Today I’m starting a little series called ‘love it!‘. The focus will be on healthy real foods… some will be more basic and common (like today’s oats) and also including the more ‘out there’ foods. Foods that I love, the body loves and I think you should love to!
What do you think? I think it’s going to be great. 🙂
Oats/oatmeal
There are so many different kinds: rolled oats, old fashioned oatmeal, steel cut oats, quick cooking oats, instant oats, oat groats, oat flour… yes a lot.
Why I love oats
I love waking up to a warm bowl of oatmeal. It’s comforting and filling. Granted I’ve become accustomed to a protein boost from an added egg and normally peanut butter swirled in. I’ve made many different warm breakfast bowls (millet, quinoa, rice) and I’m always coming back to oats.
They aren’t a big investment cost wise. I like to buy them in bulk when I can, and love when I catch a sale too. Recently I picked up a big bag full of oats at around $0.60-0.65 a pound. Bulk bins are great for saving on pantry items like this.
When I’m out of flour, grinding up rolled oats in a blender makes an awesome and delicate tasting flour. I use oats in my meatballs and meatloaf to help bind it together with the egg. Oats sprinkled on top of some yogurt give you an extra boost of nutrition, and help keep you full a bit longer. Plus, even though it’s just plain oats, I feel like I’m eating a yogurt parfait with the oats added into my yogurt. Makes it fancier.
Why the body loves oats*
- helps your heart (lowers cholesterol, reduces risk of cardiovascular disease, helps prevent heart failure)
- helps you poop (thank you fiber!)
- strengthen your immune system
- stabilizes blood sugar
- lowers type 2 diabetes risk
- antioxidant benefit of selenium (which helps decrease asthma symptoms, helps your heart, is involved in DNA repair and is associated with a reduced risk for cancer, especially colon cancer)
- it’s protective against breast cancer (again, thank you fiber)
- gluten free option (as long as it’s the uncontaminated kind) for those with celiac disease or gluten intolerance
* from the world’s healthiest foods website
Why you should love oats
Because oats are delicious and good for you! Here are a bunch of awesome recipes to spark a new love for oats. And oats aren’t just for breakfast, I spy savory recipes to try too.
oats as the star – sweet breakfast recipes:
- banana-egg-oat pancake
- carrot cake oatmeal
- blueberry coconut steel cut oatmeal
- apple pie oatmeal
- zucchini bread oatmeal
- overnight oatmeal
- breakfast cookie
- strawberry banana breakfast bake
- bircher muesli
- cinnamon roll custard oats
oats as the star – savory recipes:
- spicy oatmeal with peanut, cilantro and ginger
- savory spinach oats
- savory steel cut oats with bacon, cheddar, tomatoes and chives
- savory oat groats and kale
oats in recipes:
- oatmeal crusted chicken
- steel cut oat crusted salmon with dill sauce
- oatmeal chocolate chip cookies
- tuna, black bean and oat patties
- lemon cake OR cinnamon cake donuts
- oatgurt (yogurt made with oat groats)
- hearty mushroom and oat groat soup
And in case you were wondering, I did start my day with a favorite breakfast: banana custard oats with peanut butter. It never gets old.
Do you love it? Oats that is. Do you have a unique recipe featuring oats you want to share? Share the link in the comments!
Heather
9 comments
Yep, I love it! This is a great series. 🙂
What a fun series! I adore oats. When I did Whole30…giving up oats was probably the worst part. LOVE me some oatmeal- so good for you!
I think I’m going to love this series!
Oats are one of my favorite foods. I have it pretty much every morning for breakfast in one form or another!
Great Post! My baby and I love our morning time oats as well! How do you make your banana custard oatmeal?
As much as I love quinoa, rice, etc., I always come back to oats too. My favorite, especially oat bran! So happy to see oatgurt made your list. Thanks for spreading the oat love, and now I’m off to check out this cinnamon roll custard oats recipe.
Oh I forgot about oat bran! Probably because I never have it on hand… must change that. I’ve been wanting to try your oatgurt for a while now. One of those things I just need to do instead of thinking about. 🙂
What a great idea! Oats are one of those foods I go through phases with. I don’t eat them often but when I’m craving them that craving usually lasts a week or so. I like mine cold in overnight oats best. Yum!
I like overnight oats too! Usually when it’s getting warmer though… so it’ll be many months before I crave them cold.
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