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Oatmeal is just good, and other food basics

Listening to a commercial about how oatmeal is heart healthy led me to write this post. How an ad campaign can take something so basic, and turn it in to an exploration of how the body processes cholesterol (all in the confines of a 30 second commercial) is entirely depressing!

Here is the skinny, pun intended. Oatmeal tastes good! Hot oatmeal in the morning is a hearty comfort food, mostly avoided because it takes time...which concept is true, but wait, Intuitive Cooking can help you here!

There is a trend on Pinterest to putting raw oats in a jar with some fruit and sweetener overnight. This IS a great idea for meals on the go, but does NOTHING for the experience of actually sitting down (yes, taking time to sit down) to a hot bowl of warm oatmeal!


TO make oatmeal you and others will want to eat, learn how to do more than one thing at once in the kitchen! Oatmeal is a great way to practice! Try this first on a day you are not headed out the door .

Keep in mind that there ARE simple things you can do in the kitchen at the same time! (this is the lesson you will be practicing with oatmeal!)

You will need: a pot, lid, a spoon to eat with (you will use it to stir with too), old fashioned (not quick cooking) oats, salt, and water. To add more flavor, you can add a cutting knife, a piece of fruit, cinnamon, and a sweetener.

Put water in a pan. With regular oatmeal, (not the quick stuff) you can fill up the pan to your first knuckle on your finger for every person you are going to feed. Put the pan on the heat at medium (that right, DON'T put it on high. this is because you have other things you will be doing and you might boil the pan dry...i write from sad experience).  THEN, find an apple, or pear, or other hard fruit. Peal,core, and chop it up. Put it in the water now. While the water comes to the boil, you can fetch the bowls ,spoons, and sweetener you like (honey, maple syrup, brown sugar,  sugar), and
cinnamon.

Put a pinch of salt in the water now that it is boiling. Pour in the oatmeal, making sure to stir as you do it. Add about the same volume of oats as you did water, plus a bit more. Stir. Turn down the heat. Cover. Set your timer if you have one for 5 minutes. Wait. Stir. Cook and stir until it is ALMOST done. Turn off the heat. Cover.

Now, the oatmeal will stay warm for a while, so you can eat it now, or later. I recommend now!
Add some sweetener...yum!
AND you did several things at once: boiled, cut, set the table. and you only have the pot and your bowl and spoon to wash.

Next time, you can cook twice as much, put the left overs in bowls, cover with plastic, and either re heat it or use it to make cookies!




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