The kids call it Op-pa-meal

My mom came and spent a few days with us last week. She lives a 5 hour drive away and tries to stay for a while if she makes the trip.  One of the mornings she was here she let me sleep in.....I mean REALLY sleep in.  I stumbled down the stairs at 11, bleary eyed, hair everywhere and sheet marks on my face.  Coffee was made (I know right!) and the kids were dressed and fed. "Hallelujah" I sang as I poured a cup. "Yippee" I yelled as I skipped to the bathroom, "God save America" I declaired as I jumped......wait that doesn't make sense!

Anyway the point is....it was NICE!

For breakfast Mom made oatmeal. I grew up eating oatmeal. Every morning my mom would bring a bowl into my bedroom and put it on my bedside table. The smell of it, the warm stolen bites while hiding under the covers......ok, I would eat it in bed.  I know it sounds spoiled and ridiculous but I have never been a morning person.  Breakfast on my bedside table was one of the only ways my mom could coax me out of bed.  It made it not a fight. My  mom has always been a 'pick your battles type'. It was always rolled oats with raisins and cinnamon, a pat of butter, brown sugar and milk. And I LOVED it.  Even now it gives me the warm fuzzies of childhood memories when I eat it like that.

I have to add that I still have that bedside table, I use it now. It is a beautiful old washstand. I refinished it a few years ago and had to use a power sander to get the dried petrified oatmeal out of the finish pieces.

We eat a lot of oatmeal around here too(not in bed).  I sometimes serve it like my mom did but more often than not I now make it my own.  That and because we are essentially a sugar free house (I just bought white sugar to make the Kombucha.  We didn't have any sugar in the house) I have had to find other ways to make memorable. I don't just use rolled oats, I love the chewy nutty texture of Scottish oats, if I have the time I love 'steel cut' or Irish oats and have yet to try cooking groats although I did buy some.

Here is one morning....

I put on the water for the amount of oats I wanted to cook.  (The bag will tell you the proportions.) and added a bit of salt.  I put the raisins in now and let them come to a boil with the water.  This makes them plump up again and they get soft and loose the hard chewy texture.  Once boiling stir in the oats and then turn down the heat.  You want to simmer it. Once all the water is absorbed and the oats are thickened and creamy add a teaspoon of cinnamon and stir in.  Turn off the heat.

It should look a bit like this

On this morning we ate our oats with a small pat of coconut oil (one that has a coconutty flavour) a couple of tablespoons of 'nut dirt' (I explain here) and coconut milk.





I am still not totally sold on this coconut milk.  It is rich and creamy like you think milk should be but I find it completely devoid of flavour.  It is just kinda thick and vaguely salty.......stop it! I know what you are thinking and this is a PG rated blog!! SHESH!
We are currently on the hunt for a 'milk' we like.  We do not drink milk in this house but we do use it for cereal etc.  I would use cow's milk if I could get it raw (as far as I know impossible in the city), we have used basmati rice milk but with the arsenic levels as they are I would like to avoid it and almond milk has it's draw backs too although we have no history of nut allergies in our families. If you have any suggestions or a brand you love please let me know. But I digress......

Hey Christopher, this picture is better eh?

And so this was breakfast.  Good for you, delicious, sugar free, healthy fat, tons of fibre, and totally childhood memory friendly....