Last summer, Jeff and I started eating healthier and shed a few stubborn pounds and started feeling SOOO much better physically. I started a walking routine and Jeff started running and even ran in a 3 mile race. We started noticing such improvements as consistent and high energy, even keel moods and renewed sense of life.

Jeff actually started eating AND liking all kinds of vegetables. His favorite sandwich became a true vege sandwich. Stacks of fresh cut veges from the garden hiding between two pieces of whole wheat bread.

We started eating the "24/7" way. It is a way of life designed by Bob Greene. You are supposed to eat at least 2 fruits, 4 veges, and up to 7 grains per day. Meat portions the size of your own fist. If you eat more fruits, balance it out with more veges. This was an easy way to briefly figure out if we had eaten the right things throughout the day AND an added bonus if we actually NEEDED to eat more for the right balance! You know me... I love to eat and LOVE the thought of that.

We also cut out refined sugars except for Sundays. That is our special day and treat ourselves to something different, however, we're ready for the "good" stuff come Monday.

We now eat brown rice, wheat pastas, very little pork, and an oatmeal cereal for breakfast. I had eaten a delicious dish called "Oatmeal Bake" by Jeff's cousin, Laverna. I loved it. I got the recipe and started making it. After cutting out sugars, I came up with the following version that is so easy and fun to make. It can be whipped up so fast and ta-ta...you have a healthy breakfast ready for the next several days.

Susan's Oatmeal Cereal

Mix all together in a large bowl.

6 cups Old Fashioned oats
1cup oil
2 T baking powder
2 tsp salt
1-2 T cinnamon (I just dump some until it looks good!)
2 cups milk
1 1/2 cups water (YOU CAN USE 3 1/2 cups milk instead of substituting any water.)

Warning: this will look like "slop" after it is stirred.

Pour into a cookie sheet with a lipped edge. Spread it out so that the oatmeal is totally covering the bottom of the pan and the liquid is almost absorded.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

As soon as it is taken out, take a pancake turner and immediately stir it up so that it crumbles. It will take about 15 minutes or so for it to cool enough to stir it once again and then scoop into a plastic or tupperware container. Store in the fridge. (If it is not stired immediately, it will bond together and will be a bit more difficult to crumble later. It is good cut into squares for snacks, too.)

It is a soft chewy cereal not like hard granola. Because it has no sugar in it, it will taste bland to the sugar controlled person. We began eating this by adding blueberries (to the batter) or banannas (to individual bowls) to it for a natural sweetener and a fruit. We are so used to sugarless foods that it is delightful to eat plain with skim milk!

Hope you enjoy it as much as we do. Occasionally, life places us in circumstances where we have to eat something else for breakfast. We are delighted to get home and back to our humble foods. Jeff also eats 2 pieces of wheat toast with crunchy peanut butter with his breakfast. He is addicted to peanut butter... and BiLo's brand!

Blessings, Susan