Finally, a recipe for oatmeal that you can feel good about. Egg white oats that are loaded with protein from a powder-free source. The addition of egg whites goes almost undetectable, other than making the oatmeal incredibly rich and indulgent. Don’t let the unique nature of the recipe turn you off from trying proats a new way!

Protein oats, or proats as they’re sometimes called, make having oatmeal in the morning a less heavy experience that keeps you full much longer than a traditional carb laden bowl.

Creating Macro Nutrient Balanced Oatmeal

I love oatmeal but I hate that it’s basically all carbs. There’s ways to add protein to the dish, but most of them also add lots of fats and calories. Years ago, I stumbled across a recipe for egg white oats and was kind of disgusted. I put aside my skepticism and gave it a try and they genuinely were the creamiest oats I’d ever had. I really enjoyed these so I decided to add them to my regular breakfast rotation. Over the years I have perfected this recipe. It takes 4 base ingredients and is super customizable. It also is protein powder free and has all natural ingredients with no added sweeteners. The best part? It only takes 5 minutes.

The Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups of quick oats
• 2 1/4 cups of water
• 1 banana
• 3/4 cup of egg whites

These are the only ingredients you absolutely need for this recipe. The banana acts as a subtle natural sweetener and the egg whites add no taste but an incredible source of unprocessed protein. The two ingredients together make a rich, smooth and delicious version of oatmeal. There’s a couple add-ins outside of these that I find really elevate the dish but aren’t mandatory. I always add:

• 1 tsp vanilla
• A pinch of salt

Customizing Oatmeal with Add-ins

After the initial base, you can add anything to the top of the egg white oats to make a bowl-style breakfast. Here are a list of some flavour combinations that go really good with this oatmeal base:

• Raspberries, chia seeds, flax seeds and cinnamon (my go to)
  • My boyfriend also adds maple syrup to this but I find it too sweet
• Bananas, poppyseeds and maple syrup
• Strawberries and dried coconut
• Cocoa powder, peanut butter (or PB2), and bananas

Really, anything that you put in regular oatmeal would be a good addition to egg white oats. I don’t like to add too many additions because the oatmeal tastes really good as is. The recipe listed below makes 4 servings and has 196 calories, 9.3g of protein and 3.8g of fibre. Any additional toppings can add even more protein than what’s listed here.

The Pros of Natural Protein Oatmeal

This recipe does an exceptional job at taking natural, whole foods to reimagine a dish. Anyone who knows me knows how much I can’t stand protein powder. I have one smoothie recipe and a few baked goods I can eat that have protein powder in it, but they both need peanut butter to mask the taste. This oatmeal skips the heavily processed, dairy-based protein powders in favour of whole food egg whites. The addition of protein to a traditionally very carb heavy meal balances out the macro nutrient profile and allows the body to absorb the nutrients more slowly, allowing you to stay full longer. Beyond the nutrient benefits, this oatmeal is so creamy. Just look at the final product.

A Use for Banana Peels Post-Protein Oats! Banana Compost Tea

After this dish is done, you’re left only with a banana peel for waste. Something I’ve been trying lately is trying to find ways to use food scraps, and a lot of people have pointed me in the direction of compost for my garden. A single banana peel isn’t of much use if you don’t compost regularly, which as of yet, I do not. I’m planning to take up composting but want to do more research for what my particular garden would benefit from. What I’ve started doing is banana peel compost tea!

I got inspiration for this idea at Canning Crafts. To make your own banana compost tea, simply take a large mason jar or container with a lid and fill it 3/4 of the way with water. After you eat a banana, take the peel and add it into the mason jar and allow it to sit in your fridge until needed (or about a week). After, strain the tea and keep it in a separate container. To use it in your garden, dilute the tea of a ratio of 1:16 (or one cup of concentrate per 1 gallon of water). This mix should boost your plant growth significantly.

After straining the peels out of the tea, you can either add them to your compost bin if you have one, or blend them with water to use as a fertilizer puree. An alternative if you have a dehydrator is to dry out the peels and blend them into a powder to use at the time of initial planting to enrich the soil.

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