Anyway. Unlike simple carbs like refined sugar and white flour, oatmeal is full of fiber and digested slower which means two very good things. One…it makes you feel full longer, perfect for those trying to lose weight, and two…it won’t raise your blood sugar levels as much as quickly, making it a good choice for diabetics.  My favorite reason for eating oats in the morning, they go great with an array of toppings.

I went all the way with this morning’s oatmeal recipe. It was so good. Even the All-Star, an old lover of crappy instant packaged oatmeal, filled with sugar and dehydrated fruits, wished for seconds. Houston, we’ve made contact!

So this recipe was inspired by a can of pumpkin that’s been sitting in my cubbard since we moved in.

Just a couple tablespoons…

Some blueberries I picked up yesterday, which aren’t local but are SO good…

A touch of vanilla extract, some crushed walnuts, coconut flakes and voila…

sprinkled with cinnamon…Breakfast deliciousness!

What’s favorite addition to oatmeal?

So that box of maybe 6 packets of cinnamon and pear oatmeal was around $4, give or take.  It had dehydrated pears and seasoned rolled oats.  One of those instant, just add water, jobs.  I don’t know about you but I have never been a fan of these little oatmeal packets.  They are always too sweet and the fruit is lame and it’s hardly enough for a hearty breakfast.

I found the rolled oats in the bulk section, $1.29 a lb.  You know how many packages of hot cereal a pound of oats make?  Me neither, but it’s more than 6.  Off to the fruit section.  A 3 lb bag of organic pears for $1.68.  (That’s about 10 pears)  Hi, thank you!  What else do we need?  Cinnamon, have that at home.  Sugar?  We’ll use agave nectar.  It’s sweeter and not as likely to spike our glucose levels.  Alright, we’re ready to make oatmeal!

This morning was the first opportunity I had to make this yummy goodness.  I’ll admit that maybe, just maybe, the prepackaged deal would be a just a tiny bit easier but really, we all have time to cut a pear right?  The end result?  Home-made deliciousness for a fraction of the cost.  It was less sweet than I’d expect the boxed stuff is.  My opinion on that is that if fresh pears and a generous drizzle of pure sweetener doesn’t enlighten my sweet-tooth, then there’s probably way to much sugar-stuff in the processed counterpart.

Here’s the recipe.  No thanks, Quaker.  I’ve got my own.

Rolled Oats and Pear

Serves 1

Ingredients

• one pear (peeled & cut into small cubes)
• 1/2 cup rolled oats
• 1 cup water
• pinch of salt
• Agave nectar to taste
• dash of cinnamon

Directions

• In small saucepan bring cup of water and a pinch of salt to boil.  Add pears and cook for a minute.
• Add oats and cook until water is fully absorbed
• Drizzle in agave nectar.  Sprinkle with cinnamon and serve!

Delicious!  And home-made with love!