Mares eat oats

When I was a little girl, my mom used to sing to me "Mares eat oats and does eat oats but little lambs eat ivy. A kid will eat ivy too, wouldn't you, wouldn't you."

My reply, "Gross! I want to eat oats!" I loved oatmeal and still do. Unfortunately there is a very fine line between good oatmeal and a stodgy gruel that reminds one of an orphanage in a Dickens novel. Sadly, instant oatmeal does not count as food. It may be convenient but it is loaded with sugar and so over-processed that the oats have lost their nutritional value which is high fiber content.

Once I figured this out, I was on a mission to find delicious, old-fashioned, thick cut oats in order to make the perfect bowl of oatmeal. Early in my hunt, I turned up Bob's Red Mill thick cut oats. I bought them at Target and I've seen them at Harris Teeter too. The oats are huge! I think they would make wonderful cookies! When cooked, these oats retain a firm texture. The chewiness is very satisfying to me and these are so full of fiber that I'm not hungry until lunch time.

Bob's Red Mill is a local business run out of Oregon. They use traditional methods of milling grain and they use locally grown grains. I love giving people like this my business! Bob has a web site http://www.bobsredmill.com where all of his products are available to purchase. Besides oats, he mills all kinds of grains into flours (both the usual and the unusual). He also makes gluten-free products.

I like Bob.