It's Totes McOATS National Oatmeal Day!

Happy National Oatmeal Day one and all!

Yes, I am dedicating an entire blog post to oatmeal- hands down one of my favorite and most oft-eaten foods. 

I truly eat oatmeal almost every day- either as breakfast or lunch. “Oatmeal isn’t lunch!” you may be thinking. But when you do oatmeal like I do oatmeal, it’s super filling and satisfying. 

First of all, let me just say that you should not be buying packets of instant oatmeal. Just stop.

Buy yourself a big container of whole grain quick-cooking oats and some ziplock bags and BOOM- all-natural, sugar-free, instant oatmeal.

It takes a whopping 10 minutes to make your breakfasts for the whole week. You can make a different flavor palette for every day, or keep it simple and make 5 of the same zip lock bags. I generally do something like this:
½ cup oats
Cinnamon
1 tablespoon of powdered PB2 peanut butter
Almonds (or walnuts)
Raisins
½ of a banana

But the great thing about oatmeal is how versatile it is- there are literally endless possibilities of flavor combinations that you can create with plain oats!  If I have blueberries or strawberries, I love adding those! Now that it’s fall, some pumpkin puree can be a nice touch! Chocolate chips? Sure. I literally throw anything and everything into my oatmeal. Which is why I consider it a lunch sometimes!

My creations are tame though, compared to one of my favorite little eateries in NYC. What other city has a restaurant devoted entirely to oatmeal? Greek yogurt? Potatoes?! I love New York City.

Everyone should go check out Oatmeals  (120 West Third Street between MacDougal & Sixth Avenue) and prepare to get a headache from trying to make a choice from the menu. Besides fairly standard options like blueberry maple walnut and brown sugar cinnamon raisin, Oatmeals creates savory bowls that will blow you away. Oatmeal with Goat cheese, bacon, dates, sliced almonds, maple syrup? How about Croque Monsieur oatmeal with diced ham, shaved gruyere cheese, nutmegsea salt & cracked black pepper? I kid you not, these are some of the chef designed bowls at Oatmeals.

Not to mention sweet options that sound more like desserts – a S’mores oatmeal bowl with dark chocolate chips, mini marshmallows, graham crackers and chocolate syrup drizzle.

You can also create your own bowl, if you really feel like giving yourself a headache- they have over 80 toppings! The best part is you can customize any bowl to be made with water, skim milk, almond milk, whole milk, soy milk, coconut milk,  heavy cream or half & half.  

The sizes are adorable and Goldie Locks and the Three Bears themed- Baby Bear (8 oz), Mama Bear (12 oz) and Papa Bear (16 oz). But a pro-tip: ask for your oatmeal to be served “Crazy Uncle” style! It comes in a different type of bowl so that it’s much easier to mix all of the toppings in!

Somehow, I’ve only made one trip to Oatmeals. I know, I know- completely unacceptable. But there are just so many places on my to-do list that I try not to become a repeat visitor at most places. But when I visited Oatmeals, I ordered the Fig & Gorgonzola oatmeal with balsamic vinegar drizzle. I’m not afraid of mixing my oatmeal with some interesting ingredients! It was an amazing flavor combination.

The creator of Oatmeals has a great blog, if you want to get some more ideas! 

I think it’s great how popular oatmeal has become within the “clean eating” and “healthy living” worlds. With crazes like overnight oats (which I was totally onboard with for a couple of months- religiously making them before bed every night) swirling around social media, it’s so easy to get new ideas for oatmeal recipes. Seriously, just Google overnight oats and I promise you will be overwhelmed with results.

Oatmeal is a way of life for some people. Yes, I realize how ridiculous that just sounded. But have you been on Tumblr recently? Have you seen the effort people but into their oatmeal? It’s kind of mind blowing how pretty a bowl of oatmeal can be (maybe I’m just really weird…)

Meanwhile, here’s what a bowl of my oatmeal typically looks like…it could use some artistic flare.

So if you’re looking for a heart healthy, low calories, high fiber, good-for-you carb meal or snack- oatmeal is one of my most trusted options.

HAPPY NATIONAL OATMEAL DAY! 

(Oatmeal puns >>)