Mornings in my home are pure chaos. From 7:00am-8:20am we are changing diapers, feeding two kids, making school lunch, checking homework, showering, dressing, getting one kid on the bus and the other to nursery school. For a couple years straight, almost every morning I ate one cup of yogurt (half plain and half vanilla mixed) and about a half of a cup of Bear Naked Granola. It was a quick, portable and delicious breakfast and it worked for our hectic schedule. Then one day I opened up our refrigerator and I couldn’t even make eye contact with the yogurt and I felt the same way about the granola. I was tired of it. I wanted to make a change to something healthy that would give me lasting energy and curb my appetite until lunch time.

These days I am on a kick with warm oatmeal, almonds and fruits. I had forgotten how nice it is to have something warm in the morning and somehow it makes sense to avoid eating really cold things especially at the start of the day. This is such a filling and energy-packed breakfast that I can make in 5-minutes and has been a great substitution. I use Quick 1-minute Quaker Oats made with milk instead of water.