While working my list of happiness, I’ve picked up road cycling and, to some, drastically changed the way I eat and what I eat. Doing so has helped me to loose more than 40 pounds, and I’ve shared how I’m doing it  here. I’ve gone from eating a very large lunch, very fast and whatever for dinner to eating four smaller meals through the day. I’ve also changed what kinds of foods I eat, lately, I’m on a kick to find unprocessed, non-chemically added foods.

I grew up as a child of the 80′s and early 90′s. Microwaves were the new bestest thing and because my Mother worked, I ate a lot of microwave food, either left overs from the previous day or pre-packaged food. Everything had to be done fast, faster, fastest, it just seemed like the trend of the times. As a grown man now pushing 30, I enjoy cooking and enjoy food much more now than ever. I’ve also realized that much of this pre-packaged food tastes like shit. More than a year ago I threw out what instant rice I had left in exchange for basmati rice, my cook times changed from 5 minutes to about 40 minutes, but the taste is worth everything to me now.

Now that winter is here, I was looking for a warm, hearty way to get some grains and oats into my system. Long a fan of oatmeal, but only in the single serving packages or instant oats mixed with jelly (yes jelly, try it), I’ve recently tried steel-cut oats and enjoyed them. Again, my cook time went from about a minute in the microwave to about a half hour on the stove top, the taste in the end is worth the time spent in my opinion and because they are really only organic steel-cut oats, nothing else is added to keep them fresh for my enjoyment.

This brings me to Bob’s Red Mill 10-Grain Hot Cereal. I’ve seen this brand in the store for some time and even tried their corn bread mix a few months ago. The concept of a hot cereal always kind of scared me for no particular reason. The ingredient list reads out with, you guessed it, 10 simple grains:

  • whole grain wheat
  • corn
  • rye
  • triticale
  • oats
  • soy
  • millet
  • barley
  • brown rice
  • oat bran
  • flaxseed

These 10 simple ingredients make a pretty OK tasting, warm, stick to your guts food, but in my opinion it’s still a bit bland. Treating it like oatmeal, I’ve been playing around with adding sweeteners to it. So far, the winner has been pealed and chopped apples because they are in season right now, some brown sugar and cinnamon. I’ve also found that about two tablespoons of honey tastes really good and am currently cooking some with chopped dates and brown sugar. I’ve also been mixing in wheat germ which has very little flavor, so for me I guess it’s a bit like 11-Grain cereal.

At around $3 per bag, it’s also one of the most cost effective ways to eat healthy without going hungry. Each batch is made with 1 cup grains and 3 cups water, this yields about 3-4 hearty bowls of yummy goodness, or about $0.12 per serving, plus any fruit or sugars you add. It should be available locally, if not click one of the links and buy it form Amazon. The trick is to buy more than $25 worth of just about anything to get the free shipping. Anyone else have a favorite hot cereal and / or other ways to make this stuff?

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