My husband and I agree on most things. We love the off grid-lifestyle, the hard work and the rewards. One thing we haven’t ever agreed on is breakfast. I like eggs; he likes bagels. He likes cold cereal, even in winter. I don’t. Most of the time, we go our separate ways for breakfast. Except when it comes to oatmeal.
For us, oatmeal is a winter food. As soon as the cold weather hits, I’ve got my food grinder out with the cereal flaker attached, making fresh oatmeal for him to cook. My husband is the keeper of the oatmeal. He cooks it better than I do and it’s a real treat to have him make my breakfast once in awhile.
Oatmeal is naturally good for you, but it can be easily boosted into the high energy breakfast that we need for a busy day. With the addition of other seeds and grains, oatmeal becomes a full meal.
You can process oatmeal with the Quaker City Grain Mill! Available at Lehmans.com or Lehman’s in Kidron, Ohio.
I started experimenting with oatmeal additions after I got the cereal flaker. That seems to happen with a lot of things around here. I get a machine or tool and think, “Hmmm, what ELSE can I do with this. With the cereal machine, there isn’t much more to do with it, except add to the oats.
My first oatmeal was really good. There’s nothing like fresh oats, flaked and then cooked. The box and little bags of instant oatmeal taste like cardboard compared to this! Fresh, creamy, cooked to perfection.. Ahh.. But, how can we improve it? I added some toasted kasha. The kasha has a flavor of its own and is very good in oatmeal. We liked it and decided that we would continue adding it.
The next time I flaked the oats, I put in the kasha and some flax seed. We could taste the kasha, but the flax seed went unnoticed. We decided that it was so healthy it would be a permanent addition to the oatmeal. It was probably better that we couldn’t taste it.
The next addition was the sesame seed. We could taste that. It added something to the oaty kasha flavor. A kind of nuttiness. It was really good. The cereal flaker handled the additional ingredients just fine, too.
So, why not throw in a little quinoa? That worked, too. By this time, we had a mix of Oatmeal, kasha, flax, sesame, quinoa and it was tasty. I decided to leave it at that.
Ready to go, with honey on top!
In the morning, when I come in from feeding the horses and breaking the ice in the water buckets, a hot bowl of “high octane oatmeal” sure is good. We still go our separate ways on the toppings, but we agree that the oatmeal is good.
Here’s the recipe:
For every 5 cups of whole oats, add 1/4 cup each of kasha, flax seed, sesame seed and quinoa. Mix thoroughly and then run the mix through the cereal flaker. Store in a sealed jar. No refrigeration is necessary.
For cooking: We like an equal amount of oatmeal and water. Put both in a pan over low heat and stir frequently so it doesn’t stick. The longer you cook it the creamier it gets.
2 cups of each serves 2 people a really big serving.
Add toppings if desired and serve hot.
About the toppings:
Lehman’s Maple Syrup is from a family member’s sugarbush in New York State. In stock now! Click the picture to learn more.
My husband likes maple syrup. I like honey and butter OR yogurt and honey OR milk and honey OR just honey. You can top oatmeal with bananas, brown sugar, cinnamon, peaches, or just about anything else. Topping it with chili might not be very good.
WAIT! Don’t throw out leftover oatmeal. You can add it right into bread dough, cake or cookie batter, and yes, even cream of broccoli soup!
If you are making a cream soup and you just happen to have leftover oatmeal (without toppings), put it in the soup! It will increase the creaminess and you don’t need as much milk or cream. If you have enough oatmeal, it can be used instead of milk or cream. If you still want some dairy in your soup, drop in a couple of tablespoons of plain yogurt. You will be adding vitamins to your soup and some healthy yogurt cultures, too.
If you like other flavors in your oatmeal, here are some other additions that could work. I haven’t had a chance to try them, but they are on my to do list. I would use the basic recipe of 5 C oats and 1/4 cup of the additions of your choice.
Amaranth – It has a stronger flavor. Be sure you like it before you add it to your oatmeal.
My first try was moving a pepper plant indoors. Yes, I got a bell pepper. But, I also got gnats that infested all of my houseplants. But I still held onto my dream of having an indoor garden…
When we tell people why we came here, some understand and some just think we’ve lost our minds. Waking up with the sunrise each day, we know it was the right decision.
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