Oatmeal Overdose

Throughout my journey exclusively pumping for my baby, I tried a lot of the tricks to see if they would help with my supply. Of course, the basics of eating enough carbs and calories throughout the day as well as drinking enough water to float a boat were crucial, but in addition to these tips I found that eating at least one serving of oatmeal every day helped me to maintain my supply and increase it by at least an ounce every day until my milk dried.

I need you to know, though, I am absolutely not a fan of oatmeal. I haven't liked any hot cereal since I was a little kid. So I tried everything I could think of to make eating oatmeal everyday a little bit easier.

I started out just eating instant oatmeal packets. I would have one packet of maple brown sugar instant oatmeal every night after my last pumping session before I went to bed. That stuff is like eating wall paper paste. It gets the job done, but it really is probably my least favorite way to consume oatmeal.

After I ran out of packets of instant, I decided to try my hand at cooking oats on the stove as opposed to microwaving it. I bought that big tube of Quaker rolled oats at the grocery store. I looked on Pinterest to see if I would be able to find some way to make my own maple brown sugar oatmeal because that was the flavor I was familiar with. I found that making it on the stove was not only way easier than I thought it would be, it was weirdly much more tolerable than the microwave stuff. To make oatmeal on the stove, you simply use twice as much liquid as you do oatmeal. I prefer to make my oatmeal with milk because its a creamier consistency. I flavored my oatmeal with a couple tablespoons of brown sugar and a teaspoon of cinnamon at first. That was a pretty standard flavor. Then I got a little crazy and tried some different things. I mixed in scoops of peanut butter and chocolate chips, caramel chips, dried cranberries or cherries and chopped pecans, candied nuts, and maple syrup. I even tried a savory oatmeal one night. I seasoned my oatmeal with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Then, when it was done I mixed in shredded cheddar cheese and topped it with a fried egg. It was pretty good, but it was definitely different.

I also made a double batch of chocolate chip oatmeal cookies to try and get the job done. This worked but it turned out to be a double edged sword because as much as I liked them, my husband liked them too so they didn't last nearly as long as I would have liked. I followed the recipe for oatmeal cookies in the Better Homes and Garden red-checkered cookbook. This book is like the cooking Bible in my family. It is our go-to when we're looking for a simple, basic recipe. The recipe for oatmeal cookies is a simple recipe, but it's so good and it gets the job done. I've included a picture of the recipe below.

Here is a link to the same recipe online

Before getting too deep in the Pinterest recipe hole, I tried just putting oatmeal into different parts of my every day. I ate granola bars with oatmeal for a few days, but I found I had to eat at least two granola bars in one sitting for this to be effective. I also used oatmeal as a topping for yogurt. Each month, I get a carton of vanilla Yoplait and mix in some fresh raspberries. I find that this is a cheaper way for me to get yogurt and it's tasty. It's also probably better for me than the individual containers I buy because I tend to get light yogurt when I buy them individually. That stuff is secretly no bueno, guys. Anyways, I would cut up half a banana in a bowl and then put in my desired amount of my yogurt. Then, I would pour the dry rolled oats over the top to cover. After mixing it all together, the mixture was a lot thicker than it started out, but it was like eating a modified parfait. It's good enough and simple enough that it's something I continue to do.

The first hot stretch of the summer, I was absolutely miserable trying to eat a hot bowl of oatmeal so I started to get even more creative. The first colder oatmeal dish I tried was oatmeal energy bites. I read several recipes on the internet and then made up my own. I mashed a whole banana and mixed that with a cup of oatmeal. Then I mixed in a couple scoops of peanut butter, some mini chocolate chips, and craisins. When that was thoroughly mixed, I formed it into balls and put them on a tray in the freezer. After a couple hours, the balls were completely solid so I moved them from the tray to a gallon bag and stored them that way. I would take two or three out of the freezer when I was putting away my last pump session stuff. By the time I was done washing and bagging everything, the energy bites would be soft enough to eat but still solid. They were a really tasty alternative to a bowl of oatmeal and they were cold which helped cool me down. After that initial batch, I would sometimes just make a smaller batch of the goopy mix and eat it out of the bowl instead of freezing it into balls. Still tasty and got the job done!

I know it looks nasty but this mixture is actually delicious. Don't knock it till you try it!

The last thing I tried was making smoothies with oatmeal. I tried two different flavor combinations. The first was peanut butter and banana. I used a whole banana, a scoop of peanut butter, about a half cup of peanut butter, 3/4 cup milk, a sprinkling of cocoa, and a sprinkling of cinnamon. My first night making one of these smoothies, none of my ingredients were frozen and I didn't do anything to try and chill them before drinking the smoothie. The milk was cold, but everything else was just room temperature. I think that this negatively impacted the drink=ability of the smoothie. By the last quarter cup of the smoothie, I was really struggling to get it down. Because of that, I wasn't able to stomach this combination more than the one time.

One day, I will retry this recipe with frozen ingredient and I'm sure it'll be much better. I would also probably add some more milk and even a little more cocoa.

The other smoothie flavor I tried was strawberry and banana. This time, I learned from my mistakes of the other smoothie. I didn't have the foresight to freeze any of my ingredients, but I did make the smoothie prior to my last pumping session then put it in the fridge while I pumped. This gave it about an hour to chill and that was plenty of time to get cold without getting too frozen to drink. I made this smoothie every night for about a week because it was so good. I had a carton of strawberries that I rationed to last me the whole week (by the time I got to the end of the week, my smoothies were barely berry). With the berries, I mixed half a banana, a half cup of oats, a cup of milk, and a cap-full of vanilla extract. It probably didn't need the vanilla, but I wanted to be safe. I feel like the increased amount of milk helped to cut down on some of the weird texture that the oatmeal gives the smoothie and it was also a lot thinner and easier to drink. It was seriously so good, I would drink this even when I don't have to eat oatmeal every day.

Strawberry Banana Oatmeal Smoothie = Mega Success!

Now that I'm no longer breastfeeding, I don't have to eat oatmeal everyday and that's a mini blessing all it's own. However, there are so many health benefits of oatmeal that I'll definitely maintain it as a part of my diet, if with a lower frequency.