homemade oatmeal packets

maybe it's a winter thing, maybe it's because of the convenience, but i'm really in love with instant oatmeal packets lately. well, good thing my wonderful mother-in-law brought us a few boxes of quaker... but we're almost out! well, my mom sent me some recipes for homemade oatmeal packets, and i figured it was finally time to make those. super convenient, nice to keep in my desk drawer for days when i forget breakfast, and healthy, this is the perfect breakfast.



here's the basic "recipe" for the bags:
using a 1/4 cup scoop, put 1.5 scoops of oatmeal into snack-size baggies.
add 1T ground up oatmeal (finely ground in the food processor)
add a pinch of salt, and about 1/2 T sugar

then, pick your flavor! the possibilities are endless. i made the following:

blueberries and cream:
about 2 dozen dried blueberries and 1T of non-dairy creamer

apples and cinnamon;
about 2T of chopped, dried apples, and some sprinkles of cinnamon

AND dessert oatmeal:
1T non-dairy creamer, 1.5T chocolate chips, and a touch of cinnamon

i can't wait to try these! you cook them just like you'll cook those store-bought oatmeal packets. add enough water to get it the thickness you want, and microwave for a few minutes. i'll let you know how they are, but you should try them also.

**EDIT**
i tried one today for the first time. in the words of tony the tiger, they're great! i added about a half cup of water (more of less depending on how you like the texture of your oatmeal), and it did need more sweetener. add a full tablespoon when you make them, or plan on seasoning it with sugar after you make it. i was surprised that it only needed to microwave it for about 2 minutes, seeing as i didn't use the quick-cook oats. what a convenient breakfast!

a special occasion breakfast

well, christmas came and went. and it was lovely. i hope it was perfect for you and your family. did you get everything you hoped for? did you love seeing the eyes of your loved ones light up as they opened your gifts? i know i did.

it's so nice to have such blessings in life.

well, i made a great breakfast for christmas day. something i found while browsing other blogs. delicious overnight blueberry french toast casserole. wow. it's something special! i did make a few slight changes to the recipe, so i'm telling you how i did it. feel free to check the original also!

you take a loaf of bread, like french or italian. something crusty. cut it into squares about 1 inch big. take a little more than half of the cuttings and spread into the bottom of a GREASED 13x9 pan. whoops. i forgot to grease mine. it doesn't change the cooking, it just makes it miserable to clean. layer on top of the bread some cream cheese. i used two bricks cut into pretty small chunks. i think it was a bit rich. i'd have used a little less. then layer a pint of blueberries. i have no idea how big a pint is, because my packages came labeled in liters. so, use *some* blueberries for this. top with the remainder of the bread.

then, in a bowl, whisk together 8 eggs and 2.5 cups of milk. sprinkle in some vanilla extract, nutmeg, cinnamon, and about 1/3-1/2 cup of syrup. when it's all mixed together, pour it over the bread mixture in the pan. i made sure to get the entire top of it damp, but i don't know how important that was.

i tried using a spoon to sort of press the bread down to make sure the liquid was all soaked up, but that didn't work well. so, i used my hands. it worked! it's messy, and i haven't decided if i like messy hands while i'm cooking.

do this all the night before. cover it with foil. in the morning, put the pan out to get room temperature-ish. warm your oven to 350. put the casserole in the oven with the foil on for 30 minutes, then remove the foil for another 30 minutes.

that's how i did it. the recipe i referred to above says to make a blueberry compote to go with it, and that would have definitely sealed the deal. i chose the lazy way out and we ate it without the compote. not bad at all, but missing it for sure. so, make the compote. or serve with maple syrup. or blueberry syrup, if you have that.

healthy homemade granola

So, in my project of trying new breakfast foods, I found a lot that had granola in them. I love granola, but it's really expensive-- and in reading about different kinds of granola, I found that it really isn't that healthy. It's full of sugar and all sorts of preservatives.

I had to find something better. Something cheaper, something healthier.

I did.

I found something that is full of protein and has some fiber also-- and is made with things easy to find in any grocery store, was prepared in about 30 minutes (only because I had an accident with it-- more on that later), and cooked in less than an hour.

Rather than give you the recipe I found, I'll share with you the way i actually made it. Keep in mind you can change this up pretty much however you want. Change the nuts. Exchange pumpkin seeds in for the sunflower seeds. Use agave nectar or maple syrup instead of honey. Use your imagination!

Healthy Homemade Granola

dry ingredients:

6 cups rolled oats (just not instant oatmeal)

2 cups raw almonds, crunched up

1/2 cup sunflower seeds

1/4 cup sesame seeds

1/2 cup ground flax seed

1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

** 1/2 cup dried berries (added after cooking)

wet ingredients:

2 cups unsweetened applesauce

1/3 cup honey

2 T olive oil

1 T ground cinnamon

1 T ground ginger

smidgen of salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

(yes, that's dried berries in it also. I read the instructions wrong initially and thought the dried fruit was to be added with the dry ingredients. It's supposed to be added after baking. Oops.)

Mix all the dry ingredients together. Remember to add the dried fruit after cooking. I forgot. I added them to everything, stirred it together, then had to pick them all out. On the plus side, I found out that mixing it by hand was MUCH easier than with a spoon.

Mix the wet ingredients and spices together, then add them to the dry ingredients.

Spread into two baking dishes that have been treated with a little nonstick spray. I had a 13x9 and an 8x8 available. Bake for about an hour, stirring every 10-15 minutes. Be careful when stirring it not to break it up too much-- you know how granola is supposed to be kind of chunky, and you don't want it to get too flaky. The original recipe said to bake it until it starts to get golden brown, but it's basically golden brown the whole time. So I stirred until it was sort of dry, and, well, granola-texture.

storage conditions-- there's a lot of fresh food in it that can go bad if left on the counter, even if in an airtight container. If you're not going to eat it all in a day or two, store it in a cool, dry place. I put most of it in a gallon-size freezer bag and stored it in the freezer. The rest I put in a tupperware container in the fridge.

Nutritional Value for 1/2 cup granola:

232 calories

7 grams protein

12.7 grams fat (mostly comes from the nuts and seeds)

25 grams carbohydrates

4.4 grams fiber