this has gotta be a record

Morning #5 of oatmeal for breakfast.

This time: Citrus Steel-Cut Oats with Apricot and Cinnamon, from Ancient Grains for Modern Meals

I was on a mission this week to use up a sandwich baggie filled with steel-cut oats that I brought with us from OHIO! Thankful oats don’t really go “bad”…

I used most of them in the baked oatmeal from the other day, and the last 1/2 C made two servings of oatmeal this morning.

I prepped the oats last night by par-boiling them with a cinnamon stick, then removing them from the heat and covering for an hour while they absorbed the water. I refrigerated overnight, then all I had to do this morning was add milk, water, cut-up apricots and orange zest.

You can see the golden raisins (added last night) and apricots in my bowl. Andrew is more of an oatmeal “purist,” so he wasn’t a huge fan. Not to mention his aversion to apricots in general. Oh well–more for me! Up to this point, there wasn’t any sweetener at all in the oatmeal, so I sprinkled about a teaspoon of brown sugar along with some ginger maple syrup on mine.

Yum! I paired the oatmeal with some plain yogurt and half a grapefruit. This breakfast kept me full from about 7 – 11:30, when I was hungry after my workout. I snacked on a couple honey wheat sticks and an orange while my brown rice cooked for my leftover Beef and Broccoli from Steamy Kitchen. (Which was a HUGE hit by the way… Andrew loved it!)

After this it’s HOMEWORK CENTRAL for me!

oatmeal, take 3 and 4

Who knew I was such an oatmeal fan? (Especially considering our current heat wave…)

I mean, I know I’ve gotten way more into oatmeal since I discovered Kath’s blog, but that’s not saying a whole lot since it was never more than an occasional winter breakfast for me before.

I found a recipe for Baked Oatmeal on Nourished Kitchen’s website and have been meaning to try it ever since. It intrigued me that I could make oatmeal in bulk, essentially, and freeze ‘grab and go’ portions for busy mornings.

It calls for an overnight soak, so I prepped that the night before and whipped it up (along with eggs, grapefruit and cut-up Trader Joe’s Mango Chicken Sausage–which Andrew didn’t eat) for breakfast yesterday. Sadly, I didn’t take any photos.

I did, however, take some (dark) ones this morning at O-dark-thirty when I was up having the leftovers before swimming.

Here’s a side view–you can see the square shape. I topped mine with a little peanut butter and half a banana for added energy in the pool. A drizzle of maple syrup topped it all off.

You can see the hunks of dried apricot and cinnamon on top.

I made a lot of notes on this one. Andrew liked it (his exact words were “I would eat this again” without being overly excited about it), so I definitely filed it away.

It calls for steel-cut oats, but I was hoping for a creamier texture (as opposed to their chewy, crumbly texture), so I think I might use rolled oats next time and skip the overnight soak. Also, apparently Andrew isn’t a fan of dried apricot (it calls for cranberries as well), so I think I might go the traditional route and use chopped apple and raisins next time.

Other than that, it was great. Relatively easy with fantastic results. We were both able to have breakfast yesterday, breakfast today (well, Andrew will when he gets up) and three more servings went into the freezer. (And that was only half the recipe.) Hurray!

Is it crazy that I’m making MORE oatmeal tomorrow? I found “citrus-scented oatmeal with apricots and orange zest” in my Ancient Grains cookbook…

too much of a good thing?

Heck no!

I found myself at Starbucks (this time at the one in Target) after swim practice for breakfast… Oatmeal (again), with a tangerine from home and another coffee–this time the new Veranda roast. Yum!

I was über-productive yesterday! My whole-wheat sandwich loaf turned out perfectly (hallelujah!), my Texas sheet cake tasted great (I might have gone out of control with the sampling) and I spring-cleaned the heck out of the house. Let’s just say the amount of hair I removed was criminal.

I’m running some quick errands this morning before heading back to make more bread ( this time a fruit and nut loaf for dinner) and tackle some school work.

….and I might make some granola bars…