Cook your Oats!

Before we began this plant based way of eating, our breakfasts were typical of most Americans.  I say Americans because that is all I know.  I have no clue what people eat for breakfast anywhere else in the world.

My husband ate 4 eggs and a few slices of bacon every other morning.  On the alternating mornings he ate granola (homemade) with yogurt (store bought sugar laden)

I ate whatever I was drawn to.  I always thought I was eating healthy.  I would sometimes have yogurt (homemade using raw milk, unsweetened) and granola (homemade)
Or I would have a bagel with peanut butter and a banana. Bread was usually always a part of my breakfast.  I would occasionally  eat eggs.

Sometimes, but rarely we would buy a box of cereal.  Whole milk for the husband, and nut milk for me.

Breakfast is now our opportunity to get a dosing of the super nutrition available to us in oats.  We eat oatmeal almost every morning.  If we don't eat oatmeal it's because we are doing a juice fast--that is another topic in the future.

When we have made oatmeal in the past we have just put water in it and shoved it into the microwave for two minutes.  At some point I learned to make a much yummier and satisfying bowl of oatmeal.  This is how I do it:

I use 1 cup of water -you may use milk or nut milk, or a combination as long as it is at least 1 cup.
 1/2 cup old fashioned rolled oats
 1 Tablespoon chia seeds--I alternated every other day with ground flaxseed

**if you like raisins, add a 1/4 cup to the saucepan with the rest of the ingredients
 If we want to have banana or berries, we usually add them to our bowl after the cooking is done.

Place in a saucepan on medium heat and bring to a simmer.  Simmer for 4 minutes.  When done simmering, remove from the heat and put the lid on.  Now wait 10 minutes at least.  The oats will continue to soften and puff up as will the chia seeds.

Transfer your oatmeal to a bowl.  At this point I add 1 tablespoon of coconut oil to the top of the oatmeal.  This is optional.  It adds a little bit of good fat to your meal and helps the cinnamon get yummy creamy!  I don't always do it for myself, but I do it on my husbands because some of his supplements require a fat to be eaten.

Sprinkle cinnamon over the top.  As much or as little as you like.  No cinnamon/sugar--just cinnamon! The bowl on the far right above has the fat--see how the cinnamon melts into it?

Drizzle maple syrup over the top.  I usually measure so I make sure it is no more than 1 teaspoon.

Making the oatmeal this way has made it into a much more satisfying breakfast.  We use mostly organic products and they are all readily available at the grocery or big box stores.  The best place to buy organic old fashioned oats is at a health food store (such as whole foods) that sells in bulk bins.  The organic chia and organic maple syrup I buy at Samsclub.

Breakfast is a very good place to start when you are trying to change habits.  I would suggest starting there and making eating a healthy, low sugar, high fiber breakfast a regular habit.