Oatmeal Breakfast

There are very few breakfast cereals that are safe for Celiacs. Most of the General Mills Chex line are safe (although some Celiacs seem to react to an unknown ingredient in Chex, so even that isn't a given). Envirokidz (a division of Nature's Path) makes a line of kid-friendly "sugar cereals" (although the sugar content is not as high even as many "healthy" cereals on the grocery store shelves). There are a handful of other companies which make cereals without gluten or barley malt, but most of them either make no guarantee at all about cross-contamination in manufacturing, or there have been too many reports of quality control problems for me to feel comfortable with them.

And so we bring forth the humble Oatmeal once again.

I know what you're going to say next: "But I don't need instructions to make oatmeal!" And you're right. But after considerable thought I have come up with a recipe which has a few extra ingredients to make oatmeal a special friend to Celiacs.

Ingredients (Serves 3):
1.5 c. Bob's Red Mill Gluten-Free Quick Cooking Rolled Oats
3 c. Water
1 TBSP Slippery Elm Powder
1 TBSP Coconut Oil
3 TBSP Brown Sugar

Ok, um... what's up with the Slippery Elm Powder? What is it, anyway?

Slippery Elm Powder is soothing and healing to the gut -- and Celiac disease damages the intestinal tract. Adding Slippery Elm Powder to your diet is supposed to help it heal. The way you're "supposed" to take it is mixed into tea or boiled up as if it were a tea, and drink it. It has a kind of interesting, sort of nutty smell that is not unpleasant. But I have yet to figure out how to make myself drink it every day. Maybe it's just that I hate tea, which could be a big factor, because the Slippery Elm itself really doesn't taste bad. But I just can't bring myself to get my daily dose of Slippery Elm.

Then I had an "Aha!" moment. The instructions on the bottle say to boil it in water, and then drink it. Well... you have to boil water anyway to make oatmeal, right? So here's what I did:

• In a saucepan, combine water and Slippery Elm. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally.
• Reduce heat to low and stir in oatmeal. Add Coconut Oil and Brown Sugar. Cover and simmer for 3-5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Remove from heat and serve. Add favorite oatmeal toppings.

I added coconut milk and a handful of Craisins. My son decided to add a dollop of peanut butter, a trick he learned from his grandfather (and it's surprisingly tasty that way).

There are a number of great health benefits to Coconut Oil as well, and those of us with compromised digestion and absorption issues can use all the help we can get! In this recipe, I used Nutiva brand Virgin Coconut Oil, which I purchased from Amazon.com.

The oatmeal comes out quite good -- much more flavorful than just boring oatmeal with sugar added at the end. You don't really taste either the Slippery Elm or the Coconut directly, although I think they both add a richness which is pleasant.