Oatmeal for Breakfast -AGAIN!

Breakfast can be rough around here.  We eat it EVERY day (as "they" say you should)...but I'm seriously not trying to suck up to "them"...we are just hungry in the morning.  I like breakfast foods...things like cinnamon rolls, eggs & bacon, pancakes, Belgian waffles (that I only get at a hotel), coffee cake, Pioneer Woman's cinnamon toast (she changed my life with that recipe).  I very very rarely serve boxed cold cereal.  The kids eat a whole box of it in one sitting and are asking for snacks an hour later.  When I do serve it, it is frosted shredded wheat or raisin bran (and they think it is a huge treat- mwahahahaha!)  Occasionally, the King gets Cinnamon Toast Crunch for the 4 of them. yuck

So often I am baking for breakfast...but some mornings that just doesn't work.  Like this morning when we all slept in.  And I can't eat my favorite breakfast foods every day if I don't want to be as wide as I am tall.  So this is where oatmeal comes in.

The kids LOVE oatmeal...I do not.  But since they will eat it for breakfast I make it often.  At least once a week but sometimes twice.  Oatmeal is healthy, easy and fills them up till lunch...when I make enough.  I do not buy those little flavored packets of oatmeal...they are expensive and full of junk they don't need and the Prince would eat three of them for breakfast (and he isn't even a teen yet).  But the kids won't eat plain ole bland oatmeal either.  So this is what we do.  I make regular quick oats (that I buy in bulk for around $.60/pound) with milk in the microwave.  Then we add stuff.  I have tried cooking rolled oats on the stove and doing the same thing.  It really isn't that much more work but for whatever reason the kids don't eat it as well...I still throw them that curve every once in a while.  It is good for them.  :)

This is my list of some of the goodies we add - we switch it up:

brown sugar
jelly/jam...voila fruit flavored oatmeal. 
brown sugar and real maple syrup.
butter, cinnamon & sugar (aka cinnamon roll)
raisins or craisins
bananas
pumpkin (or squash) puree and pumpkin pie spice and some brown sugar (pumpkin pie)
applesauce, cinnamon & sugar & a pinch of nutmeg plus brown sugar (apple pie)
honey
honey w a smidge of peanut butter

These are just some quick combos that we use that come to mind this morning.  The possibilities are ENDLESS!  You could add nuts or seeds for more protein (I just don't often have them in the house).  The end product is oatmeal that is yummy, and you know EXACTLY what is in it.  Plus you can save money and space in your cabinet and have less waste.  It is a win-win-win situation.

Of course, if you are like me...when the kids eat oatmeal you will have to sneak something else to eat (Cinnamon Toast ala Pioneer Woman) or live on your coffee till lunch time.  :)