Nik's Cinnamon Bun Protein Oatmeal

~by Nikki



I feel like, over the past few weeks, I’ve worked a lot on Frapps. Having developed quite a few, I feel like you all have a good foundation on which to play with your protein drinks. It’s time for me to move on…to the realm of…oatmeal.

It’s a favorite food of mine. It is also very carby. But in my mind it’s not a horrible carb. It’s a whole grain, it has fiber and, if you get the right kind, a good deal of it. Where we tend to mess up with oatmeal is in flavoring it and that’s where I see the most potential for my work!

I eat a bowl of oatmeal every morning for breakfast. It gives me the fuel I need to get up and go and I don’t usually get hungry again (in the way that we get hungry that is) until lunch time. Here’s what I had this morning.

Nik’s Cinnamon Bun Protein Oatmeal
(this makes one “Nik size” portion. It is almost surely more than one “you” portion, so adjust accordingly!)

Ingredients:

½ c. quick oats
2 oz. skim milk
4 oz. boiling water
1 scoop vanilla protein powder (I used this)
No-calorie sweetener, to taste (I used Splenda)
A few sprays zero calorie butter spray (I used Olivio)
1/8 tsp salt (yes salt)
1 tbsp sugar-free pancake syrup
A few dashes of ground cinnamon

Optional: 1/2 tbsp. reduced fat cream cheese (I would suggest that only in moderation, but it does complete the whole effect!

Directions:

In a bowl, combine oats, sweetener, protein powder and milk until a thick meal forms. There should be no dry protein powder in the meal nor should there be any on the sides of your bowls. If necessary, add a few additional splashes of milk to accomplish this.

Oatmeal with protein powder and milk BEFORE adding boiling water.

SLOWLY add your boiling water to the meal, a little at a time, stirring after you add some (add an ounce or two, stop and stir. Repeat). Do this until the oatmeal is slightly submerged in the water.

Nuke your bowl for about 90 seconds. The oatmeal will be thick and you’ll be able to smell the vanilla.

Add the salt, the pancake syrup, the butter spray and the cinnamon and stir. Taste. You should taste sweetness, an ever-so-slight kick of saltiness (very subtle). And of course you should be able to taste the cinnamon!

If you are treating yourself to the cream cheese, stir it in right at the end.

This inspiration for this idea came by way of a poster on Obesity Help who wondered if she’d be able to eat cinnamon buns post op. While I used to love me a Cinnabon back in the day, I feel much better about eating this. My version has LOTS of protein (yours may vary, so be sure to check YOUR stats) and really gets me going!

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