I was going to wait another day to post this, but I figured, why wait.  Besides tomorrow is supposed to be the foodie pen pals reveal.

I’m introducing a new feature on my blog: OATMEAL MADNESS.  Not like March Madness.  No brackets, no upsets, just lots of pictures of delicious oatmeal.

For the past month I’ve been on a no-cereal diet.  According to Mike (my trainer), cereal is the root of all evils in the world (paraphrasing) due to the processed sugars and whatnot in the ingredients.  I argued that I’d been eating cereal my whole life and surely it couldn’t be the most awful of all foods, but he started ranting about bloating and xanthum gum and gesturing wildly at his (very flat) stomach (that’s where the bloating might occur, I guess?) and turning red, steam coming out of his ears (mild exaggeration, but he was definitely on a soapbox) so I promised I’d try to give it up.

This led to another problem though.  I don’t mind cooking.  That is, I don’t mind cooking after I’m awake.  And to be awake, well, that takes a cup of coffee (or two).  I’ll cook for lunch, dinner, afternoon snack, late night, whatever.  Just not in the morning.  Mike says, oh, make a couple of eggs, it only takes five minutes.  Make oatmeal, it only takes five to ten minutes.  NO.  TOO EARLY.  (Regardless of time, it’s too early.)  But…what about that phenomena that is so famous across the blog world…

OVERNIGHT OATS.

So I tried it.  Oats.  Water or milk or yogurt.  Protein powder.  In a container, overnight.  Then in the morning, stir, and add fruit.  (Or “nut butter”).

This, I realized, was something I could get on board with.  It’s sort of like cereal, but less crunchy.  And less processed, so Mike is happy.

Which brings us to where we are today.  Pictures of my oatmeal.  My blog friend Rose suggested it, and I will do anything she suggests since she is an amazing athlete and blogger.  (I’m totally sucking up to her, another thing real bloggers do.)

I hate that I embraced a blogger trend.  (See here for the last time I embraced a blogger trend…oh and linking to old unrelated posts is also an excellent blogger trend, you’re welcome!) But I’m told it is an old thing to do.  Overnight oats are actually known as Mueslix in other countries, like in Europe.  And nothing is cooler than Europe.  Yes, I’m aware Europe isn’t a country. *correction, my sister texted me to say that MUESLI is what I meant, not mueslix, mueslix being an evil cereal from Kellogg’s*

You can also put them in a jar of “nut butter”.  People call these Overnight Oats in a Jar, or OOIAJ.  I find this to be fairly tasty but I invariably end up spilling on myself.  It’s probably more “nut butter” than one needs.

You can also try steel cut oats, but those just don’t get as soft overnight.  I tried, because someone compared them to Grapenuts, which I like.  I tried soaking them for 48 hours and it still wasn’t enough for me.

Oh, and I don’t have a microwave, so don’t tell me to microwave anything.  Plus, that will kill you, the radiation.  (Says the girl who is always on the phone.)

So, I am not as good of a blogger as some people, and I believe it took 8 days to get 6 pictures of oatmeal.  I forgot one morning (blogger FAIL) and then yesterday I ended up just doing a smoothie, so I didn’t photograph it.  Also I do not have super creative bowls and utensils and placemats.  Oh well!

Here we go!  ARE YOU READY TO BE INSPIRED TO BE HEALTHY AND AWESOME LIKE I AM??????

*drum roll*

*disclaimer, I did not take these pictures outside in my backyard, nor did I use any sort of light box.  just my normal pink, point and shoot camera.*

Oh, yeah, OVERNIGHT OATS IN A JAR. Steel cut overnight (two days actually) with protein powder, milk, and some blackberries.  CHEWY.

Steel cut that I cooked before, left overnight, added blueberries.

Same batch of steel cut cooked.  Blueberries, blackberries, dollop of peanut butter (hiding under there!).

Still the same steel cut.  Texture not as good with these, you can see after a couple days they are a bit more liquidy.  With strawberries.

Rolled oats, greek yogurt, a bit of “nut butter” and blackberries.  This was insanely delicious.  For oats.  Not actually delicious, mind you, because there is so much food out there that is more delicious than oatmeal.

Same base, but with chocolate peanut butter (super healthy, right?) and banana.  Lesson learned:  be sure to fully mix your protein powder before adding fruit.  Dry protein powder does not taste good.  Some of this actually came back up. And a banana, could be healthier.  Bananas:  the most fattening of all fruits.

There you have it.  6 days of oatmeal.

I have lost 4 pounds since giving up cereal.  Is it related?  I don’t know.

I hope you enjoy my new feature OATMEAL MADNESS!  Please comment on how brilliant and amazing I am in the comments.  Also if anybody can design a logo (the more crudely drawn the better, SARAH) for this feature I would be delighted and repay you in kind by offering you various overnight oats recipes.