Veggies and Oatmeal

I've written before about loving oatmeal. It is a breakfast obsession of mine. Even on vacation when we are staying at a hotel that offers the most fantastic of buffets - what am I looking for as I walk along, looking inside every heated pot? Yep, I'm looking for oatmeal. Along with oats, I try to find ways to sneak in vegetables. Oatmeal can be pretty easy to just "top with fruit" as a meal and forget about much else. In the past, I've added cooked and pureed beets with kale to my oats (makes a fantastic colour!).

The past two weeks I've been changing things up a bit and experimenting with adding in carrots and celery. I know celery sounds a bit crazy (maybe the carrot part too...), but I'm here to say that it works absolutely great! The nice thing is that there is no pre-cooking of the vegetables necessary - just slice up some carrots, chop up the celery, then put them in the Bullet with some cottage cheese or greek yogurt (great protein sources here) and blend away. After 10 seconds or so I add in my oats, a pinch of salt, cinnamon, chia seeds....what ever else grabs me...put the lid on and shake away. I leave mine in the bullet cup over night and cook it up quick in the morning. It's fabulous tasting and full of vitamins and minerals! By the time work has started I've already taken in 2 servings of veggies and 1 of fruit (can't forget topping oatmeal with banana...that would just be WRONG!) Not a bad start to the day I'd say...!