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Oatmeal, was far from being on my list of favorite foods.

Oatmeal was way too boring for me, but it was filling. If you were on a diet the you ate oatmeal, but that was just about the only time! Now that I’m really working on losing weight I thought I would give oatmeal another try! Jackson (my three year old) loves when my grandma makes it so I figured I would try hers first. It was way too sweet. She put a ton of honey in it. I didn’t like it at all!

I was determined to find a way to like oatmeal so I searched the web. Mostly I found the usual, add blueberries or strawberries. Then I came across  the best oatmeal website ever! It’s actually not an oatmeal website, but a yummy food site called Chocolate Covered Katie. It’s about a vegan who loves chocolate and her amazing recipes. She has a whole section on oatmeal! I got lots of ideas!

What I now do on a daily basis is:

• Microwave oatmeal and water (I used to make it on the stove, but it tastes the same and is less to clean up).
• Microwave 1/2 a banana for 30 seconds and add it to the oatmeal. This eliminates the need for sugar or sweetener! (optional if you use my super yummy oatmeal ingredient below)
• Add flax meal (optional)
• Add crushed almonds (optional). Crushed almonds are expensive so I buy almonds in bulk at Costco and crush them in my vitamix.
• MY SUPER YUMMY SECRET OATMEAL INGREDIENT: COFFEE CREAMER!!! 1 tbsp is 30 calories and they come in all flavors! My favorite is Almond Joy!

That’s it! Amazing oatmeal!

My favorite oatmeal recipe from Chocolate Covered Katie is the Sugar Cookie Oatmeal! Unfortunately the tea used to make it is seasonal and I’m out until next winter!

• 1/2 cup rolled oats
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup milk of choice (I used almond milk)
• 2 Celestial Seasonings sugar cookie teabags (or perhaps a different tea?)
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pure vanilla extract
• sweetener of choice, as desired
• optional: coconut butter or oil, or vegan butter (You can easily omit this. But I liked the extra buttery flavor I got by stirring a little virgin coconut oil into my oats.)

Heat the water and milk, add teabags and let sit for at least 15 minutes. Right before taking the teabags out, smush them so all the flavor goes into the milk. Combine the liquid with the oats and salt, then microwave for 3 minutes. (If it starts to boil over, you can stop the microwave and keep heating in ten-second increments until the time is up. But don’t open the microwave door!)

Let the oatmeal sit in the closed microwave for 5 minutes, then transfer–uncovered—to the fridge. It gets thicker as it sits. (I made this, then went running for a little over an hour. It was the perfect texture by the time I got back. Bit if you want to eat this immediately, just use a little less water.) Right before eating, add your vanilla and sweetener (and oil, if using).

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