THINGS.DONT HAVE ALOT OF MONEY BUT NEED TO EAT HEALTHY.
Have any local co ops in your area? They are a huge help in buying in bulk. I’ve also heard that costco (sam’s club) has oatmeal in bulk, though I don’t know if it’s organic or not. Same goes for the sugar. 🙂 Some supermarkets may be willing to special order bulk oatmeal for you too.