Enrichment last night was on Food Storage and Emergency Preparedness. This is a subject I am naturally interested in, and attended hoping to get some new ideas. I am always looking for new ways to use the food storage I have, and the lady that taught the class gave me a lot of good ideas. One of the things she mentioned is the different ways she flavors her cooked oatmeal for breakfast.
Honey Nut - add honey and almonds
French Toast- add cinnamon and vanilla
Choco - add chocolate chips
Very Berry - add frozen berries
Creme Brule - add a layer of vanilla pudding, then a layer of sugar, and broil or torch it
Apple Pie - add dehydrated apples and cinnamon
My kids love instant "creme" varieties of oatmeal, so I thought I'd try a few of these. This morning I tried the Apple Pie version. I am not a huge oatmeal fan, so I had to add some brown sugar to help it taste more apple pie-ish, but it was good! Rayna liked it and said she'd eat it again.
I like that oatmeal is inexpensive, it's healthy, and it helps my kids stay fuller longer than if they eat cold cereal. It was quick, only taking about 5 minutes to cook. I'm not a breakfast cooker, but Brynlee woke me up at 6:30 this morning and I couldn't go back to bed, so I took the opportunity to use my kids as guinea pigs. BUT, they know how to boil water in the microwave, so I could make up some "instant oatmeal" packets using my new flavors and they could make it themselves next time I'm refusing to get out of bed.
I am no gourmet cook, and I don't even claim to enjoy cooking. But I am one that gets excited about saving 70% on my grocery shopping trip. Don't look here for recipes to dazzle your guests with, but I may occasionally share a recipe of some new way I found to use my food storage or a yummy frugal meal.
