My family loves warm oatmeal in the morning, especially in the winter time. But the preparation can take time, which we don’t have much of in the mornings anymore! The quick oatmeal packets you buy in the store come with extra (often hard to pronounce) ingredients we don’t want in our food, such as high fructose corn syrup, food coloring and preservatives.
I started preparing these packets ahead of time, making batches of 20 at a time, just adding the oats, salt, chia seeds and brown sugar, then varying the toppings. I add chopped almonds, cranberries and pumpkin pie spice on this recipe. But you can do dried wild blueberries, walnuts and cinnamon or any combination you would like.
Last year I made these in 3 different varieties, then added one of each to coffee cups and gave them as Holiday gifts to my neighbors, teachers and babysitter. It makes it a healthy and delicious gift they can enjoy during the holiday season. It was a huge success!
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup of quick cooking rolled oats
- 2 Tbsp dried cranberries
- 1 tsp black Chia seeds
- 1 Tbsp chopped almonds
- 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
- 1/2 Tbsp brown sugar (optional)
Instructions
- Mix all ingredients and place it in small sealed bag. When ready to consume just add 1/2 cup of warm milk and stir. Let it sit for 5 minutes to thicken.
- You may add 1 Tbsp of dried milk powder to the mix and then all you have to do is mix 1/2 cup of hot water when ready to consume.
- You can vary the combinations to whatever you want: dried fruits, nuts, seeds, flax seeds, cocoa powder, really... the sky is the limit!
