Savory Oatmeal

Every time I make this, I get weird looks in the dining hall.

"Is that cheese in your oatmeal?" my companions ask me with wrinkled noses. "Gross!"

Yes, people, that is CHEESE in my oatmeal, delicious, gooey, savory cheese. And if you've never tried it, you're missing out big time!

Not eating meat, dining hall brunch options can be fairly limited. Donuts aren't exactly a great post-practice fuel and buffet style scrambled "eggs" got old about 2 years ago. Plus, I like to get at least one of my 10 daily servings of vegetables (yes, I normally eat ten, not five) before dinner time.

Here's the solution:
1. Pile spinach high in a bowl (I'm talking as much as you can possibly fit) and microwave it for a minute and a half. If there's no microwave, use a little bit less spinach and the oatmeal will be hot enough to get it mostly cooked.
2. Put a big scoop of oatmeal on top of the spinach. Microwave for another 60 seconds if you like your food mouth-burning hot like I do.
3. Add cheese, pumpkins seeds, and whatever else looks good from the salad bar. (If you're a meat eater, bacons bits are particularly delicious!!!)
4. Stir thoroughly and chow down (carefully--it's hot!!!)

Don't eat in the dining halls? Make it at home with your slow cooker!

You can do this for breakfast or dinner, but I would highly recommend it for meatless Mondays.

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Slow Cooker Oatmeal for Dinner
serves 4


Equipment:
Slow cooker


Ingredients:
1.5 cups steel cut oats
1 15oz can vegetable or chicken stock
3c water
8c spinach, washed and roughly chopped
2c other veggies and seeds: peas, corn, edamame, sunflower seeds, etc (anything that can be cooked by quickly steaming)
1c grated cheese
spices, salt, pepper

Directions:
1. In the morning, put the oats, stock and water in your slow cooker. Just before you leave for work or as close to 8 hours before you want dinner, turn it on to low.
2. When you get home from work or about 30 minutes before you want dinner, put the spinach and other veggies into the slow cooker. Wait about 15 minutes and stir everything together.
3. Right before you want to serve, stir in the cheese and season with spices, salt and pepper. (Or leave out the spices if you have finicky kids...)
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Easiest dinner ever! Super healthy: tons of fiber and chock full of veggies, with a serving of spinach and a serving of other veggies. (Feel free to use more veggies if you want! Pre-cooked mushrooms are a great addition, and if you want to steam the spinach ahead of time you can fit a lot more in the slow cooker. This is also a great way to get rid of any leftovers you want to throw in.)

Things I don't recommend: beans and tofu. I tried both of these to make it more protein-ful, and neither really works that well. The flavor of beans just doesn't seem to work, and the tofu just mushes into the oats. Gross!