Oatmeal! One of my favorite foods. Not the easiest to reconcile in a low carb diet, no matter how hearth healthy it is. For some reason, for a time the balance of our existences hangs in that damn pie chart on our online food journals staying predominantly protein. Because all carbs. Are. EVIL!!! Right?
Wrong. And you all know that. If not, read this and then re-join us…we’ll wait…
Now then, back to oatmeal. Even though oatmeal is, by no stretch of the imagination, a bad food choice (especially when you make it from scratch), we can bump the protein up a good bit.
So without further adieu, here’s how you make protein oatmeal.
So basically this oatmeal starts off like any other oatmeal. This is about 1/2 c. of oats. Please note this portion is actually for La Petite Diva. For newbies especially, you might want to start this process with 1/4 c. of oatmeal. I will say, however, that this reheats just fine so if you want to make a big portion of it and section it out across a few days, that’s fine too. Anyhoo…
Next, we want to add our protein powder. Now I added a full scoop since I used a full serving of oatmeal. For folks wanting to make a smaller portion, for every 1 oz. of oatmeal you use, add a 1/4 scoop of protein powder (and yes, I know scoops vary in sizes. No matter what size your scoop, a 1/4 scoop will per ounce will do fine…I promise you).
Just like with hot protein drinks, you have to “temper” the protein before adding boiling liquid. This can be achieved by simply adding enough room temperature water to coat all the oats and protein until it becomes a very thick paste, like so.
Awww sookie now! We’re getting to the good part. Now you SLOWLYadd your hot water to the oatmeal. I find adding the hot water to the room temperature water yields a better result than simply adding water and microwaving. But you are certainly welcome to try that if you wish. Let me know how that goes for you. 🙂 Now AFTER you add your hot waterand stir, you can do one of two things:
- You can cover your bowl with a plate and walk away for about three minutes.
- You can nuke it for a minute or so (and yes, nuking it at this point is ok).
Either way, what you should end up with looks like this:
Now don’t freak out about the film around the edge! Give it a quick stir and it will be but a distant memory. Plus, now comes the fun part. Flavoring!
Nik’s Peanut Brittle Oatmeal
Ingredients:
1/2 c. quick oats
a pinch of salt
1 tablespoon (or to taste) no-calorie sweetener
After you’ve prepped your oatmeal, add your salt, PB2, sweetener and syrup. Stir and…yummy!
Bariatric Foodie Play with your food
Yay! I've been wondering about this.
Would you share which protein powder you use?
Julie,
If you click the hyperlink on the word "vanilla protein powder" it takes you to the one I use.
🙂 Nik
nik. that protein looks like the one they sell at Sams do you know if it is the same one? I havent tried it yet but wondered if. it would be good. I find some are not as good tasting as others.
I'm not sure as I don't have a Sams membership but I find that when you use protein as an ingredient in something with many other ingredients it doesn't have to be the best tasting protein – it just shouldn't be the worst! There are only two or three proteins I just wouldn't use in anything (and it has more to do with the way they smell than the way they taste). Otherwise, nearly anything can be masked or evened out for me. 🙂
How much water do I use with 1/2 cup of oats? Never made oatmeal before except the instant kind, but I would like to try this 🙂
Depends on how much oatmeal you want to yield. You should use about 1/4 c. room temp liquid to temper the protein. The start with 1/2 c. boiling water. Then nuke. If it's too thick afterward, add more until it reaches your desired consistency.
How would you make this if you use Irish Oats that have to be cooked on the stove top for 30 minutes?
No idea! I’ve never made it using anything other than quick oats. It probably have to play around with the cook time, but the one thing that remains constant is that you have to temper your protein before you add it to anything hot or else you will get little rubbery balls. And that’s no fun!
How do you temper protein powder?
It’s sort of like tempering an egg. You have to add a bit of room temperature water to protein powder to make a paste, then in small batches you add hot water, stirring thoroughly, until you have a full drink. May take a few tries to get it perfect, but it works!
Nick, Can you use steel cut oats? They are better on the glycemic index, having a slower reaction on sugar released than quick or minute oats. I love oatmeal and miss it for breakfast. Please let me know how to adjust accordingly. I would love to try the steel cut oats on your Fall Harvest Protein Baked Oatmeal as well. Thank you!
Hey there!
I’ve never made them with steel cut oats (I don’t tolerate them very well). But have you ever seen the method for doing overnight oats in the refrigerator? I’m in the process of trying that but if you look it up on Google or Pinterest you can get the main idea. Basically you add the oats, liquid, protein and anything else in a canning jar or mason jar and put it in the fridge overnight. I wonder if that would work for steel cut oats? You think?