[poodlebone]

I LOVE oatmeal! Instant oatmeal, quick cooking, slow cooked, steel cut - it's all good! I prefer old fashioned rolled oats that you have to cook or steel cut. Steel cut is my first choice. I don't own a slow cooker so I do the overnight soak method. Boil 4 cups of water, add 1 cup of steel cut oats, cover the pot and turn off the heat. Let it sit out on the stove overnight. In the morning you just have to heat it up for a few minutes until all of the water is absorbed and it's heated through. I make 4 servings at a time and store them in individual containers in the fridge. In the morning I just have to reheat in the microwave for a minute.

I like berries in my oatmeal. Fresh when they're in season and frozen when they're not. I also add some unsweetened Vanilla Almond Breeze milk. 40 calories per cup, 2g of carbs! It is unsweetened so it's not good for drinking straight or even for cold cereal. But for mixing in hot cereal, hot cocoa, tea etc that has other sweeteners it's fine. It adds a nice vanilla flavor and some creaminess to the oatmeal for practically no calories & carbs. I think it's got 3g of fat per cup. They also make unsweetened chocolate, as well as sweetened chocolate & vanilla.

I have not had any problems with oatmeal and I use the carb counts on the package. Lately I've been running late in the morning and eating breakfast at work. I have a container of a 4 grain hot cereal - rolled oats, rye, barley & wheat. The texture is coarser than plain oats but I really like it. I can even have a small amount of banana (2 - 2.5 oz) in it instead of berries without spiking.

Some nights when I get home late and don't want to cook I have oatmeal. I've had it for lunch as well. I also like farina, grits and every other kind of hot cereal.