Fancy oatmeal

Like many, I grew up with the Quaker Oats packets, remember just adding boiling water? The serving sizes were small, and the dehydrated fruit inside would get slightly chewy. The flavours I liked were cinnamon and apple, maple sugar and cinnamon raisin.

Morning breakfast oats are a regular in our house, and while I don’t use the instant oatmeal anymore, this homemade version is super easy and very adaptable to whatever frozen fruit you have on hand. My personal favourite is blueberry. All the ingredients are pantry staples for me, so it’s easy to throw together in a few minutes.

Recipe below for four people, smallish serving sizes. We’re a family of three and it’s a perfect, hearty serving size.

You can follow the quick oats packet recipe to adjust for serving size, but essentially use the ratio of 1:2 for oats:water/milk. I have found that using only water is tasteless, and using all milk is too creamy.

Ingredients

Oatmeal

1 1/2 cups of quick oats

1 1/2 cups of water

1 1/2 cups milk

2 TB maple syrup

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp vanilla extract

Fruit compote

1 cup frozen blueberries

1 TB butter

1 pinch of salt

1 TB brown sugar

Squeeze of lemon, lemon zest for garnish

Sugar in the raw, or Turbinado sugar

Heavy cream

Method

For the fruit compote, combine all the ingredients and heat until fruit is warmed, a syrup is formed, but not so much that all the fruit bursts. This takes only about half the time of the oatmeal. Set aside while you make the oatmeal.

While the fruit compote is warming, combine all the ingredients for the oatmeal in a large saucepan. Stir and heat over medium until thick and bubbly. This usually takes about 5-8 minutes. I like my oatmeal the consistency of risotto, but adjust with more water and milk for a thinner consistency. Keep in mind it does thicken as it cools.

To serve, evenly divide the oatmeal in bowls, top with the blueberry compote. Then sprinkle a little of the sugar in the raw on top, and pour a little heavy cream on the side. Top with the lemon zest. The cream and sugar is completely optional, but it makes the dish just a little more special.

Let me know if you have any questions or comments, and please tag me on Instagram @wherelizis