Retakes on a Classic: Oatmeal
Granddaddy would make the same thing every morning: stovetop oatmeal with sugar and butter, and buttered toast. Sometimes there would be some sort of fruit on the side. From grades pre-K through third that was my breakfast Monday through Friday. Sometimes I would get cold cereal. In third grade, Granddaddy discovered instant oatmeal and turkey bacon and soI suffered that from third through fifth grades. I say suffered because he would over microwave the oatmeal AND the turkey bacon. Now, I realize how blessed I was to have someone get up each morning to make sure I had a good start to my day. Bless his soul...but he also wore me out on oatmeal to the point where I couldn’t stomach the sight of it again until I got to college.
His oatmeal was bland, and slightly dry (I know I mentioned him being really good at breakfast, and he was...just not oatmeal). I assumed this was just the way oatmeal is supposed to be. Even with the flavored instant stuff, I was not convinced people really enjoyed this as a viable breakfast option...not until a couple of years ago. That was when I discovered you did not have to use water to make it! For some reason, overnight oatmeal became a huge fad. I did not jump on it, but I did look at the recipes and saw that many of them were not using water. Then I came across this cookbook and I learned that I could put fruits and all sorts of stuff in it! From there I figured I would start to play around with flavors and go for gold...and gold I got.
Money Matters
I spent about $9 to make 4 servings of 2 different oatmeals. That’s $9 for 8 servings, or $0.88/serving.
#ROGUElyfe
This is an original recipe so the directions below are my typical steps to make oatmeal.
I use canned coconut milk and regular apple juice, but I am sure you can play around with other flavors.
- You may want to add less liquid to in the coconut recipe if you like your oatmeal a little thicker. Adding more liquid to the apple recipe will make it less thick.
My Recipes
Coconut Lime Oatmeal (2 servings)
1 ½ cups of coconut milk
1 ½ cups of water
1 tsp of lime zest
Juice of half a lime
½ cup of steel cut oats
1 tsp of salt
Additional lime juice and honey to taste
Directions
Bring the first four ingredients to a boil in a pot. Add in the oatmeal and salt. Continue to boil for 5-7 minutes.
Lower the fire and allow to simmer for 30 minutes. Remove from fire and serve with a little more lime juice and honey, if you like.
Apple Cinnamon (2 servings)
1 ½ cups of apple juice
1 ½ cups of water
½ an apple of your choice, roughly chopped
2 tbsp of cinnamon
2 tsp of nutmeg
½ cup of steel oats
Butter to taste
Directions
Bring the first five ingredients to a boil in a pot. Add in the oatmeal. Continue to boil for 5-7 minutes.
Lower the fire and allow to simmer for 30 minutes. Remove from fire and serve with butter, if you like.
Happy Cooking Y'all :)