Oats are for Goats

I used to hate oatmeal growing up.

Maybe it was the fact that, like most children, I had hard-to-please taste buds. If anything was unusually clumpy, lumpy or crusty, I didn't like it. I remember I used to not like eating mashed potatoes, either. Can you imagine not liking mashed potatoes?? Silly me. Or how about the fact that I used to eat everything on a sandwich except the crusts? Those were the days...

There are so many delicious and satisfying foods that I missed out on simply because they were too "weird". Oatmeal was no exception. The gooey, gloppy, salted mush was about as pleasant to wake up to as mud. {Sorry Mom...no fault of yours}. It wasn't that there was something wrong with the oatmeal really, we even drowned it in milk and brown sugar to add some flavor...

I just simply didn't like it.

But oatmeal is economical in a family of 9, so oatmeal it was...several times a week.

Funny how things change.

When I got married I swore off oatmeal with a vengeance. That goop was in the past...no oatmeal for me! But you know what? After awhile I actually started craving the stuff. But this time, determined to give oatmeal a second chance, I decided to change things up just a tad. I wasn't going to resurrect the meal and then decide I hated it again! That's when my sweet sister Greta gave me a book she compiled with recipes from magazines as a Christmas gift. The one that caught my eye? Oatmeal! Now I love this breakfast staple. Teeny tiny change, big rewards. ;) And the good thing is, oatmeal is incredibly good for you...loaded with fiber, vitamin E, zinc, iron, protein, etc. Can't beat that in an bowl now, can ya? ;-)

Here is the recipe I use now and love:

*Cook oatmeal on stovetop according to directions

on back of a normal Quaker Oat box

(not the instant flavored kind, which is full of sugar)

When oatmeal is ready, add to the top

of each bowl:

*2 -3 rounded Tablespoons of low-fat or fat free vanilla yogurt

*1/4 cup or so of granola of your choice (I use organic

cinnamon-raisin by Cascadian Farms)

*A sprinkling of dried fruits such as

apricots (chopped), raisins, dried cranberries, etc.

*A small drizzling of honey

YUM!

Note: Try and not mix the ingredients up in the bowl,

but savor each spoonful in their respective layers.

XOXO,

Gail

P.S. What food do you now like (whether in it's original form or not)

that you used to abhor? ;0) Do tell!