Why can I cook almost anything BUT oatmeal?

Oookay, I have made several attempts over the years to cook oatmeal on the stovetop. None of them have ever turned out right and all have ended up in the garbage. Yeah, yeah, I know that regular oatmeal is better for me than the instant, but at least the instant kind ends up being edible.

So, with that in mind, and knowing that steel cut oats are even better for me than the regular (and thus at least twice better than instant), I decided to give it one more try. I tried it two ways. First, I tried following the instructions in the newest Biggest Loser cookbook. Supposedly, once the oatmeal reached room temperature, all the liquid would be absorbed. They said it would take "about 1 hour". Here we are 2 1/2 hour later and there is still unabsorbed liquid in there.

The next method I tried was to cook them according to the instructions on the actual package. I cooked it JUST LIKE IT SAID and there are still hard little oat things floating in a sea of unabsorbed liquid. So, if the grit-cooking guy in "My Cousin Vinny" had magic grits that absorbed water faster in his kitchen than anywhere else in the grit-eating world, does this mean that I have the opposite problem? Do I have evil, non-magic oatmeal? How do I manage to pick up the containers of non-magic oatmeal every time? Since we've moved several times and even changed cookware, my conclusion must be that the problem is me. Wah!!!

I managed to muscle this morning's oatmeal down, but I may actually have to resort to calling the Quaker people to find out what I'm doing wrong. And, on top of everything else, this breakfast ended up being WAY more calories than I wanted.

Breakfast:

1.8 oz Canadian Bacon

1 cup skim milk

1/2 grapefruit

1 serving oatmeal (1 cup steel-cut oats, 1/4 cup sliced peaches, 1/4 cup milk, 1 Tbsp almonds)

Total Cal: 420

Lunch:

Grilled Chicken Pita (4 oz grilled chicken, whole-wheat pita, 2 tomato slices, 1/2 roasted red pepper, and a smidge of dijon mustard)

apple

1 cup milk

Total cal: 434

Snack:

10 baked corn chips

1/4 cup guacamole

Total Cal: 146

Dinner:

1 oz whole wheat pasta

6 oz grilled chicken

1 cup mushrooms

1/2 cup sugar-free marinara sauce

2 Tbsp shredded parmesan cheese

Total Cal: 470

Total Calories: 1540 (goal 1600)

Workout:

45 minute walk with the BuzzBoy

Today was a pretty good day. I'm disappointed in the breakfast I tried today, not just in the taste, but in the amount of calories. It cost me my evening snack and I was starving ALL DAY! Pheh.

Have a great evening!