Katie's Gourmet Instant Oatmeal

I have become a big fan of Katie's Gourmet Instant Oatmeal in the last few months and have finally tried all the flavors.

Sunday Special has to be my absolute favorite, replacing Berry DeLite by a thin margin. I think why I like it so much is the chocolate chips! Who doesn't like chocolate? :)  They melt when you heat it up and add a chocolatey flavor to the oatmeal that I don't think I have ever had before and absolutely love.

I was hesitant on the banana in this flavor at first as I typically only like banana bread and real bananas. Anything else with banana flavor, I shy away from. However, this has real banana and strawberry flavor and really does have a banana split sundae taste to it.

I tried a bowl of the Grandma's Kitchen which has apples, raisins and cinnamon in it. It reminds me a little bit of the European Deluxe but the apples were tart. I might have been over cooking it a bit, but the apples tended to be a bit chewy. I let my parents try this as my dad has oatmeal every morning before work. They agreed about the apples but did like the flavor.

And Katie's last current flavor is Tropical Vacation. Dried mango, coconut, pineapple and orange - an island in a bowl! I am not a big fan of coconut (never have been), but I love mango and the other flavors, but for me the coconut was all I could taste. My mom loves coconut though and she really liked this one.

From Mom: "I made it just one portion at a time in the microwave with water as directed and with milk. And it was very good both ways. It had a nice texture, not just mush. After gently mixing the bag, there was ample fruit for each single portion. The only thing that sort of caught my off guard was a the 'tanginess' of what I'm thinking is the orange peel. It's the third ingredient listed (oats, mango, then orange peel) -- and in my first couple of bowls of oatmeal, it was just something I hadn't expected."

My mom told me that I could buy her this flavor and she would eat it all up again and again.

My dad's only suggestion was to make individual servings. He is an "on-the-go" breakfast guy that likes the pre-measured packets out on the market. I think what I will do for him is measure out servings, place them in baggies and put the baggies back in the larger bag. That way he has his on-the-go breakfast all set.

You can find Katie's Gourmet Instant Oatmeal at:
      Albrecht's Sentry in Delafield
      Fox Brother's Piggly Wigglys in Hartland and Oconomowoc
      O' What a Day Cafe on Bluemound in Brookfield
      Book Cafe on East Ave in Waukesha (by Carroll University)
~AND VERY SOON~
      Sendik's in New Berlin
I am very excited for Katherine as this is the Sendik's my parents and I shop in a lot and is a wonderful store. My friend Jacob recently became the liquor department manager of this location as well so make sure you stop in and check out his great selection of wine and beer. This is one of the busier Sendik's in the area and I am very proud of Jacob for getting the position. And major kuddos to Katie for getting her oatmeal on the shelves of this busy store. She will post updates as to when she will be on the shelves and doing samplings of her products.

I also heard from her that she is testing out a new flavor to hit shelves this summer. Stay tuned to her website and Facebook page for all the details.

Healthy Living Week 5

Well, here we are just about a week shy of my finale of my Healthy Living experiment and I have to say that I am feeling really good about myself. Sure there are areas that I have not perfected and areas that I epically failed at (dang diet soda!) but I do think that I have definitely made a conscious effort to think before I put something in my body for nutrition reasons.

Besides eating two Doritos chips off my boyfriend's son's plate at a cookout, I have not had a potato chip since Lent began. And I can say that I honestly don't miss them. Tortilla chips are another story but even those I haven't indulged on :)

I have really worked to bring down my portion size and make responsible decisions when it came to what I have ate and drank in the last few weeks.

I got in a 2 mile run last week Thursday. It was a little brisk, but I had to take off my gloves by the end as my hands were overheating. It wasn't a speedy run, but a run is still a run.

Friday I tried to make some Vegan Pumpkin muffins and banana bread to take to my boyfriend and his kiddos and had some pretty epic baking fails. Completely cooked on the top, raw on the bottom.Waaa. waaa (sad trumpet)

My mom and I deduced the cause to be that my oven only has one coil on the top and so the bottom of my oven doesn't warm as evening. So I'm essentially baking food from the top down instead of evenly around. We are going to work on some things to divert the heat better in my oven so I can bake some yummy treats and not waste food. Otherwise, I'll be in the market for a new oven soon if this doesn't work.

Saturday I met my boyfriend's kids for the first time and we started the day getting his middle kid fitted for a batting glove and baseball mit. Then off to Chuck E Cheese's where we all acted like a bunch of kids. I did enjoy a piece of pizza but mainly stuck to the salad bar. His boys actually eat rather healthy too and wanted salad instead of pizza. Some pizza was even leftover because they all liked salad so much. I got schooled in basketball against Tim's oldest but it was still a fun time. 

