Oats are not just for breakfast

Your memories of oatmeal may include a steaming bowl of brown sugar flecked goodness with cream or maybe a gummy paste you wished you had missed. Regardless of your memory of oatmeal, oats are not just a breakfast cereal anymore. In fact, oats are widely used as the ingredient in making dishes for lunch and even dinner.

Oatmeal comes from oats (Avena sativa), a cereal grain grown in North America since the 1600s. Canada has produced nutritious high quality oats for decades and agricultural statistics show Canada produced more than 5 million tonnes in 2007. Did you know that Saskatchewan, Alberta, Manitoba, and British Columbia are our main oat producers? Although oats are grown mainly for livestock feed (cattle and horses), more and more people are eating them.

Oats are a health food with many non-food uses as well. Besides classic porridge, oats are an ingredient in beverages, snack bars, flour, beer, ice cream, and beauty products. In home kitchens, we use oatmeal (rolled oats) in meatloaf, cookies, and granola. Oatmeal is even a facial cleanser. Oats have come a long way from animal fodder!

A high fibre grain low in fat, sugar, and sodium, oats are heart healthy and fit well with recommendations in Canada’s Food Guide. Soluble fibre in oats helps lower bad cholesterol and insoluble fibre helps prevent constipation. Oats give energy, protein and important vitamins and minerals like folate, calcium, and iron. As part of overall healthy food choices, oats help prevent and manage diabetes and heart disease, and help with weight control.

If you are not an oatmeal eater, try adding rolled oats in other recipes to gain the health benefits. This vegetable and oat recipe uses common garden vegetables. Use your garden vegetable harvest or any in-season fall vegetables of your choice for a hearty healthy “oat” meal.