I want to love oatmeal, I really do- I know it's great for my body and it will be great fuel before runs, however each time I make it it really resembles what I imagine cardboard would taste like. I've tried adding fruit, cinnamon, making it with vanilla soy instead of water, but yet it still has that bland taste. I'm hoping some of you can offer ideas, what do you put in your whole grain oatmeal to make it taste sweet, yet still be healthy?

I eat oatmeal almost every morning now. I love it!

How about adding a non-calorie sweetner like sweet n low or splenda? I add that to my oatmeal for a bit of sweetness, but I like it either way .

I saw someone put apple juice on it, haven't tried it myself but I plan to.

i stir a bit of peanut butter or almond butter into it, and a spoonful of preserves. and a dash of salt. i love steel cut oatmeal! also, i soak it overnight, so it cooks much quicker int he morning.

Ha! It was kind of an acquired taste for me but now I love it (steel cut especially).

Kath Eats Real Food has a scary amount of ideas for oatmeal... hopefully something will work out for you from there...

I eat oatmeal almost daily and I love to put low fat yogurt in it or even applesause!

Although the purists will disagree....I HAVE to have sweetness in my oatmeal. I use Splenda brown sugar blend. It DOES have a few more calories than other kinds, but it really does a job on my daily oatmeal.

Here is how I flavor my oatmeal: I always cook a pot of 5 servings every Sunday evening to take to work every day during the week. While it is cooking, I sprinkle in a generous amount of cinnamon. After it is off the fire, I add 5 teaspoons of imitation butter flavoring and stir it in. Portion it out into containers. Each morning at work I reheat the oatmeal and add frozen unsweetened black cherries. Then I sprinkle on the Splenda brown sugar (about 2 tsp or so). I am lucky we have a kitchen at work where I can keep my fruit in the freezer and cabinets for the Splenda. I sometimes use frozen blueberries or chopped apple.

I have a huge textural problem with oatmeal, so now I just take yogurt and mix it up with bear naked natural granola and some fruit- it's really good Just another suggestion if oatmeal will never work for you. I've also tried it a million ways and it just doesn't work for me.

You can try the flavored packet kind. It has more calories but it's good. I love the Quaker Cinnamon Roll kind. I'm currently trying to figure out how they get it to taste like that so I can duplicate it at home with less sugar and who knows what else they put in.

Also, peanut butter in oatmeal is really good. Sometimes I add a packet of splenda, a teaspoon of brown sugar, and dump in some SF maple syrup and stir and that's good too. Maybe add a tiny bit of butter, like a teaspoon or less. A tiny bit of fat makes things taste WAY better. Sometimes I'll stir in a teaspoon or two of half and half, that's nice also. You're not using too little water, also, are you? Because the consistency gets nasty if there's not enough water. It is strikingly similar to cardboard lol.

Matt H: I'm envious I want to love it too!

EmmaD: Thanks for the link which I will be checking out right now.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for all the suggestions so far- much appreciated! I will give some of these a whirl......I have to be honest, not sure I will try the sugar ones since I'm scared of sugar/ Splenda- haha! I feel if I put sugar on it (anything really) I'm going to get chunky again. I will try the yogurt for sure. I enjoy the boxed oatmeals, but it seems they are loaded with sugars and salt among other stuff that I'd rather not eat. Hopefully one day I will love oatmeal.

I tried some with almond butter and it was really good. Kashi has some flavored oatmeal that is pretty good, but you have to watch the sugar with those.

I don't dare make it like my grandma used to for me. Loads of butter, sugar, cinnamon and milk. SOOOO good, but wow, don't want to think about the calorie and fat.

Hahaha, shortand fluffy, I love that name! :P

I have a nut allergy, but I could use soy nut butter, or I wonder how good sunflower seed spread would taste in there....I'll be trying various ideas this week.

You might try the butter flavor extract, vanilla or almond extract to flavor it while adding cinnamon and a sweetener of your choice.

I LOVE oatmeal...but not if you cook it in water. Yuck. Cardboard, indeed. I like mine cooked in significantly less milk than the directions call for (so for .5 C oats, I use about 3/4C skim milk) and I stir in a tablespoon of natural peanut butter and about half a teaspoon of cinnamon. I LOVE it and I don't need a snack before lunch.

it sounds weeeeeeird, but oatmeal with a little salt and pepper, topped with a scrambled egg is AWESOME! sometimes when i have it on hand, i also stir in some laughing cow--any flavor!

if it tastes like cardboard to you, trying it savory might be the thing.