The Perfectly Perfect Breakfast

It seems that whenever you mention oatmeal there is one of two responses…”I love oatmeal” OR “Yuck! I can’t stand oatmeal.”  Perhaps the second response is due to the fact that nearly everyday someone, somewhere is serving up some sticky, nasty goo, and referring to it as oatmeal.

 One can easily conjure up the image from Shel Silverstein’s well-known poem entitled  Sarah Sylvia Cynthia Stout, (the girl who would not take the garbage out)…of cold, uneaten oatmeal being among the old garbage:

It filled the can, it covered the floor
It cracked the window and blocked the door
With bacon rinds and chicken bones
Drippy ends of ice cream cones
Prune pits, peach pits, orange peel
Gloppy glumps of cold oatmeal

The truth is, oatmeal,  is one of the most nutritious and easy to make foods that you can eat.  And when properly prepared it is delicious too.  It is simple and very economical and can be a great go-to food for adults and children alike.

Here is the best way (in my humble opinion) to make and serve this easy and very healthy food.  If you already like oatmeal, try it this way, you’ll love it!  If you don’t like oatmeal and you or your children are among the “Yuck” group, give it one more chance made like this.  You just might have a new favorite breakfast food….a perfectly perfect breakfast!  Now this is all a part of abundant living:)

Perfect Oatmeal

1 cup old fashioned rolled oats
1 1/2 cups milk
1 cup water
1/2 teaspoon salt

Condiments

Real maple syrup
honey
brown sugar
agave syrup
nuts – pecans, walnuts or slivered almonds
raisins
butter
cream
peanut butter
almond butter
Nutella
cinnamon
chopped apples
blueberries

Put the water, milk and salt in a sauce pan.

I use milk, instead of just water as part of the liquid, for two reasons.  It adds to the overall nutrition by giving you more calcium, and it makes the oatmeal ultimately much creamier.  The 1/2 teaspoon of salt is certainly more than you will find in the directions on the box of oatmeal, or probably most any place else you look to see how to prepare it, but it is important to add enough salt to the water/liquid so that you don’t end up with a tasteless bunch of what Sarah Sylvia Cynthia Stout ended up throwing out.

Next add in the oats.

The main difference between the Quick Cook and the Old Fashioned Oats is just the way that the oats are cut.  The Quick Cook  are cut finer which results in their being able absorb the liquid more rapidly and thus to cook quicker.  Quick Cook Oats will work for the method I am sharing with you to prepare oatmeal, but when all is said and done I personally prefer the Old Fashioned ones.

Turn on the stove to a medium-high flame and cook, stirring the oats regularly for about 5-7 minutes.  The stirring will release the starch in the oats.  While we have explained in a previous post that this is NOT what you want to do with mashed potatoes, in this case, it is precisely what will make the oatmeal creamier.  When the oats have begun to absorb the liquid and it has thickened just a bit, put the lid on the pan and turn off the heat.  Allow it to sit for 10-20 minutes.  While it sits it will continue cooking and absorbing the rest of the liquid.

Now at first thought this may seem inconvenient and too long of a prep time as you are hurrying about in the morning to get yourselves or your family out the door.  But consider this: In those first 5-7 minutes when you are cooking the oatmeal on a medium-high flame and stirring every little bit, you can also be making your coffee and begin unloading your dishwasher or throwing in a load of laundry, or writing your child’s teacher a note you’ve been meaning to write.  When you turn off the flame and put the lid on the pan, you are free to go and get dressed or make your bed or do whatever it is you need to do in the morning and when you (and/or your children  and spouse ) are all ready, so is your breakfast.

Now comes the fun part, the oatmeal embellishment!

Turn on the heat for just a minute at most, constantly stirring, and making sure your oatmeal is really pipping hot.   Serve up the oatmeal in bowls and start adding your favorite condiments like you are building an oatmeal sundae.

The list above is just the beginning.  Experiment and have fun with it.  Think of your oatmeal the way you would think about a pizza….try out some new toppings and some new combinations of toppings.  This makes the whole process really enjoyable for your children and who knows?…maybe oatmeal will turn out to be their new favorite breakfast…and yours too!