Umpteenth Oatmeal Question

I've just been reading around the forums to see how people eat their oatmeal. I usually have cereal (All-Bran with oats and honey, I'm not sure if you have it in the US) and another Kellogg's cereal that's like corn flakes, popped rice and oatmeal.

The thing is, I really like oatmeal and we have an unopened bag of it. And I've been in the mood for it. My problem? Well, the way I am used to making it is cooked in boiling milk with sugar, a little bit of butter and cinnamon. 

Thing is, my country sucks and we have lots of problems and one of them is... Milk shortage. So... I just wanted to hear your ideas on really tasty breakfast oatmeal recipes that don't include milk.

I have my cereal with yogurt if I don't have milk. It's some splenda sweetened yogurt, low cal. But I can't really see me mixing dry oatmeal with yogurt lol. 

I actually like oatmeal better with yogurt than milk. I'm you mix it it the night before and put it in the fridge its soft, and fruity in the morning (if you use flavored yogurt that is).   You could also try mixing it with a mashed up banana, canned pumpkin or even apple sauce.  Water always works, just not as flavorful though. hope this helps!

unforgotten, what u have described sounds a lot like Muesli which I know Ireland has a lot of! (notsure where u are from gabita)

I actually never use milk with oatmeal...because I am very sensitive to it. My favorite is cooking oats with double the amount of water in the microwave (quick oats) for like 2 minutes. I habitually add 2 tsp of flaxseed meal or more depending on your taste, cinnamon, a banana diced (before cooking actually), a little bit of maple syrup, and then sometimes i throw in dried fruit like raisins or some chopped almonds for texture! I alwayssss eat my hot oatmeal with a cup of nonfat yogurt, sometimes i do flavors sometimes not. Sometimes i mix it in to make it creamy and soemtimes I just get some cold and hot on the same spoon. I also love substituing pumpkin (canned pure) for banana, or mango and banana with a little splash of orange juice, or diced apples and applesauce afterwards for creaminess...oh my sooo many amazing things to do!!!

I hope you're not talking about Britain because none of our countries suck :o(

I have always cooked my oatmeal as 1/2 cup oats to 1 cup water. Boil water on stovetop add oats. Then go from there. Normally I will add vanilla and cinnamon while the oats are cooking. When they are almost done I throw in 1/4 cup pumpkin and then it gets thick fast. Throw it in a bowl, add a pack of splenda or two, maybe a tsp of sf maple syrup and then always 1/4 cup go lean for crunch.

Thanks for the suggestions! They sound yummy. I'm just not creative like that and then I am afraid I will end up having to eat something not-so-tasty, lol!

And... Of course I'm not talking about Britain! I'm sure you guys have milk there. I am in South America, Venezuela to be more exact... And slightly embarrassed to say it, but I guess I'm just hoping you don't know enough about it. We're currently missing in the stores things like milk, rice, beans, eggs, pasta, sugar, vegetable oil, chicken... Sigh...

Hi Gabita,

My condolences on your shortages. Here's how I do oatmeal with yogurt:

• Cook the yogurt with less water than the recipe asks for. For example, if you are starting with 1/2 cup of dry oatmeal, instead of adding 1 cup of water, add 3/4 cup of water or a little less.
• It might help to soak the oatmeal in the water for a minute or 2 before cooking.
• Cook the oatmeal--it will be thicker than usual.
• Add the yogurt. I like plain yogurt best, but it also works with fruit-flavored yogurt

Hope that helps!

I put 1/2 cup of oatmeal and just shy of 1 cup of water in a bowl and put it in the microwave for 2.5 minutes.  Then, when it's done, I put a tablespoon of ground flax seed in it and mash up a banana.

OMG it's good.

I eat my oatmeal the same way each day -

I put in half a cup of steel cut oats, throw in 10 raw pecans or 10 raw almonds, tablespoon of dried fruit, then add 3/4 cup of water.  I microwave this in a coffee cup  for 1.20 minutes.  Viola!  Yummy.  No milk.

I feel like such a boring oatmeal eater after hearing all the stuff you guys do. I just eat instant oatmeal, lower sugar version. 

The Swiss way of making muesli (the real name is Birchermuesli, and it's the typical Swiss breakfast, that you need to tackle a day of mountaineering and watching cows on high altitude pastures LOL):

a cup of oatmeal (natural rolled oats),

one natural yogurt (unsweetened but you can choose a fruit yogurt for an additional zest),

a grated raw apple,

berries (blueberries, blackcurrants and raspberries can be added the night before, but strawberries should be added at the last moment),

raisins,

chopped nuts.

You mix it the night before and serve for breakfast. The oats absorb the moisture from the yogurt and fruit and the nuts add some crunch. It's delicious, healthy and a complete meal suitable for the evening as well. You can vary the proportions as you find it suitable.

Hmm!! They all sound so good. :D

I didn't have much time today before heading out the door... But I'll let y'all know when I try your suggestions! :P 

I tried cooking it like I usually do but with water instead of milk... And I also added apple to it. It was alright but I think milk gives it a special something. :P

I'll try yogurt, next! 

Nunofreak, me too! I eat mine mixed with water and that's it, apart from splenda sprinkled on top, simplicity is the way forward! Jam is nice with it too though, I sometimes have raspberry jam on it.

