Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Simple, Lazy, Healthy Foods: Oatmeal

A few of the folks on Twitter will mention that they want me to come be their personal chef. First, I doubt they really do; they've never actually eaten anything I've cooked. Second, this makes me feel so good! I'm just your average "think how it will taste and throw it together" cook. Not trained, schooled or taught much.

In fact my mother started having me cook for our family when I was in 7th grade. I'd come home from school, give her a call, and she would tell me how to cook in about 5 minutes while she still continued working. So nobody every really stood near me and showed me anything.

I lived alone for about 7 years where I got lazy, then decided to learn a little bit about nutrition and eating. I've continued in very small ways since then. (very small = watching America's Test Kitchen and Alton Brown's Good Eats). I rarely consult a cookbook, and when I do, I'm often changing the recipe the first time I cook it.

So I'll be posting some of my favorite simple healthy foods for a while. Let's start at the beginning:

Steel-cut oatmeal.

I like the texture of this a bit better than the rolled variety. And I'm lazy.

Late in the evening, put 4 cups of water to boil. Just as it's about to boil, add a little salt. Then add 1 Cup of steel-cut oats and stir them into the water for about 30 seconds. Cover the pot, turn off the heat and go to bed. In the morning, fully cooked oatmeal will be waiting. Scoop up one serving and nuke it. Put the rest away for the next 2-3 days.

Things I Love In My Oatmeal:

  • sliced fresh strawberries (hold the sugar)
  • spices: cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg and cloves. These are supposed to help heal cell damage, but who really knows?
  • pears
  • bananas
  • walnuts chopped
  • almonds, chopped
  • maple syrup
  • liquid eggwhite or a whole egg. Add this after the oatmeal's been heated, and it gently cooks it. When I need the extra protein that day.
I've gotten away from adding any sugar to this dish (shocking, I know), though I add a little Silk Unsweetened Soymilk to get a little more protein in there. This with a piece of fruit and coffee is my normal breakfast.

I also blog at: A Stitch In Time throughout the week and BlogHer on Mondays and Saturdays.