Savory Oatmeal

This evening, I was thinking of a way to cook with color, vegetables, flavor, fiber, carbs, and protein while spending minimal time. My answer? Savory oatmeal.

I have tons of oatmeal in my kitchen cabinet (the other ones I share with my roommate). I have steel-cut oats, old-fashioned oats, and organic oats. I always bring them back to college with me because I think, "Fiber! I can eat fiber!" but I never really get around to eating it. I used the steel-cut, partly because it has more fiber and texture, and also because I saw Irish oats sitting on my professor's desk during office hours. I was inspired by the fact that she has a yoga mat and oatmeal in her office. I thought, "I want to be that healthy, too!" I think she's pretty awesome.

For color, I chose a variety of vegetables: sun-dried tomatoes, purple cabbage, and green beans. I have this huge bag of sun-dried tomatoes, julienned, with no idea of what to do with it, so I thought that I'd just throw some in there.

For protein, I opted for just a bit of beef already cooked and seasoned, as well as an egg (My parents had just sent eggs to me this morning, and I really love eating poached eggs in soups).

I think what really made the oatmeal nice was the Maldon salt, chicken broth (in place of water or milk), and the tomatoes (which were flavored too strongly to actually eat—I have to find some way to dispel some of that flavor!)

It wasn't bad. It was actually pretty good. I think this is something worth experimenting with, especially since I want to cut down on eating carbs that aren't as nutritionally dense as oatmeal (i.e. rice and bread).