Sunday, March 11, 2012

Fruit, spice and nut instant oatmeal

Growing up, I was known for my aversion to typical breakfast food. I recoiled from cereal and shrank from toast or eggs. Instead, I reached for leftovers from the night before, even we'd had something like fish. Nowadays, I can't get enough of breakfast and brunch. On weekends I like to experiment; some upcoming posts include duck confit hash and cherry cheesecake French toast. 

During the week, there's no time to cook from scratch. Usually I have cereal with pomegranate seeds and bran buds. One morning I wondered if I couldn't start with instant oatmeal, but find a way of boosting the flavour - and nutritional value. I started with the Quaker Oats cinnamon-apple one, and added a couple of shakes of nutmeg, cumin, ground anise, cardamom (not shown) and ground ginger, along with a handful of chopped dried apricots and dried cherries. At the end, I sprinkled some chopped almonds on top for crunch. 

It turned out well, and other dried fruit, spices or nuts could be substituted (dried dates, cranberries figs, pears, mangoes, bananas or raisins; cloves, all-spice, cinnamon or turmeric). So could fresh fruit (bananas!) and sweet toppings like maple syrup or honey. The combinations are endless... If you have any tried-and-true suggestions for a breakfast of champions, share them in the comments field. 
xx







7 comments:

  1. Eleanore Brickell11 March 2012 at 13:07

    those instant oatmeals have so much sodium in them!! once you have plain oatmeal for a while, you can really taste the salt in the instant ones. i wonder if you could add some spices to the 1-3 minute quaker plain oats and get the same effect

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  2. Oh good idea, I enjoy oatmeal and so definitely trying these lovely ideas!

    And thank you for your lovely comment on my blog!

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  3. asecondglanceblog11 March 2012 at 21:53

    I know, eh? Ours came in a variety pack with plain ones as well; I'm sure it would be equally good!

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  4. Cherry cheesecake french toast?! YUM! I'm not a big fan of breakfast food myself, I tend to make a smoothie or eat peanut butter toast- that's about the extent of my morning creativity!

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  5. Yummm I love oatmeal with fresh or dried fruit!

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  6. I'm one of those people who hates eating breakfast, or in the rare times I do, it's the cold porkchop from last night. (One thing I do like though, baked oatmeal or cream-of-wheat! Sooo good.) I really like the idea of all the fruits and nuts in this, so I'll have to give it a try.

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  7. I adore oatmeal, although I much prefer the slow-cook stuff to the instant. I usually cook it up with some milk until it's lovely and creamy, and then add cinnamon, brown sugar, jam, berries, boxed granola and seed mix (I started just adding this while it cooked which is also great) and some maple syrup. That paired with some hot buttered toast and I'm a happy camper! It just seems like all breakfast and brunch foods worth eating take a long time to prepare. I can't wait to see this french toast recipe :D

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I genuinely enjoy reading everyone's comments. Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts!