Vegetarians in Paradise
Ask Aunt Nettie
We're delighted to share our Aunt Nettie with you. She's agreed to answer any questions you might ask about food, its preparation, and even clean-up tips. But we have to prepare you. She just might want to come right over to your house and help you fix dinner.

To send any questions to Ask Aunt Nettie, .

Here's an email Aunt Nettie received from Susan in Pasadena:


Dear Aunt Nettie,

I know oatmeal is good for me, but it tastes so bland I can hardly get it past my lips. How can I make it interesting enough to actually eat?


Here's Aunt Nettie's response:

Child! Let's see if we can start by turnin' yer mind around. Instead 'a sayin' in yer head, "Oh, yuck! I gotta eat this awful stuff 'cause it's good for me," try thinkin' about makin' a "breakfast sundae" that tastes so good you'll want to have some ever' day. I put on a heap 'o fixin's of all sorts. Here's what I put on top my oatmeal and other cereals I cook in the mornin':

  • Raw pumpkin seeds
  • Raw sunflower seeds
  • Black raisins
  • Golden raisins
  • Dates, chopped up
  • Currants
  • Dried apples, chopped up
  • Walnuts, chopped
  • Pecans, chopped
  • Bananas, sliced or chopped
  • Fresh fruits, chopped up (Choose yer favorites, of course.)
  • Soy milk
  • Nut Milk (Homemade or store bought)
  • Oat Milk
  • A little maple syrup or date sugar if the fresh and dried fruits don't sweeten it up enough to make it tasty.

    Another delicious way to enjoy yer oatmeal is to cook it up with some chopped up dried pears 'r dates. These are the sweetest of the dried fruits, and they really add some vitamins and minerals to yer body at the same time. Now, if that doesn't do the trick, send me another--uhhh--oh, email is what they call it, and I'll give you another sure-fire fixin.


    If You Haven't Met Aunt Nettie. . .


    Our Aunt Nettie has a head like a hard disk. It's filled with megabytes of information about food and cooking. And she's just itchin' to share her learnin' with city folk who live in mortal fear of the stovetop.

    Aunt Nettie grew up on the farm. She did not eat out of a can or reach into the freezer. There was no microwave to pop her food into. Everything she made was from scratch. All the food she ate was natural, without pesticides. It was grown right there on the family farm, and she had to cook to survive. At eighty-three years young she still leaps and bounds around the kitchen and can shake, rattle, and roll those pots and pans with the best of them.

    Nowadays, Aunt Nettie just shakes her head and complains, "Nobody cooks anymore. They have no idea about puttin' a meal together." She's on a mission. She wants to help those younguns eat better so they can grow up healthy like her own eight kids.



    Click here for past Ask Aunt Nettie Columns



    Vegetarians in Paradise