My version of summer porridge.

 
 I kinda splashed too much extra milk here...

I joined Pinterest. Yup another time suck on my phone.  I really haven't done anything constructive, pinned some stuff, not sure how to go back and look at them, forgot about it for a week... you know the usual me.  Anyway, one of the things I kept seeing pop up was refrigerator oatmeal, which is a lot like my friend's Gran's summer porridge.  She used cream and sugar and lots of fruit in hers.  I have a lot of issues in what is edible for me.  I can't have a lot of sugar, can't have things high on the glycemic index, need fiber and protein and fat to slow my carb absorption down, can't use artificial sweeteners, like to have some crunch. A lot of the various versions I've seen on Pinterest use flavored Greek yogurt, honey, agave syrup, chia and have a lot of interesting add ins. I decided that this was worth experimenting with as a take along to work. 



A quarter cup measure is pretty much all you need to remember for this.  The basic recipe is 

1/4 cup oatmeal (I alternate between the thick and rough and steel cut oats)
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce ( do you know how hard it is to find unsweetened chunky??)  or a half a smashed banana.  This is basically my sweetener.
1/4 cup plain Greek yogurt ( I usually use non fat but the store was out) 
1/4 cup of milk
1 1/2 tablespoons of chia seeds

After stirring this together I leave it in the fridge overnight.  In this picture I added some apple pie spice - but I'll get to that in a bit.



Then  I divide it in half.  Here's the nutritional info calculated by myFitnessPal: ( I wish it calculated fiber as well)

 Depending on what I'm in the mood for, I add stuff in before I put it in the fridge.  The most common would be apple pie spice, pumpkin pie spice, or cinnamon.  I've recently tried some unsweetened shredded coconut (I subbed unsweetened coconut milk for the regular milk when I did that).  Also I've been using the PB2 peanut butter powder as well (that one is really good with the half a banana version and some unsweetened cocoa powder.

When I'm ready to eat it, I'll put some diced fresh apple or pear, or a handful of blueberries or a handful of the carb friendly nut mix and stir it in. (if I use the nut mix instead of fruit, I'll add a splash more of milk to loosen it up- not necessary with the fruit)  The fruit/nuts add some sweetness, texture to it.  

Between the protein and the fiber (and the good fat when I add nuts) the carbs absorb slowly, so I don't get a BG spike - which also means I don't get the sudden drop 30min to an hour later.  They also keep me feeling full for a long time (sometimes this is bad as I need to remember to eat again).  The sustained BG is helpful on days like Wednesday, when I didn't get to lunch when I should have at 1, then couldn't because I then unloaded 3 trucks in a row and didn't get to lunch until 3.  (One of our receivers is on vacation this week, another is out hurt - had to get the first two trucks  out of the way so I'd have an empty dock for Braun's at 2... if you  know me - not unloading Braun's wasn't an option...)