This year for some relatives for Christmas I made up some instant oatmeal packets, which are super delicious and cheaper than buying instant oatmeal packets at the store.
Here's some recipes that I made, as best as I can remember them. It's especially hard to remember how much cinnamon I used. Gather your ziplock snack bags and start creating!
Basic Recipe:
1/2 cup quick oats
1 tsp maple sugar
add ingredients from a flavor below
Apple Cinnamon:
3-4 half-rings of dried apples, cut tiny
2 tsp of cinnamon
Apple Cherry Harvest
2-3 half-rings of dried apple
2 1/2 dried cherries cut tiny
6 pecans broken into pieces
1/2 to 1 tsp cinnamon
Apricot Cranberry Nut:
dried cranberries (cut in half)
2 1/2 apricots cut tiny
5 pecans broken into pieces
some almonds (sliced or slivered)
Raisins and Spice:
raisins
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 to 1/4 tsp nutmeg
dash of cloves
Of course the amounts are approximate and you can modify to fit your taste, or try different fruits or nuts. You can use a different sweetener as well, like brown sugar. Or you can leave it unsweetened until the time of eating, and then add what you want then. Maple syrup or honey make good natural sweeteners (but can't be mixed with the dry ingredients in advance or course).
I made little paper labels for the oatmeal packets and included directions:
Instant: Pour 3/4 cup boiling water or more over the oatmeal mix and let stand a few minutes.
Stove: Heat 1 cup water to boiling, then dump in ingredients and cook for about 1 minutes.
Microwave: Combine 1 cup water and oatmeal mix in bowl and microwave until done.
In case you ever want a giant vat of oatmeal that requires you to get up in the middle of the night in order to start it... (but's so tasty and worth it!) I got this recipe from Josh's mom.
Fruited Irish Oatmeal
5 cups water
2 cups steel cut irish oats
1 cup apple juice
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup golden raisins
1/4 cup snipped dried apricots
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
Combine all ingredients in a slow cooker. Cover and cook on low for 6-7 hours or on high for 3-3/5 hours. Serve oatmeal with brown sugar, additional maple syrup, chopped nuts (like pecans), and milk if desired.
Makes 8-10 servings.
Mm...giant vat of oatmeal...yum!
ReplyDeleteAnd just a side note...unless you have a good reason (aka lactose intolerance/dairy allergy/etc.) THOU SHALT MAKE THINE OATMEAL WITH MILK. Dairy for the day folks, come on. Gotta build strong bones.
I have to say, I have never heard of making oatmeal with milk. Pouring milk over it when it's done and in your bowl, yes. Making it with milk instead of water? Wow, the thought has never crossed my mind.
ReplyDeleteOf course, I can't have dairy products anyway. But I never knew what was possible...
Really?! And here I thought that milk was the standard. I guess I was brainwashed by my farmer parents.
ReplyDeleteWell, this year my cinnamon is much more potent than last year. So 1/4 tsp of this year's cinnamon = 2 tsp last year's cinnamon. Incredible difference!
ReplyDelete