Have I Got You Hooked On . . .

Steel-cut oatmeal for breakfast? I know I've shared it with some of you but don't want to overlook getting the healthy word out. I'm talking steel-cut as oppossed to the more commonly known rolled oats.

This was the first brand I started cooking with. I got it at my local grocery store and than found it at Trader Joe's at a much reduced price. I'm just fine with saving money aren't you!

When I was in Macon, GA. Jesse found this brand for me at his local grocer in the health food section. He was so thoughtful knowing I usually ate this and didn't even ask him to pick it up for me. This brand is carried all over the country. Now I love Bob's Red Mill products and Bob's Red Mill. Click on that and you can sign up for a monthly email newsletter with recipes and "stuff", take a little tour and gain knowledge.

I try to get to this fantastic store just outside Portland in Milwaukie, OR during my summer vacation. It is so worth the trip if you are close. Endless grains-packages & bulk, kitchen "thingies" and luncheon goodies made with their grains.

Here's a quick breakfast video from Bob's using rolled oats.


Sadly, we are often in a hurry in the early a.m. and resort to serving boxed cold cereal. Now, I do not want to offend, but I can't really think of boxed cereal as food and I occasionally eat it myself (if you can call Fiber One a food either). I heard a panel of pediatricians state that you might as well eat the box for all the nutrition you get from cold cereal. Also, boxed cereal is pricy, takes a chunk out of the budget and is just going up!

I love to hear you kids talk about the Christmas when you got your own boxes of cold cereal as a present. You were all soooo excited since such a thing was hardly ever in our house. You grew up eating oatmeal, ww french toast, cream of wheat with bugs, ww pancakes, scrambled eggs fresh from our hen house and lots of bottled fruit I "put up" each summer. Wow, I sound so old fashioned and farmgirlish!! I didn't and don't think of myself or our lifestyle that way. I know you got tired of oatmeal but look what it did for you - are you asking what did it do for me? We were one of thee healthiest families around, hardly ever went to the doctor, it taught you to not be "picky" and saved a ton of money. I guess ton is an exaggeration. I recall Tyler writing from his mission in Portugal that he was back to eating oatmeal daily for breakfast and I think he was okay with it.

One way I cooked your oatmeal was to add 1 fresh chopped apple, cinnamon and honey or brown sugar with the oatmeal and then cook. It tasted very apple pieish.

Just recently I've noticed Quaker on the bandwagon with steel-cut oats.

Now I'd love for you to share your breakfast experience with me...good or bad, past or present or future. But be gentle if you thought my breakfast's were bad. I really was trying to do thee best for you. Your health and bodies were so important to me and I really tried hard to study and learn nutrition. I give you credit for being good sports/good eaters with what was put before you. Great thanks.

If you enjoy Cooks Illustrated or America's Test Kitchen like I do you might want to check this out, Christopher Kimball's newsletter. I've liked reading about his family life in Vermont, the locals, maple syrup making, new animals on his place, what he's cooking on his woodstove, recipes etc.. Here he has his recipe for steel cut oatmeal breakfast. Kind of sounds like an extra step-I just follow package directions and never had a problem.

Here's wishing you a happy and healthy life. Now I have to try harder to practice what I preach.

Tour Bob's-