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Have you ever heard of a food rut? I’m sure you’ve experienced one many times in your life: you just can’t get enough of one thing and have it over and over again. Well, guys, mine is oatmeal and oatbran. Every morning.
Meg actually did a 30-Day Breakfast Challenge in which she made a different breakfast every morning for the month of September! Pretty cool!! I, however, am very content with my oatmeal. No challenges for this lady.
Like my chipped bowl? I need to get myself to World Market sometime and get a few more bowls and plates to use for photography… and oatmeal eating.
Although I’ve been eating the same type of food every morning, the good thing about oatmeal is that you can change the flavor and ingredients!
Some of my favorite things to use in oatmeal or oatbran:
Proteins: protein powder, a whole egg, egg whites
Mix-ins: ground flax, chia seeds, psyllium husk
Produce: apples, bananas, blueberries (or any berry), pumpkin, butternut squash
Toppings: nut butter, seeds, granola, crushed cereal, more fruit, yogurt
All of these are interchangeable in my recipes and make it easy to use what you have on hand, or mix things up.
Here are my recent favorites:
And my newest creation, Gingerbread Oatmeal!
Ingredients:
1/3-1/2 cup oatmeal (or oat bran)
1/3-1/2 cup milk of choice
2/3-1 cup water (more oatmeal = more water needed)
1 whole egg
1 T ground flax
1 tsp cinnamon
pinch of nutmeg
1 packet stevia (optional)
1/2-1 T Molasses*
1/4 tsp ground ginger*
Directions:
First, mix the oatmeal with the milk and water and heat over the stove until bubbling. Then, add in your flax, cinnamon, nutmeg, stevia and molasses and stir. Once those are mixed in, add in your whole egg and whisk until fully incorporated. Allow to cook a little longer so that egg is cooked. Top with whatever you’d like! I used crushed pecans and almond butter.
*The molasses and ginger are KEY to this recipe and gives your oatmeal the gingerbread taste you’re looking for. More molasses = more gingerbread.
For all of these recipes, and many more, check out my Recipes Page!
Are you in a food rut right now?
What did you have for breakfast today?
Gingerbread oatmeal??! I love this recipe idea, Katie! I might save it until we’re a tad bit closer to the holiday season though or I’ll start getting Christmas fever in October 😉
Haha once it’s October I’m all into fall/winter foods!
YUM! i had a bagel and cream cheese this morning – super exciting haha
Hey, that still sounds good! I haven’t had a bagel and cream cheese in years!!
I adore the taste of gingerbread, so this is a recipe I will try in the future! I’ve also heard great things about molasses, the health benefits and all that, yet another incentive to give it a taste. I would consider myself to be in a breakfast rut, yet I’m a-ok with it! I have the same thing most mornings and it’s delightful 🙂
I originally bought it after reading a blog post on it’s health benefits, now I just need to use it more!
mmmmm i love gingerbread, so i would love this! i am doing my challenge again this month. i can’t thank you enough for the shout out, babe. you’re the sweetest ever, eh? <3 i love you, katie, and really appreciate our friendship! and this recipe! maybe i will have to try it this month LOL 😉 hehe. i love oats, too! this morning i had quinoa with almond milk and frozen raspberries along side some eggs! yumm!
Awww I love you too, Meg! HAha and definitely add a bowl of oats to your breakfasts this month!
Overnight Oats! I’m obsessed. I may have danced to the kitchen at work singing “I love breakfast time!” when I went to heat them up.
You heat up your overnight oats? Do you use yogurt in them or make them a different way? Haha I’m always looking for new recipes!
http://balancingclean.blogspot.ca/2013/09/brain-food.html
This is my recipe! I’ve also been subbing the PB for PB2 or blueberries. I heat them up if I’m at work, otherwise I eat them cold in class!
I’d also recommend checking out the pumpkin muffin recipe, if you’re into pumpkin stuff!
looks delicious, Alisha!
This looks delicious! I guess I’m in a “rut” for breakfasts … I almost always have plain greek yogurt + pumpkin + chia seeds + cinnamon for breakfast, with some kind of fruit, some kind of nut or nut butter, and some kind of oats/ crumbled muffin/ cereal. But it’s sooo delicious! And I mix it up on the weekends!
That does sound good, kind of like a parfait!
I don’t change it up much with my oats, but apparently I should. Gingerbread oats sound delicious!
Definitely worth a try one morning!
I go through phases of eating the same things over and over. Mostly when it comes to breakfast and lunch. It’s just easier to figure out one meal and eat it all week. Oatmeal is one of my favorites for the cooler weather. I’m dying to try a pumpkin oatmeal and your gingerbread recipe sounds really good too. I usually just top mine with some chia seeds and mixed berries.
Oh definitely do pumpkin, it’s one of my absolute favorites!
gingerbread oatmeal sounds awesome! Oatmeal is usually my breakfast go-to, but sometimes I’ll mix it up with a smoothie, protein pancake or yogurt bowl. And I need to get some new bowls and plates for food photography too…I may end up in HomeSense sometime in the near future :-p
I always intend to mix it up, but… haha never happens
I too am currently addicted to oat bran! I’ve been having it every morning…although not this week because I ran out of almond milk. I don’t really care for it when it’s made with all water and nothing else.