My advance apology for writing such a long story!  I just ate oatmeal for the first time in my life today, so, in my enthusiasm, I got a bit carried away with typing my tale (below).  Feel free to skip to the bolded part at the bottom of my reply for my (strange, yet simple and savory) oatmeal serving suggestion, if you like :)

* * *

First off, my condolences to you, gabita, regarding the food shortages!  I am North American – living in the land of abundance and (over)indulgence, to say the least – so I will not pretend to know how it feels to be in your position.  However, I do happen to be a college student with (very) limited funds, living in a dorm with no kitchen access, and inflicted with Superior Mesentric Artery Syndrome and a rather extreme case of Irritable Bowel Syndrome (which, among many things, involves an intolerance of red meat, dairy, caffeine, solid chocolate, carbonated drinks, white flour products, rich cakes/pastries, sugar, anything too greasy/oily/high-fat or tinned/preserved, most highly-processed foods. . . the list goes on.)  So, though I don't know what it's like to live in a country with scant resources, I am familiar with food-related limitations.  Specifically, I know what it feels like to cope with a shortage of cash, restricted transportation to grocery stores, a strict laundry-list of "off limits" foods, and (last, but certainly not least) a lack of kitchen access which renders me unable to prepare a meal that requires anything more than a styrofoam cup and a microwave.

My Tale Begins:

Almost everyday, I log onto the C-C and spot forums in which (literally) dozens of posters sing praises to the heavenly breakfast item that is oatmeal.  And, at the time, I had never even consumed a spoonful of the stuff in my entire life!  The more I read, the more determined I became to try some.  I figured that any food that's cheap, available in an on-campus store (only a 20-min walk from my dorm!), composed of ingredients that do not trigger my IBS and SMA symptoms (in fact, foods with a slushy texture are particularly easy for me to digest), and only requires a cup of tap-water and a minute in the microwave to prepare is more than perfect for me.  I had not eaten a hot meal since visiting home for Thanksgiving, so the idea of a piping bowl of anything had a lot of appeal.

So after my classes were over this afternoon, ready for a hearty (and hot!) snack, I hiked to the on-campus snack shop and bought my first-ever box of Quaker Oats Instant Oatmeal (Regular Flavor).  It was the only kind available, packaged in sets of twelve.  As I carried it to the check-out, I really hoped that I would like it, because if I didn't, I would be stuck with a dozen packets and a waste of $5!

I went to my dorm, and, following the instructions on the box, I poured one packet and 2/3 cup of tap water into a styrofoam cup and popped it in the microwave for two minutes.  The stuff wound up overflowing and sliming-up the entire shelf, causing me to spend the next five minutes or so mopping it with paper-towels and hand-soap from the dorm bathroom.

After I was finished cleaning up the mess, I took the remains of my precious cup and had my very first spoonful of oatmeal.  It was disgusting.  It was so bland, it was almost bitter (if that makes any sense.)  I was disappointed, but, since I never waste food, I force-fed myself the entire cup.  Needless to say, it filled me until my next meal.  So, though it tasted horrible, the oatmeal did it's job in the end: I was no longer hungry, and I could continue to go about my day.  (After all, thanks to my IBS and SMA, I had already begun to think of food purely as medicine rather than something to be enjoyed.  So, though I did not like the oatmeal's taste, I tried to be content with this thought: At least it filled me without causing any stomach-pain!)

Later that afternoon, I spoke with a good friend of mine about my disappointing oatmeal experience, lamenting about the 11 packets I would have to choke down sometime during these final weeks of the semester.  She looked at me blankly and said, "You ate unflavored oatmeal?  If you're going to buy the plain kind, you'll have to put something in it!"  I blinked repeatedly, digesting her words.  My oatmeal was plain and unaccompanied.  It was like eating a sandwich composed entirely of bread, with nothing between the slices.  No wonder it tasted dull! For someone triple-majoring at a premier university, I sure was slow.

So, that evening, hauled up in my room (studying for finals), dinnertime rolled around and I eyed the box of oatmeal on my shelf with determination.  I did not want to wait until the following morning to try again.  Who cared if oatmeal was a "breakfast food"?  I'd already had a cup as an afternoon snack that day, so I figured I could incorporate some as part of my dinner, too.

My first thought was: I needed to "dress it" with something.  Something my IBS and SMA could tolerate (that eliminates all the staples, like honey, brown sugar, maple syrup, butter, milk or yogurt); something that was cheap (that eliminates nuts and dried fruit); and, preferably, something that I already had in my room, since I really did not want to go on another hike to any campus shops so late at night.  I opened my stores and surveyed my options:  Raw broccoli, cherry tomatoes, and a shaker of Lime-Pepper (a type of seasoning composed of salt, black pepper and lime-powder). That was it.

So, this is what I ended up using (Simple, quick, and very modest with ingredients):

- 1 packet of Quaker Oats Instant Oatmeal (Regular Flavor) prepared with 2/3 cup water in microwave

- 1/2 cup of cherry tomatoes, diced (added after microwaving)

- A sprinkle of lime-pepper 


More Suggestions: You can substitute the lime-pepper with other seasonings (or just plain salt and/or black pepper).  Try throwing in salsa, black beans, and/or any other chopped veggies (raw or cooked).  If you have access to meat/poultry, chop some in,&nb sp;or even toss in a scoop of ground meat.  Basically, I think any recipe that uses rice can be replaced with oatmeal. (Oatmeal is more filling.)  After all, there is no concrete rule that states that oatmeal must be a sweet breakfast food.

*Total calories for one serving of the above recipe (bolded): 113  (100 for the oatmeal, 13 for the tomatoes, 0 for the lime-pepper). I am not cutting calories because I am trying to gain weight, but for those of you who are dieting, I am sure this low number carries a strong appeal!

The end-product was amazing. I had a warm, savory dinner:  Zesty, piping-hot oatmeal with a dash of cool, crunchy tomato.  A perfect balance of textures, flavors and temperatures.


And so concludes my Oatmeal Chronicle :)