Soaked Oatmeal

I love breakfast, make no bones about it.

Mostly because it involves coffee. And let's be honest with each other - Coffee rocks. For those of you who don't drink it... start. Because God gave it to us and it's wonderful. 

Anyway, back to breakfast. One of our favorite choices for breakfast is oatmeal. It's healthy, simple, and wonderfully delicious. While oats don't exactly scream of an innovative and cutting edge meal, it's important to appreciate them for their humble goodness. Plus, they don't have to be the soggy, bland version you may be used to. Kick up the goodness with various toppings: maple syrup, peanut butter, apples, raspberries, cinnamon, flax seed, coconut, walnuts, almonds, and so-on and so-forth.

We recently began soaking our oatmeal, after I read Lindsay Edmond's blog post on the benefits of soaking here. So, onward and upward to oatmeal!

Soaked Oatmeal

Soaking for 24 hours is ideal, but do what you can!

Step One: In a mason jar (or bowl, doesn't matter) cover 1 1/2 cups oats with roughly 1 1/2 cups water until the oats are just covered.

Step Two: Add two tablespoons of your chosen acid medium (lemon juice, kefir, yogurt, or whey). This will help break down the phytates in the oats and allow for easier absorption of the all the nutritional goodies the oats have to offer! You can use the yogurt you made earlier this week from my homemade yogurt post! (Everyone made that, right?... Hello?... Anyone?)

Step Three: Add nuts to the jar, if you like. Soaking is great for nuts too!

Step Four: When you are ready to eat, heat the oats in a pan with an additional cup of water and cook for roughly 5 minutes until it looks done to your liking. We always add a pinch of salt at this stage.

Step Five: Top with the goods. Whatever goods you may desire. Our staples are coconut, vanilla extract, maple syrup, whole milk, and flax.

Don't let it fool you - oatmeal can be decadent. Rich. Fancy. Like creme brulee.

Okay, well, maybe not quite that fancy.

For other great meal ideas, no matter what your dietary restrictions, check out the meal planning service I use: Real Plans.