Ode to Oatmeal

I was lucky enough to have had this past week off and the first thing I bought was a big old bag of Bob's Red Mill oats.  I was inspired by all of these fancy bowls that I've been seeing on basically every single blog.  It made oatmeal into more than just breakfast.  It was art.  

My first attempt was pretty sloppy.  I learned that as delicious as cinnamon is, it's not very photogenic.  So I had to flip the banana slices over one by one to save the picture.  I take my oatmeal very seriously.                

  

oatmeal with vanilla, plain yogurt, almond butter, 

raspberries, banana, blueberries, walnuts,

coconut and cinnamon

I posted that picture on Instagram and I was embarrassed at how messy it looked but also kind of proud because I went to a lot of work, not just for the photo but for the meal too.  The picture got a whopping 122 likes.  Not even my adorable niece can get that many likes on Instagram.  Shamefully, I'll admit that this superficially motivated me to make more oatmeal throughout the week.  My next mission was the infamous carrot cake oatmeal.

 

oatmeal with shredded carrots, cinnamon, ginger, 

cloves, nutmeg, vanilla, raisins, muesli, blueberries, 

almond butter and coconut

WOW!  It was probably the best oatmeal I had ever had.  To be fair, I've never really gone this fancy with my oats, but still.  I would make carrot cake oatmeal more often if it weren't for the fact that shredding carrots hurts my hand and sometimes extra labour frustrates me.  I'm a lazy chef, what can I say?

oatmeal with banana, almond butter, dates, 

lucuma powder, cacao nibs and coconut

After this bowl, I discovered how tasty dates can be in the mix.  This was also my first time trying lucuma powder but I didn't really taste it much so for my next bowl I was a little more generous.

But oh no!  I ran out of oats!  Thankfully I had a questionably old box of steel cut oats in my cupboard!  I'm still alive so I guess they were okay after all.  Worth it.  This bowl was delicious.

steel cut oatmeal with vanilla, carob powder, lucuma powder, 

cinnamon, cacao nibs, dark chocolate squares, 

almond butter, muesli, raisins, dates and coconut

My mom always tells me that Dr. Oz says that a bowl of oatmeal in the morning makes you happier.  If I had a penny for every time she told me nutritional advice from Dr. Oz, I'd be much richer and shopping at Whole Foods on a daily occasion.  That being said, I agree with her on this one.  Oatmeal is fabulous.

Pleasantly yours,

Bart