I love oatmeal too, especially McCann's steel-cut, but like some have already said, it takes 30 minutes to cook from scratch. There's a way around this though (just call me Heloise)- soak the oats overnight in cold water. They will be ready for the microwave in the AM- just 3-4 minutes (depending on your power), and they taste like slow-cooked.

OK- that's oatmeal. Now for something a little different. About two years ago I tried oat bran, and was immediately hooked. It's nuttier, with a texture like cream of wheat, but it has muc, much more soluble fiber than oatmeal. It's astoundingly wasy to prepare:
1/3 C oatbran
1 C skim milk (I prefer soy milk, but whatever...
Dash of salt
Nuke for 2 minutes
Mix with dried fruit (dried cranberries or blueberries are sensational), some crushed nuts (walnuts or almonds) and 2TBS of ground flaxseed (golden is milder if you don't like the stronger taste of the brown flax). I stay away from sugar, but add it if you like. You'd be surprised how sweet this concoction is, though!
Pour on a little more milk to taste and enjoy. All told, about 325cals and a great breakfast for those AM quarter centuries!

Man, isn't that the truth! Too many meetings away from home where "breakfast" is pastries and *maybe* some fruit. Yuck.

3/4 cup Quaker 1 minute oatmeal 1 1/2 cups Silk brand very vanilla soy milk,3 tablespoons of freshly ground flaxseed,and a handfull of blueberries.Microwave for 1 1/2 minutes.The soy milk is sweet enough you don't need a sweetener.If you don't have fresh blueberries blueberry pie on the side will substitute.

I don't like Oat Paste either. Instead, I just dump about 1/3 cup of oat bran into my morning cereal.

1/3 cup of oat bran contains nearly 50% more fiber than a serving of oatmeal. For cholesterol control, it's the fiber that counts.

My typical breakfast:

one small or medium grapefruit plus two other pieces of fruit (bananas, apples, seasonal plums, nectarines, etc.)
OR: one large grapefuit plus one other fruit

lentil sprouts and/or tofu

steel cut oats (blame my Scots DNA; I love the stuff), cooked with flax seed and topped with wheat germ

I use Wheat Montana oatmeal, cant stand the steel cut as its too "twiggy" for my taste. Boil in water for 5 min, add banana, apple or strawberries, sprinkle with cinnamon, and try to enjoy it. I am fairly neutral about the taste, but it does stick with my all morning. Great pre-ride fuel too.

Palatable? Palatable? I consider it tasty.

I spent years in search of the good oatmeal. I hated the glop that passes for oatmeal with most people I wanted something lighter and flakier. So my final recipe is.

I get a saucepan, a wire strainer made of steel with a handle that just fits into the sauce pan, a dish, a 1 cup measure, and a spoon, raisins and Quaker Old Fashioned Oatmeal.

First I put the strainer in the saucepan and I take a handful of the raisins and spread them in a single layer on the bottom of the strainer. (If you have kids, you can arrange the raisins into smiley faces etc.)Then I pour out a cup of oatmeal into the measuring cup.

I want to keep the oatmeal dust from getting into the boiling water so starch won't become a problem. I move the strainer to the bowl and pour in the oatmeal on top of the raisins. I rinse out the measuring cup and fill it with one cup of water. I put the water in the saucepan and put the saucepan on the stove, cover it and turn the burner on high.

With the sauce pan heating, I put the bowl into the sink and fill it full of cool water. Then, taking the strainer and the spoon, I plunge the strainer into the water, and use the spoon to push all the oatmeal under the water. I pull the strainer up and let the water drain. When most of the water has drained, I lower the strainer back down to just above the bowl and pull it up quickly to get all the water out. I usually repeat that several times till the dripping stops. This removes the dust and makes sure that all the oatmeal is wet for best heat conduction.

Then I take the lid off the sauce pan, put the strainer into the sauce pan so it's supported by the rim of the saucepan above the water and put the cover back on. So all the oatmeal dust is now in the bowl. I pour out the water in the bowl, rinse it and have it and the spoon ready for use.

I let the water boil, until its almost completely boiled away. You can check by lifting the strainer handle and seeing how much water is left in the sauce pan. While this is going on, I usually make my lunch and pack it and eat a banana. It just takes a few minutes to cook.

When the water is almost gone, I remove the strainer and run the spoon around the edge of the oatmeal to free it. Then I turn the strainer over the bowl and the oatmeal falls out into the bowl with the raisins on top. I like it this way, the oatmeal is light and flaky and the raisins complement the oatmeal, but you can add whatever you want. As an added benefit, the steam has broken down the raisins enough that they don't cause any unpleasant noises later on.

Take the sauce pan and strainer, fill the saucepan with soapy water and put the strainer in and let them soak while you eat.

When you are done eating and ready to clean up. You can keep the strainer in the water, turn it 90 degrees so one edge is deep and one is out of the water and use a scrub pad to gently fan the oatmeal under water out of the strainer and to the bottom of the sauce pan. Then work around the strainer, fanning the oatmeal under water into the pan. Rinse off the strainer and then clean the sauce pan.

Wholly crap! And I thought I was anal!

I do not know how to cook it but this morning I had fried oatmeal with real maple syrup and eggs and sausage and fruit and ...

it was good!

Eating healthy is the most difficult.

When My daughter Graduated from Uni. She took us to a Restaurant that she used in Brighton. The prices were very respectable and the Starters were large enough for me. The prices were what I liked. They obviously gear up for the Student population- where Cost is a big factor. To get the cost right and have a superb "Healthy" meal is a bonus.

I slice an apple in a bowl then add the water and slow cook oatmeal with some bran and nuke it . Then I mash a ripe banana in another bowl then add the hot oatmeal . I eat it almost every morning.

Trogon, what the hell is sugar free maple syrup? Maple syrup is sugar. bk

Steel cut oats with Turbanado brown sugar and Sun Maid mixed jumbo raisons + Italian Roast coffee from the french press - ..make you slap your grammaw...

Not anal, I just have spent several years doing technical documentation and my mother raised me to be efficient. So I detailed what I had learned. I think it takes longer to describe it than to cook it.

Whatever it is, I'm sure it isn't Maple Syrup! Grade B is the way to go! Good flavor, kind of like dark rum!

Sorry - we all voted, and you ARE anal!

Since my wife works nights I get the gang up in the morning, first the dogs are fed, then our son of 7, then grab a shave and shower with 10 mins to spare for bkfst beore bolting to work. So the plain instant oatmeal is choice #1 w/ raisins and almond slices added and a drizzle of Billy Bee honey on top.

Get a life!

Steelcut oatmeal with sugar free maple syrup and blueberries...mmmmmmm...tastes like blueberry pancakes! Frankp

OK

As has been pointed out previously, "sugar free" and "maple syrup" are mutually exclusive terms.

No need to be ashamed of being anal...many of us are.

Embrace your inner Sphincter Boy, and be proud!

Someone mentioned blueberries. I know they are good for you but I quit eating them. I was putting them in my oatmeal every morning. Next time I went to the dentist for a cleaning he had to scrub like hell to get the stain off my teeth.
I no longer eat blueberries.

I have become an oats freak, but not with oatmeal. I eat a bowl of granola for breakfast, have two granola bars with a banana for my morning break, YoCrunch yogurt, which has granola you add, after lunch, and my afternoon snack is a raw foods cacao fudge recipe which has more oats than anything else. The end result? 112 over 63 (that would be my blood pressure).

sknhgy,

Now that's a lot of Blueberries!