A Healthy Breakfast

I am on a quest to clean up our diet.  We have been on this journey for a couple of years now.  God has been gracious to put some wonderful people in my life to challenge me and teach me about healthier eating.  I have started being one of "those people".  You know the ones.  They are constantly reading every nutrition label.  Eating things like bone broth, and coconut sugar.  Avoiding food dyes.  Luckily, these changes have been gradual so the kids don't even know how weird we are.  One of the things that used to be a staple in our house was the instant oatmeal packets.  When the kids were just babies I used to heat it up and add some yogurt to it and it was quickly one of their favorite breakfasts.  Well, one day I started looking at the ingredients in those handy little packets.  Take a look - WHOLE GRAIN ROLLED OATS, SUGAR, BLUEBERRY FLAVORED AND COLORED FRUIT PIECES (DRIED FIGS, DRIED CORN SYRUP SOLIDS, MODIFIED FOOD STARCH, SUGAR, DEXTROSE, GLYCERIN, BLUEBERRY JUICE CONCENTRATE, PARTIALLY HYDROGENATED VEGETABLE OIL [SOY AND/OR COTTONSEED]**, ARTIFICIAL BLUEBERRY FLAVOR, CITRIC ACID, BLUE 2 LAKE, RED 40 LAKE), CREAMING AGENT (MALTODEXTRIN, PARTIALLY HYDROGENATED SOYBEAN OIL**, WHEY, SODIUM CASEINATE), SALT, CALCIUM CARBONATE, ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR, GUAR GUM, OAT FLOUR, NIACINAMIDE*, REDUCED IRON, VITAMIN A PALMITATE, PYRIDOXINE HYDROCHLORIDE*, RIBOFLAVIN*, SOY LECITHIN, THIAMIN MONONITRATE*, FOLIC ACID*.
This long list of things that I can't even pronounce is on the label for the blueberry and cream oatmeal.  Now I don't know about you, but before my eyes were opened to cleaner eating I was under the impression that blueberry oatmeal was good for you.  It sounds good for you.  But not so.  So here is our healthier version:

Healthy Oatmeal
Old Fashioned Oats
Coconut sugar
Fruit or yogurt

Just those 3 ingredients.  Now you can mix it up and make it something really special.  How about cooked apples and cinnamon.  Or blueberries and vanilla.  Or bananas and walnuts.  The choices are limitless!  The not-so-little ones still enjoy yogurt in it.  But be careful, a lot of the yogurts out there are also filled with dyes and high fructose corn syrup.  Luckily, it is super easy to make your own yogurt.  I'll tell you how another time or if you are impatient you can google it.  Now oatmeal can be healthy again.  And cheaper.  One large container of old fashioned oats lasts a lot longer and is a lot cheaper than the individual packets.  And it really only takes about 5 minutes to cook. Happy Cooking!