Chit, Chat & Chop

A Cut Above - Good ol' oatmeal still the breakfast champion.

By Michael Hawkins

It may be old school, it may even be what your grandparents ate when they were in their single digits but for me, oatmeal is still the champ when it comes to breakfast.

For all around nutrition, variety and satisfaction in your belly to get your day rolling, it's hard, if not impossible to beat a bowl of well-prepared oatmeal.

Like so much of the rest of our collective diets in North America though, we've mostly lost touch with a proper, home-prepared bowl of oatmeal. Getting out a pot and preparing a hot breakfast - especially during the work week - has become increasingly rare in Canadian kitchens and I think that's unfortunate. We've been bred to have fast and/or portable breakfasts far too much and it's almost always not terrible good for us. Maybe it's time to get up 15 minutes earlier and slow down a bit for the sake of a better breakfast.

I think oatmeal is making a bit of a comeback thanks to healthier food movements, local food movements and backlash against grocery store cereal aisles that now look like a combination of Disneyland, Las Vegas and Hollywood. Breakfast doesn't need to be that flashy, people, and if there's a cartoon star on the box, there's probably not much good inside of it.

I recently stocked up on some great products from Speerville Mills, among them was a big bag of Scottish Oatmeal and a bag of rolled oats. The Scottish oatmeal is the coarser variety so I prefer the standard rolled oats for breakfast as it has a soft texture and cooks faster.

One of the great things about oatmeal is the variety that's possible. I tend to lean toward the almonds and raisin oatmeal presented here but I also like apples and cinnamon, a variety of dried fruits, and sometimes sweet cream and berries.

So if you haven't had it recently, give oatmeal another chance. Preparing oatmeal is very straightforward. For a basic oatmeal, put equal parts oatmeal, milk and water in a pot (it can also be made with just water if you prefer). Season lightly with a pinch of salt and sweeten with brown sugar or other sweet ingredient such as maple syrup to taste. I generally go with a 1/3 cup of oatmeal and a tablespoon of brown sugar as the base ingredients. Bring the mixture just to a simmer over medium heat, stirring often, then lower heat and cook until the mixture is thick and the oatmeal is tender, about six to eight minutes for standard rolled oats, or up to 15 for steel cut or other coarse varieties. Add other flavours as you like and enjoy.