Eat a good breakfast to start your day right

Good morning

I am always hungry when I get up in the mornings. We eat an early dinner, usually pretty light, and it has worn off by the time the sun comes over the bridge.

We’ve all heard, from parents, doctors, news media, that oatmeal is good for us. It “sticks to our bones,” “keeps you going all morning,”  ”warms us heart and soul,” and it even lowers cholesterol. My parents ate oatmeal every morning when I was growing up, but I liked cold cereal better.

Now I am an oatmeal aficionado. It does keep me going all morning long. However, I don’t like to take the time to cook it and the instant stuff was never as good as it claimed. I like a very dense, chewy oatmeal, and when I cook it, I use about half the water it calls for, and only cook it about half the time. You can’t get that texture in instant. Until now.

I have recently discovered a new brand of instant oats that has other grains (which we really need to eat more) in it and it cooks in the microwave in two minutes.

This is a multigrain version

This is made by BetterOats and they have a number of varieties from which to choose. Although I first found this brand at Whole Foods, I now find it at Safeway and SaveMart, just the regular grocery stores. Notice the small box size? Great for my tiny cabinets. The envelopes are also the measuring cup for the water so you don’t have to dirty up another dish. I add salt and cinnamon to mine before the water.

Then after it’s cooked, I add these ingredients to make it even yummier, and because I can’t have milk, I pour on almond milk.

Some additions to my oatmeal

Then I sit at my window overlooking the bay in the tiny apartment, reading my hometown paper, online, getting a good start to my day.

The finished product

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