Oatmeal Morning Mash Up

That Ain't Mud

What tastes like oatmeal cookies, but it's healthy for you? That'd be hot oatmeal cereal. My latest good friend...for breakfast that is. Ha! Thought I was going to say something brilliant like "a rainbow, because it's pure and refreshing" or something, didn' ya? No. People. This is a food/exercise blog. :)

Oatmeal is gluten free and I make it up cheap and quick. I love it. L-o-v-e  it! We buy the largest tub of whole oats we can get our hands on. Here's my current favorite recipe. Use whole oats or steal cut oats (the less processed the better).

Big Tub

Ingredients
1/2 c whole oats oat meal
1 tbl Splenda or Truvia
1 tbl coconut flakes
1 tsp cocoa powder (or carob powder, a cocoa replacement)
¼ tsp cinnamon
1 tbl dried fruit or nuts (optional)
1 c water or low fat milk (cow, soy, coconut, almond, flax—you’re choice; it's all good)

Microwave Directions
Mix all ingredients together and microwave on high for 2 ½ to 3 minutes. Make sure to use a microwave safe container that can hold at least twice the amount of ingredients listed here (it'll expand when cooked like a creature surfacing from the black lagoon). Feel free to mix and match ingredients. You might try adding a little allspice, ginger, nutmeg, rosemary, turmeric, or cloves. Slice up some fruit like strawberries, peaches, pears, or apples. No two oatmeal bowls need to be the same. Just add a little spice at a time at taste it before adding more and cooking (raw oats are safe to eat).

Calories
About 250 according to http://caloriecount.about.com/ and http://www.quakeroats.com/

Dying in Dish Detergent, Help Wanted

Do you have this problem?

Or this problem?

We do. On average, with just the two of us we'll (I'll) typically do about 3-4 full loads of dishes a week. A week! That's just us! Insane! But eating out is not so much fun for me, so I (we) cook a lot, which creates a lot of food like this.

White and dark turkey meat baked this past Wednesday. Yum!

And this.

GF Pancakes a la Gluten Free Pantry

And this.

Japanese Sweet Rice. Have some? We've got plenty.

And this.

Katherine's typical dinner during the work week (lately).

But it also creates a lot of these.

Typically, I'll eat out once every other month (food allergies don't make it very fun). No joke. My husband eats out a bit more, but not by much (poor guy). But according to the US Department of Agriculture, not everybody eats at home as much as we do. According to their findings, "Spending on food away from home was 48.6 percent of the $1,182.0 billion in total food expenditures in 2009." That's almost 50% of people's food monies!

Are we eating healthier because we're not eating out? Yes. Are we saving monies? I think so. Even with the cost of washing dishes, we're still saving money. According to the GE Web site, a dishwasher costs on average about $8 a day to use in Texas. So we're spending approximately $24-32 dollars a week to wash our dishes. Dude! That's a lot. But it's only the cost of eating out for a meal or two for two people, which equates to very few dishes (two-four plates or bowls and silverware, plus a cooking container or two, not an entire load).

But we still wash a lot of dishes, and that means a lot of pre-washing. So, I'm taking out an add in today's blog. See below.

Magic Dish Washing Tutor Needed.
Teaches spells that make dishes wash themselves (see example).
Preferably has white beard, reading glasses, and wears blue robe (oh, and a hat).
Jazz band included.
Will work for home cooked food.
No squirrel or fish spells, please.



Might look a little like this. Wand is necessary.


YouTube Video Update

The sound quality and video angles weren't quite what I was hoping for, so an upgrade is needed before the next AllergictoSitting video extravaganza. Looking to purchase this.  And thinking about this.