Carrot-cake oatmeal

[spinbaby]

I just discovered the yumminess of carrot-cake oatmeal. It's just steel-cut oats cooked the regular way with the addition of a grated carrot or two plus a bit of cinnamon and ginger. The original recipe I found also calls for honey, but I have to watch simple carbs, so I used Splenda instead. With a dollop of Greek yogurt on top, it's almost like dessert.

[Lucinda]

1. Never thought about adding shredded carrots! Thanks for the suggestion!

[Callalily]

2. Wow! That would be truly yummy!

And speaking of carrots. My mom was not really much of a cook, but she added shredded carrots to meatloaf . . . don't know where she ever got that idea, but it's super yummy and the meatloaf tends to be extra moist.

Give a big shout out for carrots!

[Lucinda]

3. I try and add them to a lot of dishes. I agree, they are great in meatloaf.

Bill is a big meat and potatoes eater, and unless he's making Chinese food, or in the mood for greens, it can be hard to get him to eat enough veggies.

[Granny M]

4. I'm going to try this.

Used to love carrot cake but, I, too, must avoid sugar. I started using canned pumpkin with spices in smoothies to remind me of pumpkin pie - yummy.

[murpheeslaw]

6. If you are avoiding sugar try Vietnamese Cinnamon

It hardly needs sweetening. It is hotter and sweeter than the McCormick or Spice Island brands in the grocery store; even better than the Fiesta brand that was my old favorite. I like it for lunch stirred into cottage cheese - 2tsp to 6 oz of cheese. Even better is sweet potato, cottage cheese and cinnamon = the sum is even better than the parts. If you do not find it sweet enough add a tiny bit of stevia.

You can purchase it by the oz. at the Whole Paycheck.

Cinnamon is supposed to be good for your heart - or maybe good for weight loss - any way it's good for something . . .

[Granny M]

7. Will look for it at the health stores here.

I live in Ireland, so sometimes things take a while to land here. Thanks for the tip.

I also heard that cinnamon was good for us.

[Granny M]

5. Success!

I looked up some recipes for this, and there are quite a few. I finally ended up with a vegan one, which I tinkered around with a bit. It included chopped apple, some coconut shreds, some pecans, some chia seeds, some raisins.

I left out the maple syrup and used a little stevia, and topped with almond milk.

Delicious!

[spinbaby]

8. You did the complicated version

I love coconut, though, so I might try adding that. I've settled on cooking one cup of steel-cut oats with two cups of water, one shredded carrot, one teaspoon of cinnamon, and half a teaspoon of ginger. I add sweetener when I eat it.