Oatmeal Enthusiasts: Meet Brittany!

In addition to other guest posts, I am going to start an "Oatmeal Enthusiasts" series to exhibit the passion of all of YOU! Our first Enthusiast is Brittany, whom I discovered on Instagram of all places. I was so impressed with her creations, and I was delighted to see her taking my recipes and putting her own spin on them. She proves that oatmeal has endless possibilities and variations. I put her up to a challenge: document your breakfast every day for a week. Here's what she came up with!

Hey Oatmeal Fans,

If you’re reading this blog, I’m guessing you had oatmeal for breakfast this morning.  And if you didn’t, you totally should have! Lauren asked me to do a guest post on The Oatmeal Artist blog, so here I am, thrilled to be sharing my oatmeal love with anyone reading.

My name is Brittany, and I am currently a graduate student in the state of Pennsylvania. Come December 2013, I’ll have a M.S in Economics, and actually become a real adult in the working world. I’m not sure how I feel about that yet. 

So, why did Lauren ask me to write a guest post? Well, where to start…I’ll keep it very brief. I’ve been eating oatmeal for breakfast (at least 4 times a week) ever since I got my first apartment in college. I ate the same general combo all the time: bananas and berries, apples and raisins, or some slight variation of those two.  Around March of this year, I was looking for a way to finally mix up my morning meal, and I stumbled upon Lauren’s Pinterest, which led me to this blog. Needless to say, I was in awe of the recipes, and the site in and of itself. I’m sure most of you know what I’m talking about. That feeling you get when you discover someone with a similar oatmeal addiction. I started trying a bunch of her recipes and taking pictures of the final results. I was already in the habit of snapping shots of several of my meals because of my recently purchased HTC X One smart phone. I love to cook all kinds of things, so this was the perfect tool to capture my culinary creations. Fast forward to about a month ago, I finally started an Instagram. Of course I posted photos of my delicious breakfasts, and tagged most of them as #oatmealartist [Editor's note: If you upload pictures of any of my recipes, please do this! I love to look at your creations!]. The recipes I use are usually straight from this website, but I like to add my own aesthetic spin. Long story short, Lauren found my posts on Instagram and asked me to share some with you guys.

Before getting to the pictures, here’s my mini “ode” to oatmeal.  Basically, I’ve balled up my love for oatmeal into one word: CHEAP. I’m a relatively frugal person, so food expenses are important to me. But besides the economical aspect, I love oatmeal because it’s:

Comforting: There’s nothing like a warm bowl of oats in the morning, before I step out into the craziness beyond my apartment walls

Healthy and Hearty: I’m a fitness fanatic, so I enjoy eating nutritious meals that will keep me going for hours

Easy: Being a college student with morning classes, or an adult with a “9 to 5”, oatmeal (cold or hot) is not that time consuming or complex

Adaptable: Oatmeal is what chefs would call “a blank canvas.” Dress it up, dump in w/e you have, and it’ll be delicious (or at least edible) 99 times out of 100

Pleasing: It’s just so tasty! How could you not love it?

Now, here’s my oatmeal menu from this past week. As I mentioned, I get a lot of my recipes from here, but this blog has awakened my typically silent artistic side (there’s not much artistry in economics L). I get inspired to “draw” on my oatmeal and make someone double-take and say, “No way! That’s oatmeal? I don’t even like oatmeal, but I’d eat that!”

Monday: Grapefruit Blueberry Oatmeal. If you haven’t tried this one, do it! I was skeptical about the flavor combination, but it was really delicious. Plus, my fruit happened to be really sweet that day.

Tuesday: Banana Grapenut Oatmeal. So, I was trying to figure out a way to make this appealing. And the dark versus light color contrast sparked the Ying and Yang design.

Wednesday: Mango Raspberry Oatmeal . I have to admit, this is not my favorite picture, but of course it tasted great. Actually, the color of the raspberry puree has given me an awesome idea for an oatmeal design in the very near future.

Thursday: Blueberry Pie Oatmeal. No idea where this one came from. I eat this flavor combo a lot, but I wanted to make it different somehow. When the idea of pie popped into my head, I immediately searched for a picture of blueberry pie and thought, “I got this!” Btw, I don’t even like blueberry pie.

Friday: “Sunflower” Oatmeal. I am on a mission to make a realistic looking flower out of fruit that can successfully lie on top of oatmeal (strange obsession that came out of nowhere). This is my second attempt, and I think my third try will be perfection. I’ve already thought up the new layout.

Saturday: I don’t know about you, but I always think kiwi slices look kind of like freaky cat eyes. I definitely got a bit ambitious on this one, and created an abstract-ish pic of a human eye. The actual recipe is based on Lauren’s Lemon and Kiwi Oatmeal.

Sunday: Pineapple Cashew Oatmeal. This recipe is exactly the same as on this blog. It really did remind me of Thai food (read Lauren’s post). Since it was Sunday, I figured I’d celebrate the sun with a nice, simple oatmeal topping. Plus, I was super tired from Saturday and wanted to do minimal meal prep.

So, if anyone ever says to you, “oatmeal is boring,” prove them wrong! With so much access to great recipes, and blogs like this one, it’s easy to eat a different and delicious breakfast every day by starting with one simple base: oatmeal! Get inspired to be creative with your bowl of oats by adding your own special touch or even concocting a new flavor combination. By the way, my favorite flavor from this past week was Grapefruit Blueberry. The taste, and different textures, took me completely by surprise. It’s so simple yet so satisfying. And in case you’re wondering what my all time favorite oatmeal recipe is, it would have to be Apple Cinnamon! Which could actually be considered Apple Pie flavor. It’s one of the first oatmeal recipes I made when I started eating oats for breakfast regularly. I use cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla extract, raisins, a whole diced apple, and ground flaxseed, all topped with a drizzle of honey and sometimes walnuts or pecans. I don’t eat it as often as I used to, but it’s my go-to recipe whenever I have limited ingredients. When I stay at my parents’ house for a weekend, take a 6 hour bus ride to visit my sister for a few days, or have limited fruit options in the winter, I can always rely on this recipe. It’s made with common household ingredients and never fails to be delicious. 

---

Think you could be the next Oatmeal Enthusiast? Make sure you tag any photos of my recipes you upload on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter with #oatmealartist so I can see your creations!

**You can also find hundreds of other oatmeal recipes (as well as tons of other meatless recipes) on my Pinterest account!  You can also like The Oatmeal Artist on Facebook. Thanks!