Oatmeal Turnaround

The first meal on the first day of my new healthy way of eating required that I eat oatmeal. For those of you who have known me for any length of time, you'll have undoubtedly heard of the time I went hiking in NH and my mountain mates made oatmeal for breakfast; as you are not allowed to leave trash on the mountain, I carried all the oatmeal around 2 mountains, up Mount Washington and down Tuckerman's Ravine because I refused to eat it. Needless to say, I was not thrilled about attempting to down oatmeal first thing in the morning. Still, as it was the first day of my healthy eating, I didn't want to waiver so early on in the game so I put my brave face forward and at 8 am on Monday morning I commenced "operation: oatmeal preparation."

My first attempt was a disaster! I started off with a portion much too large for any person to consume first thing in the morning, and it immediately boiled over the rim of my pot (and thus made a huge mess on the stove) the second I turned my back. I was worried about putting in too much cinnamon so I cautiously tapped the jar to dispense a moderate amount into my goopy mess of oats. I threw in some cranberries, topped with honey as instructed (though I don't like honey, either, so I only put a little on) and tried to down my horrid creation. It was terrible, tasteless, and honestly made me flashback to moments on the mountain when my sister and I tried to suppress our gag reflexes and hide our oatmeal discretely in plastic bags.

I am not a quitter, though, and so on day two I made a few modifications to the recipe and have since perfected it. Here is my recipe for awesome oatmeal even oatmeal haters will love:

Small portion of oatmeal
1 pound of dried cranberries
Half a container of cinnamon
4 quarts of maple syrup
6 cups of fresh fruit to top

Ok, so I am joking to a point, but the above mixture is delightful. Breakfast with oatmeal has become my favorite part of the day! Tonight when thinking about what I wanted to eat for dinner, I found myself craving the simplicity and natural sweetness of my new favorite breakfast.

If you have any good ideas for oatmeal, please let me know! As long as it doesn't involve raisins or honey, I would be interested to try it out.