This morning for breakfast I made a recipe from my Ellie Krieger cookbook for cherry vanilla oatmeal. It's so simple. I used the quick-cooking oats to make it really fast. And I happened to have some homemade cherry jam open. Plus homemade dried cherries. This is a good recipe. But Justin and I aren't big oatmeal people. I think it's a texture thing for me. I like crunch in the morning. I want to chew. I can usually only handle a certain amount of oatmeal. Justin is the same way. So I don't think I'll be making this that often. I still would like to try a couple more versions of oatmeal. But it's not going to be an every day thing for us. 
I added some chopped nuts (mix of walnuts, pecans and almonds), some extra jam and cherries and brown sugar to my oatmeal. Justin just added brown sugar. There wasn't a ton of flavor to the oatmeal just making it according to the recipe. The sprinkle of brown sugar really helped. And I got a little crunch (and extra nutrition) from the nuts. Not a bad recipe. Just nothing spectacular. And not my first choice in the morning. But if you are an oatmeal fan you should give it a try. The first picture is straight out of the pan. The other two are after I added stuff in.
Cherry Vanilla Oatmeal
serves 2
1 3/4 cups water
1 cup Old Fashioned Oats, or Quick Cooking Oats
1/8 tsp. salt
1/4 cup dried cherries
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 Tbsp. cherry jam, or to taste
1/4 cup 1 percent low-fat milk, plus more to taste
Put water, oats, salt and cherries into a medium sized saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for about 5 minutes for Old Fashioned Oats, or 1 minute for Quick Cooking Oats. Remove from heat. Stir in the vanilla extract and cherry jam. Put into serving bowls and pour 2 tablespoons of milk over each bowl (you need much more milk than 2 Tbsp. to make it not be a big glob of oatmeal :)
1 cup Old Fashioned Oats, or Quick Cooking Oats
1/8 tsp. salt
1/4 cup dried cherries
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 Tbsp. cherry jam, or to taste
1/4 cup 1 percent low-fat milk, plus more to taste
Put water, oats, salt and cherries into a medium sized saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for about 5 minutes for Old Fashioned Oats, or 1 minute for Quick Cooking Oats. Remove from heat. Stir in the vanilla extract and cherry jam. Put into serving bowls and pour 2 tablespoons of milk over each bowl (you need much more milk than 2 Tbsp. to make it not be a big glob of oatmeal :)
Yum! I love oatmeal on cold mornings! Can't eat it more than a couple times a week, though... and only when its cold out. I have eyed this recipe in the cookbook quite a few times, but it just never enticed me enough to make it. I might try it sometime, just for some variation. I'd add brown sugar, too. I love adding brown sugar and maple syrup to my oatmeal... that's usually all I do to mine. :)
ReplyDeleteNo offense, but quick-cooking oats are to cooking as HFCS is to soda! Real oats are incomparable, and offer much more chew. They get all nasty and sticky, too! I wish I had known that in college before turning several bowls to oatmeal glue...
ReplyDeleteI know, I prefer the real stuff. But when you literally only have 3 min. to make breakfast it's quick-cooking or stick to cereal. Maybe the next time I try oatmeal I'll have more time.
ReplyDelete