I feel like with everything else I put in there I never notice if I have to leave out the almond milk. Sometimes I do when I’m out or almost out (since I’d rather have it in my coffee!).
This sounds yummy!
haha thanks Linda!
Yum, I love gingerbread oats – as if oats could get any more warming/comforting and then you add a whole bunch of spices! mmm.
Exactly, spices make it that much better!
Mmmmm this is the perfect Fall food! I need to eat more oatmeal–I used to not like it. But there is so much you can do with it!
SO much you can do to it! You can make it whatever flavor you want!
I have the same thing most mornings (apple w/ PB), but lately I discovered Chobani flips and that’s the only yogurt I’m actually able to finish without being disgusted. It was on sale recently so we stocked up and I’ve been having one of those every morning. I wouldn’t call it a “rut”, I’m just a terribly picky eater.
I’ve tried really hard to like oatmeal too, but it’s a texture thing for me…haven’t found one I can stomach yet.
Just an apple with PB?!? Haha I’d be pretty hungry, but I like a big breakfast to get the day going! And Chobani Flips are pretty good! I’m a texture eater, but it’s that I love having all different textures.
Yeah, I don’t eat a huge breakfast because I have to space out my day or I get cranky low blood sugar and if I eat too many calories it wouldn’t really help w/ my weight loss. I typically eat that for breakfast, then another piece of fruit on my morning break around 11, lunch at 1, snack around 4 and then dinner whenever my workout(s) is done.
Ah that makes sense, I’m the opposite, trying to snack less!
Whoa whoa whoa, it’s just the start of October and you’re already pulling out the gingerbread!? Just kidding, that sounds delish. Molasses is so good in dishes but by itself it smells nast! I can’t stand opening up a jar of it but I love gingerbread flavored things so I suck it up.
Haha I love Fall so I gotta get it going now! And it does smell a little weird on its own!
Definitely have a dinner rut most days. In terms of breakfast, I recently re-found my love for oatmeal with some pumpkin, yogurt, and nut butter 🙂
that sounds like a good breakfast to me!
Your pictures in this post look really nice! Just thought I should let you know 🙂
And gingerbread sounds like an awesome oatmeal flavor. I bet the molasses gives it a great richness.
Oh thank you!! Haha I spent a lot of time on them!
A different breakfast every day for a month?! That IS impressive. It’d be fun to try, but I dont’ think I’d get very far… On another note, I love all things gingerbread and so I MUST try this soon. Yay for fall flavors 🙂
Haha I don’t know if I’d get very far either, I’m usually in the “mood” for something and don’t like to just eat whatever is on my list!
Love oats! They are my all time favorite breakfast…especially pumpkin in the fall 🙂 Since I don’t have room for a microwave in my tiny LA studio apt I now will be making more overnight oats than hot haha
Oh I use the stove top, no microwave for these oats!
I love all of your different oat variations! I do the same thing, but with No Oat Oatmeal! I just bought another can of pumpkin to make pumpkin spice no oat oats tomorrow morning; I can’t wait!
No Oat Oatmeal?? Like the recipes with crushed up nuts?
No nuts, just egg whites, a little milk (any kind), flaxseed, chia, banana and whatever else you want to mix in. Here is the recipe: http://fitnwellmommy.com/no-oat-oatmeal/
ahhhh okay, I’ve heard of it with walnuts but not with just egg whites
I was just at World Market shopping for photography things. I think I came home with like 4 things for under $10! Love that place! And anything gingerbread and oatmeal. 🙂
Ahh I LOVE World Market! We used to have one right next to me, but it closed down! I have to find another to go to.
So glad I’ve read this as you’ve totally reminded me that I need to buy some mollasses! Those oats sound gorgeous, I’m going to make some pumpkin oats this morning 🙂
Ahhh I need to make pumpkin oats, just need to buy some more pumpkin!
I’m in such a food rut! It’s hard to switch things up because I buy in bulk and don’t like to waste anything, so I end up eating a lot of repeat meals. I need to start getting more creative! I love all your oat variations!
I buy in bulk too, which is why I also think it’s harder for me to mix things up. That’s just too many different things to buy!
Last year I ate oats every single day for breakfast without fail, and I must have burnt myself out because come summer I had something different every morning. Now that is is fall I have a feeling I will start craving oats more, and these gingerbread ones sound so good! Molasses makes everything better, in my opinion.
I tend to do the same thing and then burn out. Last year at this time I was eating eggs and sweet potato every single morning!
My tummy is growling for oatmeal! You can’t beat a good dollop of melty nut butter on top. I am liking the look of the ginger one a lot 🙂
Oh seriously, the nut butter MAKES the oatmeal bowl!
I’m obsessed with molasses/gingerbread anything!
Next time be sure to add ground GINGER to your gingerbread!! It will be even better 🙂
Haha I realized that this morning when I made it again and remembered the ginger! Already edited the recipe!
what brand/kind of oatmeal do you eat since you are gluten free, Katie?
I buy my oat bran from the bulk section of Whole Foods and I buy Trader Joe’s gluten free oats
[…] so I skipped my run and made myself a tasty bowl of oatmeal instead. Gingerbread oats inspired by Katie’s recipe here – really warm and […]