The Kids Have Fun With A Cold-Weather Breakfast

My kids love helping prepare food. They really do. When I say, "Anyone want to help me cook?" they fight over the taller stool and grab their aprons. Letting them in the kitchen makes cooking just as fun for me as it does for them.

But there's only so much you can do to make cooking oatmeal fun. 

Autumn has rolled into Alabama and our cold-weather breakfast is always oatmeal. Everyone in the family loves it this time of year, but making 4-5 bowls of it every morning can get a little monotonous. 

I decided this weekend to try an Oatmeal Buffet. The kids both love oatmeal, so I thought it would be a fun way for them to sample different toppings and additives for their oatmeal. I made 8 bowls of add-ins: 

1. Sugar

2. Brown Sugar

3. Cinnamon Sugar

4. Nuts

5. Raisins

6. Craisins

7. Blueberries

8. Apples

My daughter usually eats her oatmeal with cinnamon and my son likes brown sugar. I told them they could only choose one spoon of a sweetener but they could put as much of anything else in as they wanted. I encouraged them to try different combinations by giving them their oatmeal in smaller coffee cups instead of large bowls, allowing for return trips.

My son went CRAZY and tried about every combination you could think of. He did cinnamon and raisins. Sugar and nuts. Brown Sugar and Apples. In the end, what he settled on and ate the most of was a oatmeal mixed with Blueberries, Apples, Craisins and Raisins. As a matter of fact, I think when it came down to it he only had about a tablespoon of oatmeal and the rest was fruit.

My daughter on the other hand? Still just put cinnamon and sugar in hers. Now, she claimed that the Oatmeal Buffet was the BEST THING EVER, but she still just ate her oatmeal the way she normally does. She wouldn't even TRY anything else. Yet there she was telling my husband later, "We had an oatmeal BUFFET and it was so much fun! I want to do it every day!" So she evidently liked the event more than the actual toppings.

So, I say it was MOSTLY a victory. My daughter had fun with it, even though she didn't experiment at all. And my son now thinks apples should go into every bowl of oatmeal he ever eats again. I might even have to agree with him, as I had never added fresh apples to my oatmeal before either! He's right, it really is, "Super Yummy!"

Yes, even Mom learned something new from the Oatmeal Buffet.