Sunday I came home early because Tim got called into work. I decided to try out protein powder pancakes and was a huge fan. A few different blogs that I follow (Run, Eat, Repeat and Blogilates) have talked about how yummy protein powder pancakes are but I was skeptical.

Besides the fact that the mix is rather gooey at first, these were delicious! I used 2 scoops of vanilla protein powder and 1 egg. I added just a bit of water and this made three nice sized pancakes. I added chocolate chips to the last pancake and the only issue is that the pancake starts out rather thin and eventually puffs up when you flip it. So the chocolate started to melt in the pan before the pancake was done. No syrup necessary, just a little bit of margarine and they were sweet enough. Highly recommend making these!

And now for the main event meal of the week - Mojito Shrimp tacos! I found the recipe a while back on Pinterest, but it's really from this blog.

Here are my modifications to the recipe: I used precooked shrimp, so I had to make sure I didn't turn them into chewy rubberbands by overcooking them on the grill. They really just need to get heated through.

The tortillas I bought didn't work, so I threw together some jasmine rice, salsa, cumin and onion to make Mexican rice and served it over that. It was really delicious. The mango really added the sweet flavor that I was looking for to make this meal different than other Mexican dishes.

And lastly - I have continued my "Oatmeal in the morning" routine and have almost finished all of Katie's Gourmet Instant Oatmeals. Just in time for me to get more at the Farmer's Markets. More on her oatmeal soon on the blog :)

Katie's Gourmet Instant Oatmeal

My friend Katherine and I share a love for local food made with quality ingredients. We have checked out some local eateries together a few times a year and have enjoyed all of our ventures out.

About a year ago, Katherine began a new business,"Katie's Gourmet Instant Oatmeal." She has always been one to add fruit to her oatmeal to increase the flavor and she came to the realization that she wanted to share this yummy concept with the public. Katie has done the work for you - combining all of the dry ingredients. Just add milk or water, or a combination of both and you are set to go. 

She debuted her products at the Waukesha Farmer's Market and has gradually been increasing her reach including being on the shelves at Albrecht's Sentry in Delafield and the Fox Bros. Piggly Wiggly's in Hartland and Oconomowoc. You can also find her oatmeal at O' What a Day Cafe on Bluemound in Brookfield and The Book Cafe in Waukesha.

Katherine (as I call her) is very active in getting her name out there and hosts samplings at the stores she is in. I follow her on Facebook and love hearing that she is selling out and having to make extra stops at her stores to restock their shelves. She hopes to get into a few more Farmer's Markets this summer and continue to grow her fans.

She asked me to lunch to check out Pat's Rib Place as neither of us had checked it out yet, and talk a little business. She treated me to a bag of each flavor of the oatmeal and asked me to share my thoughts on her product on my blog.

European Deluxe

I am a huge oatmeal fan already and I don't know why I hadn't tried her products until then. But let me tell all of you, without even trying all the flavors yet, she has made a fan out of me!

Katie's comes in five delicious flavors  - European Deluxe, Berry DeLite, Grandma's Kitchen, Tropical Vacation,and Sunday Special.

After microwaving

I started with the European Deluxe which has blueberries, cinnamon, nutmeg, and pecans. The pecans really make this oatmeal unique. She is very generous with the blueberries and pecans in each bag. The flavors work well together and the cinnamon and pecans are my favorite part. The flavor really warms me up on these cold mornings.

 Berry DeLite - look at all those fruits!

I took a bag of Berry DeLite up to Appleton to have a healthy breakfast each morning when I stayed at my cousin's. Her 5-year old son asked me to make him a bowl as well and he loved the strawberries. I couldn't believe how fast he polished the whole bowl off. He said it was his favorite treat Auntie Sarah had brought him. I wanted to leave more for him, but I was selfish and took it home for me to enjoy. I'll definitely be bringing him a bag the next time I see him.

I made myself some of the Berry DeLite this morning. I make it right before I head to work. I add 1/3 cup milk and 1/3 cup water as I don't want it too rich with all milk.

Before microwaving

I have a short 5 minutes drive to the office, so it takes the temperature from HOT, HOT to perfect. Not to mention, I love a really thick oatmeal and the drive allows it to get a bit thicker.

After microwaving

This is the perfect breakfast for me and I can't wait to try the Sunday Special next. It smells so good and who wouldn't want to have some chocolate in their oatmeal?

I did give some of the Tropical Vacation and Grandma's Kitchen to my parents to try. My dad makes himself oatmeal every morning before work, so I thought this was the perfect treat to let them try. I can't wait to hear their thoughts either.

Besides Katie's Gourmet Instant Oatmeal being available in the stores, it's also available online so you can ship it to those that can't get it in the stores.