Me & Oatmeal

Last week was not a good week for Amy's Food Revolution. It was super busy and I barely had time to think let alone figure out a recipe. I definitely regressed to my old ways and dinners were pretty lame. So, after my unplanned hiatus, I thought I needed a good boost to get things rolling again and decided to make one of Jamie's oatmeal recipes, Banana and Cinnamon Oatmeal (pg. 300).

Now, oatmeal and I have a complicated past. I am sure that I ate it when I was a baby but by the time I was school age I couldn't stand the stuff. I think I was a pretty good eater as a kid and fairly easy going. There were only three things that I refused to eat and oatmeal was one of them.

When I was nine, I went to Ranger Rick camp. There was a rule in the mess hall that you had to eat everything they gave you and gave an epic "starving children in China" speech every day and if that didn't work, they weighed all of the leftover food. It was pretty ruthless. Well, wouldn't you know it, one day they served oatmeal. Sitting there for an hour not eating it after everyone had left was probably one of my only acts of defiance as a kid.

It took me about 20 years to get over that experience and by then oatmeal was the "in" thing. All the food gurus talked about it and you hear about it everywhere. Steel Cut Oats of course are suppose to be the best and with all of this talk I honestly did want to like the stuff.

What brought me and oatmeal to our new relationship was a yoga retreat to an awesome B&B where they made oatmeal in a crock pot overnight. The next morning, it smelled so good I just had to try it. It was piping hot and amazing and after that I couldn't get enough of the stuff.

Still, I was making instant oatmeal in the microwave. The one or two times I tried to make oatmeal on the stove it kind of turned out like my rice. A big pile of glop and a mess all over the stove. Also, no one else in the house will eat it so the little packets of instant have been working fine for me.

So, this was a big deal. I followed Jamie's directions, putting the oats, a pinch of sea salt and water on the stove and put it on medium heat. I stirred often and kept a close eye on it. In just 5 minutes I had great, perfect oatmeal that seemed to taste better than the microwaved stuff. No boil overs! No sticky mess! No leftovers! No "starving kid in China" speech!

Recipes cooked: 28
Recipes left: 145
Days left: 285