Oatmeal with Bananas and Nutmeg

The post where I put all my theories to test from yesterday and continued the oatmeal experiment...

The recipe was the same as yesterday except, rather than eat the banana while cooking the oatmeal, I added the banana to the oatmeal. I added some nutmeg which goes great with bananas (think of banana bread) and changed the maple syrup to honey. I can tell you that I definitely tasted the lack of salt in this recipe more than I did yesterday. I think part of that might have been that I didn't add the trail mix to the oatmeal while cooking. Also, I found out yesterday while researching the nutrition content of the trail mix that the almonds in it are tamari roasted. Not the best flavor profile for oatmeal, but such are the hazards of bulk shopping in a hurry.

Today I started by chopping half the banana and adding it to the water as I was bringing it up to a boil. I was hoping it would break down and make the oatmeal creamy without having to add dairy or dairy substitutes. It did just as I had planned. This should work as long as you have a banana ripe enough to be fragrant or bananas that are too ripe to eat normally. While cooking, there's a fantastic banana aroma every time you lift the lid to check your oatmeal. I saved the other half of the banana to add at the end to get that fresh banana flavor.

I also added nutmeg to the boiling water and sprinkled some on top at the end. You can substitute any sweet spice for the nutmeg (i.e. cinnamon, allspice, clove) or if you want to get creative, try fennel seed, coriander or cardamom seed.

I cooked the oatmeal with the lid on which sped up cooking and kept in much more liquid. I liked the texture of the oatmeal better. The oatmeal was creamy and the indiviudal oats stayed intact. I would recommend this method if you have a sauce pan with a lid.

As for the nuts, I sprinkled them on top at the end. I could have easily used half the amount of nuts from yesterday as the 1/8th of a cup looked like a lot (even after I ate the tamari almonds before putting them on my oatmeal). If you are counting calories, this might be a good visual trick to lower your intake of high fat nuts.

How good did it taste? Well, I wasn't a fan of this nut mix in this oatmeal. It was too strong. I would have preferred pecans or brazil nuts. But, while I was writing this post, I kept looking over to the bowl just to make sure more oatmeal hadn't magically appeared. I'm pretty sure that's a good sign.

No Sugar Added Apple Compote

So, I decided to try to cook apples without adding sugar, juice, or any more calories for a morning yogurt topping. I am also extemely against any sugar alternatives such as splenda, stevia or aspartame, so I didn't want to add any of those. What resulted was very low on the sweetness scale, but surprisingly good for breakfast. I also ended up adding one whole serving of fruit to my lowfat yogurt which makes for a very helathy breakfast. I found myself wishing I had slivered almonds to sprinkle on the top.

1 apple, peeled, cored and diced
1/2 cup water
1/4 tsp cinnamon
2 large pieces lemon zest
corn starch to thicken
squeeze of lemon

Cook apples, water, cinnamon and zest at a low boil until the apples have broken down, but aren't completely mushy. Add water if need to thin out apples to have a bit of water to make the sauce. Add cold water to about a tablespoon of cornstarch, slowly pour it in to the boiling apples while stirring, bring to a boil. Add a squeeze of lemon and stir. Serve over yogurt.