Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Morning Delight! Honeyville Steel Cut Oats and Freeze Dried Berries

I am a breakfast girl. I need food in my stomach within an hour of getting up or I am out of whack for the day.

I am also not a morning person. I like to sleep as LATE as possible. In fact this morning, I found out I was a "sleep snoozer". I have been told this is what someone who hits the snooze button in their sleep is called. Which I did so many times this morning, I missed my run!

Luckily, I had made breakfast last night! And it was still delicious this morning.

Oatmeal has been all the rage for blogging foodies. But most people like the convenience of quick cooking rolled oatmeal. Which is understandable if you have a need for speed. But let me take a couple minutes to try and convert you to something that takes a little more preparation but is well worth the wait (and can be prepped ahead of time!):

Steel Cut Oatmeal!!!

The fine folks at Honeyville allowed me to opportunity to sample their Steel Cut Oatmeal as well as their Freeze Dried Strawberries and Freeze Dried Blueberries. I was excited to try out something new from a family owned company with a longstanding reputation for working with restaurants around the country. What does that mean for an individual consumer? Their online store is fantastically inexpensive! And if you have a larger family or big event, the bulk ordering is also a great deal! Not to mention the inexpensive shipping cost.

But enough about how awesome the company is and how great the prices are. Let's talk about taste!

I started by preparing two cups of steel cut oatmeal (8 servings) in twelve cups of boiling water. The process took approximately 45 minutes, but aside from stirring, was really easy. It cooks up to somewhere around a cup a serving cooked. The reason for prepping a larger batch was so I could portion it out for later.
The oatmeal itself is extra creamy and smooth with bites of whole oatmeal. I feel healthier eating it but also more satisfied. It not only filled me up this morning but kept me full for the couple hours before I got my caffine fix. It is high in fiber and protein which helps make it so filling. I wanted more for lunch but alas I didn't bring any to school!

When I preportioned the cooked oatmeal, I took a couple of servings and mixed in 1/4 cup of strawberries or 1/4 cup of blueberries. The strawberries are slices that are also great for munching (guess what is going in my carry-on for next week's championships!) and the blueberries are large and whole. Both are crispy and full of flavor. Did I mention how low in calories they are?
Back to the oatmeal. Adding the fruit in was the idea of Chris over at Honeyville. His suggestion was fabulous! The creaminess of the oats and the natural sweetness of the strawberries made the perfect morning treat. As a child, I loved Strawberries and Cream instant oatmeal. This reminded of that... only ten times better because it wasn't overly sweet or full of chemicals.

I look forward to sleeping in and just popping my oatmeal in the micro each morning. Honeyville made a believer out of me that taking the extra time is worth it for flavor, nutrition and satiation.

Ingredients in Honeyville Steel Cut Oats: Whole Grain Oats

Nutritional Information for 1/4 cup uncooked Honeyville Steel Cut Oats: 160 calories/3 grams of fat/5 grams of fiber/6 grams of protein

Ingredients in Honeyville Freeze Dried Strawberries: Strawberries

Nutritional Information for 1/4 cup Honeyville Freeze Dried Strawberries: 15 calories/0 grams of fat/1 gram of fiber/0 grams of protein

Ingredients in Honeyville Freeze Dried Blueberries: Blueberries

Nutritional Information for 1/4 cup Honeyville Freeze Dried Blueberries: 30 calories/0 grams of fat/1 gram of fiber/0 grams of protein

4 comments:

Stesha said...

Are you my twin? Oatmeal and the snooze button...I love you:)

Hugs and Mocha,
Stesha

Danielle said...

I am totally a sleep snoozer too! It's a bad habit I'm trying to break!

Brandy said...

Fellow early morning hater here!

Welcome to SITS!

Deb Schiff said...

Thanks for the great tips. I'm really enjoying your blog.

Disclaimer:

I get asked by readers if I am being paid to push products. The simple answer is no. In fact, most of the products I write about are ones I have found and purchased during my trips to the grocery store or on the road. Occasionally, a company will send a sample my way and if I believe the product will serve a need for my readers and I would buy the product myself, then I will share it with you. Sometimes I will write to a company after reading about it, if I believe it will help us lead healthier lifestyles. But even then, if the product doesn't pass my scrutiny, it won't make the screen of Uncovering Food. You can trust that every product or recipe posted here has passed through my lips, and that I wouldn't blog about it if it wasn't worthy of you... my favorite readers.