All this talk about oatmeal reminds me that I bought some TJ's steel-cut oats a few months ago and have yet to open it, mostly because of the protein issue. I was talking to my sister today and realized that I really need to add more fiber to my diet for various reasons. She suggested picking up some fiber gummies at Target, but maybe I'll start making oatmeal and adding protein powder to it, like Teppy. I might give that a try tonight!

Thanks for the recipes for overnight cooking, everyone!

Oatmeal is healthy and nutritious. But what you have with it determines whether the meal based on it is balanced and healthy or not.

I can understand calling it not balanced, as it's v. low in protein. But I simply don't agree that it's not healthy.

Tep, what kind of protein powder do you use in your oatmeal, flavored or unflavored? I've got both strawberries and cream flavor powder and some unflavored, and am wondering which I should add.

My issue with oatmeal is that even though I feel full after eating it, I will be hungry in about an hour.

That's my issue too. Well that and not having time to cook myself oatmeal most mornings. But the other day I made TJs quick cook steel cut oats and they were delicious and didn't take too long, so I'll probably do that more often.

I've taken to bringing nuts to work with me so I can munch on them if I get hungry before lunch.

I eat a peanut butter Atkins bar for breakfast every single freaking day. [link] I don't like breakfast, but I can scarf one of these at my desk and it has lots of protein, so I am not hungry until lunchtime.

Tep, what kind of protein powder do you use in your oatmeal, flavored or unflavored? I've got both

I use TJ's vanilla flavored whey protein powder. Dissolves well, taste isn't cloying, proteins me up for a few hours. Altogether decent.

Burrell - if you have easy access to TJ's, look for their frozen steel cut oatmeal. A quick zap in the microwave and NUMMY goodness follows. Each box has 2 servings and I recall the price as being quite reasonable. It is one of the things I miss most about not having a TJ's out here.

And why the heck am I awake. I took my sleeping pills a couple of hours ago and I'm WIDE awake. Not cool.

You are all making me hungry. It is not fair to talk about breakfast at night.

I gutted it out through performing tonight, despite totally not feeling it, and it was fine, but took a shit ton of energy. Plus there was lots of jumping around just on general principle, and there was a gigantic group of high schoolers in the audience, so just high energy all around. So I came home wiped, and ravenous. I inhaled the SO's giant bowl of popcorn (it was okay, he was already asleep) but I'm still starving reading all this. A big hunk of cheddar cheese would go a long way, since I am, as always, Kat. But I don't have a big hunk of cheddar cheese. I have Gouda, but somehow that's not the same, plus the SO would wonder what happened to it. I do have regular oatmeal, not steel cut, so I could have some nearly instant gratification, except that it's over there and I'm over here...hmph.

Oo that's a good idea, Suzi. I have a TJs right up the block. Kinda dangerously close.

I just took a computer break to finally unpack and wash the two boxes of crystal I got from my aunt. It was originally my great-grandma's and grandma's; Aunt Barb had to get rid of just about everything when she went into assisted living, so since she had already given me Great-Grandma Alida's crystal lamp, I got the rest of it as well. Turns out, I now have three unmatched candlestick holders (or maybe they're stem vases?), a huge oval centerpiece bowl that weighs a ton, what looks like a candy jar with a lid topped with a finial that looks like the top of a Prussian war helmet, and a much simpler candy jar-like container that comes from Sweden (Grandma must have bought it there when she and Grandpa visited his old home in 1972). I cleaned off my tchotchke shelves and put them up there, where they don't look too bad.

I need more tchotchke shelves, though.