Days 11-15 of the Oatmeal Challenge

All happiness depends on a leisurely breakfast.
John Gunther




Turquoise Polka-Dot Pitcher

 

I've gotta admit I love polka dots so I'm in love with this pitcher!  How cute is this!  I could imagine it filled with fresh lemonade, perfect for summer.  I've kept up the oatmeal challenge and wanted to update you with more creative oatmeal recipes.  I'm half way through and actually starting to enjoy oatmeal.  I hope you enjoy the new combinations!

Day 11: Apple Pie Oatmeal

This weekend the husband and I went to visit my parents.  One of the things I love about visiting my parets is cooking.  They have a huge gorgeous kitchen with plenty of room, which is such an escape from our small condo kitchen with our 2 large dogs that I trip ove constantly.  Another thing I love about cooking there is the different ingredients.  They have different ingredients than I have so I can experiment a bit more while I am there.  This was one of my experiments a take on apple pie.
Ingredients:
1/2 cup of oatmeal
1/2 cup of milk
1/2 cup of apple pie filling
2 TBSP ground almonds (or other nut)
non stick spray
Cook oatmeal in milk according to directions
Remove from heat
In a small bowl mix together apple pie filling and oatmeal
Spread into greased shallow baking dish
Top with ground almonds
Cook at 375 until slightly brown on top
Enjoy your pie, the healthy way
*it is important to only use a 1/2 a cup of milk in this as the apple pie filling adds a lot of moisture

Day 12: Triple Berry Oatmeal
Ingredients:
1 cup of frozen triple berry mix (ex: blackberry, raspberry, blueberry)
1/2 cup of oatmeal
1/2 cup of water
1 tbsp sugar
Cook oatmeal in water according to directions
When finished cooking add berries and sugar and stir over low heat until warmed through
*it is important to only use a 1/2 of a cup of water in this as the berries add a lot of juice to the mixture

Day 13: Oatmeal with raisins and dates
Today I didn't have much time to come up with something creative so I simply made oatmeal according to the package directions and then tossed in some raisins and dates and cooked it off in the oven.

Day 14: Baked Oatmeal Cookie Take 2
This is my second take on creating a healthy "oatmeal breakfast cookie".  Now you could go to the store and buy the quaker oatmeal squares but I'm determined to come up with a cheap way I can make this at home.  Today's worked out pretty well, it wasn't as crumbly as the one I had made before (see post here for recipe) but it was a little chewy (something I'll have to work on some)
Ingredients:
1/2 cup of oatmeal
2 egg whites
1 tsp of cinnamon
dash of nutmeg
1 small package of raisins
a handful of dates
1 tsp brown sugar
non stick spray
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
In a small bowl whip together 2 egg whites like you are making scrampled eggs
add remaining ingredients (except non stick spray) and mix together
spray a small oven safe ramekin with the non stick spray
put ingredients in ramekin and bake at 350 for about 20 minutes or until set

Day 15: Oatmeal the old fashioned wayToday I wanted to make oatmeal the old fashion way (but not like oatmeal soup) so I cooked up a half a cup of oats with about 3/4 cup of water.  Once cooked I added about a tablespoon of cinnamon and brown sugar and mixed together.  I let it stand a while until it had come together some as I really don't like my oatmeal runny.  This was the true test to see how I was doing with this challenge and one thing I've learned is that if you try to eat something for a certain amount of time you start to enjoy it and at the very least tolerate it.  I'm glad I've started this challenge and half way through I can say it really has been a healthy addition to my diet.