Treating your body to a healthy breakfast is one of the best things you can do for yourself. And if you aren’t a good breakfast eater now, you can become one fairly easily. Starting small is the key. Let’s talk about some delicious ideas now, shall we?
Start off with a simple bowl of oatmeal–it’s quick to prepare, inexpensive, filling and provides enough nutrition to last the entire morning! No box of cereal or yogurt drink meets all of those qualifications! I’ve recently fallen in love with oatmeal again and now realize that with the help of a few healthy toppings, it’s an incredibly tasty breakfast. My favorite combination to date is oatmeal with a teaspoon of brown sugar, pecans, and strawberries from my garden. But a close second is oatmeal {again with a teaspoon of brown sugar} with a generous helping of fresh blueberries. I also like to pour a little lowfat milk over it all, which is a personal preference. What are your favorite toppings? How do you make something as simple as oatmeal into something special?
This week’s interesting fact about breakfast:
If you miss breakfast, your metabolism slows and it becomes more difficult to lose weight and keep it off. In addition, a healthy breakfast allows you greater concentration and productivity throughout the morning, and reduces your cholesterol. Those are all huge benefits!
I put honey and blueberries in the oatmeal. It is divine:)
Cinnamon….I love to add cinnamon.
I like to use plain non-fat yogurt instead of pouring milk over it. It makes is very creamy without getting soupy.
I like dried fruit in it as well — they pull in some of the liquid and plump up nicely.
Ooh, I do love mine with fresh berries, as you mentioned. My recent favorite, however, is oatmeal with ground flax, cinnamon, diced bananas, and walnut pieces, with milk poured over the top. It’s like banana-nut bread in a bowl. Yum!
I’m looking forward to the rest of your breakfast series!
I love steel cut oats with a drizzle of honey, cinnamon and pecans. Sometimes I will drizzle a tiny amount of 1/2 and 1/2 over the top and it ends up tasting really rich and satisfying.
Here in Australia, we call it porridge rather than oatmeal, but the difference in name has got me wondering whether your oatmeal is more processed i.e. more ‘mealy’ like almond meal as if the oats have had a few buzzes in the blender? Or are the oats still ‘flaky’? Either way, I can’t seem to get my children to eat porridge/oatmeal … something which I just don’t understand because as a child, I loved nothing more than my dad cooking it up on the stove on a cold morning. Brown sugar on top hasn’t worked in getting them to eat it. I don’t even think fresh strawberries will either
Porridge/oatmeal is such a great way to start the morning.
I love home cooked oatmeal. The only kind of oatmeal I can get my kids to eat is the pre-packaged oatmeal. I wish I could get my kids to eat the home cooked version.
@Jillian,
No, our oatmeal is not mealy. Still flaky.
You could try serving it to your kids cold, with milk and brown sugar. My kids love it that way. Also, I don’t like it very cooked and gooey. I like it still chewy, so I only do mine in the microwave (no stovetop, but I guess you could figure out how to do it on the stove…), for 1 minute. The oats soak up enough milk to be softer, but still chewy and still have texture.
I love to mix in a little brown sugar, ground flaxseed, bananas, and walnuts. Heavenly!