For a long time no one doubts the benefits of oatmeal. However, not everyone is impressed by its appearance and consistency. Porridge will certainly become more attractive if you decorate the finished dish with orange slices, whole berries, and nuts. A pinch of cinnamon will give the oatmeal an invigorating aroma.
The insipid taste of oatmeal and its "snotty" consistency are far from being to their liking. However, in taking care of your health and if you want to lose weight, willy-nilly you have to master the recipes for its preparation. After all, this dietary dish cannot be found more useful. Nutritionists assure that the most useful oatmeal is whole or crushed, boiled in water without sugar and salt. True, a pinch of salt will not do much harm, and sugar will replace honey and fruits: fresh in summer, dried or frozen in winter.
How to cook the healthiest oatmeal
Even in pursuit of saving time, you should not choose instant flakes for cooking oatmeal, since the preliminary heat treatment has deprived them of the beneficial properties inherent in the embryo of oats. If the choice fell nevertheless on flakes, then it is better to stop at "Hercules" or "Extra - 1" flakes. The roughest, and, therefore, rich in fiber, is "Hercules", this is an independent oat variety.
The quality of "Extra" has a gradation. "Extra-3" - delicate flakes that will cook in 5 minutes. They are good for baby food and for people with digestive problems. "Extra - 2" is made from crushed grain and will require twice as long to cook. Flakes "Extra-1" are produced from whole grains, and therefore will be cooked for 15 minutes. They are no less useful than Hercules.
Everyone has their own concept of delicious oatmeal. Someone likes liquid, while others like thick ones more. Therefore, the ratio of flakes to liquid can be either 1: 1 or 1: 2. For whole and crushed oatmeal, the proportions are different - 1: 4. To speed up the breakfast preparation process, you can pour boiled water over the whole grain of oats in the evening.
And in the morning add 0.4 liters of milk to a swollen glass of oats and cook for 20 minutes over low heat. Cut or grated fresh fruits or dried fruits steamed in boiling water are added to the finished porridge to taste. Of course, to cook such a delicious healthy oatmeal, you need to work hard in the evening or get up early in the morning.
Instant Oatmeal Recipes
With flakes, everything is much easier and faster. After washing them, you can immediately pour water in half with milk, add salt and, bringing to a boil, reduce the heat. Then leave the breakfast to languish for 5-7 minutes. Washed dried fruits or frozen fruits can also be sent directly to the container where the porridge is prepared. During this time, they will not boil over and retain their useful properties. Porridge with orange has an attractive appearance and peculiar taste.
For this, the orange is peeled and divided into slices. Before peeling the fruit, you need to wash it well, because the zest will also go into business. It is rubbed and juice is squeezed out of several slices into the porridge. All this is sent immediately to the container for preparing porridge along with cereals, water or milk. The remaining fresh orange slices are added to the dish already on the plate.
Scots prefer not to boil the oatmeal, but to pour it into boiling water with rapid stirring. After that, the pan is removed from the heat for 20 minutes. Salt, sugar, fruit - all this is added to the porridge at room temperature. To speed up the preparation of oatmeal for breakfast, Americans additionally grind the cereal with a blender.
Oatmeal with fruit can be cold prepared with cereal. To do this, in the evening "Hercules" should be poured with a mixture of yogurt, fruits, nuts. You can add a dash of cinnamon or coconut. You do not need to put it in the refrigerator. It is enough to leave the covered bowl on the table in the kitchen so that the next morning the aroma of oatmeal with fruit will signal the beginning of a wonderful day.
