Homemade Instant Oatmeal

No, your little eyes do not deceive you.

Homemade instant oatmeal!

Does your family love oatmeal for breakfast on chilly mornings?

Mine does.

All that stuff in those little packets concerned me, though.

I saw a recipe in a Martha Stewart Living

magazine and decided to give it a try.

Sorry, Martha, but I didn't like your oatmeal.

However, I now had a starting point.

The results of my perseverance are delicious and wholesome!

And the flavor varieties are totally up to you!

...other words...endless possibilities.

Okay...I'm sure there is an end somewhere...

but we'd need to find a mathematician to find it.

And I'm fresh out.

Of mathematicians, not oatmeal.

Recipe Time:

Homemade Instant Oatmeal

• 4 cups rolled oats
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 1/4 tsp salt
• 3/4 - 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp vanilla powder if you've got it...it's still yummy if you don't
• assorted dried fruit, seeds and/or nuts

Preheat oven to 350°. Spread oats evenly on large cookie sheet with sides.

Bake until LIGHTLY toasted {about 15 minutes}. DO NOT brown...I learned this the hard way.

Remove and let cool.

Once they are cool...place in food processor until coarsely chopped.

Stir in brown sugar, salt and cinnamon.  Mix in 1 cup combination of add-ins.

The mag suggested things like: toasted almonds, dried apricots, coconut flakes, sunflower seeds, other dried fruits.

I made a batch with toasted almonds and dried cranberries.  Yum.

I also made a batch with toasted pecans and some chopped dates.

 It was good, but the dates kinda melted and disappeared into the mush.

 Hmmm. Very curious.

I think the toasted pecans and cranberries would be good.
{in the next batch I'm gonna try splenda or stevia...I'll let you know how that turns out}

Anyway...back to the recipe...

My husband always uses milk in his oatmeal so this is how we do it (sing it, baby!):

1/3 cup oatmeal mix to about 2/3 cup cold milk.

Heat in microwave about 1 1/2 - 2 minutes until desired consistency.

I like mine a little thicker...so I use less milk.

You could also just use boiling water and let it stand a few minutes.

Blech.  But, hey, it's YOUR oatmeal.



Some thoughts:

I wasn't kidding about browning the oats.

It will make your oatmeal funky.

You may need to adjust the ratio of oatmeal

to milk to get it the way you want it.

I was just telling you how Jon eats his. :)

Have some fun with your breakfast!

What's in your oatmeal?

Dishing it out at these great parties:

Tatertots and Jello

I Heart Naptime

 I Should Be Mopping The Floor

 Stone Gable

DebbieDoo's

My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia

Clean and Scentsible

The 36th Avenue

Anyonita Nibbles