Oatmeal, Five Ways.

My apologies to my readers for again delaying on posting. Yesterday was my day for catching up a bit, as I forgot to buy pumpkin for yesterday's oatmeal, and so we had pancakes instead. We'll resume the oatmeal challenge today, but in the meantime....
Maple Trail Mix Oatmeal

I did end up adding cranberries to my trail mix, but the type that I'd purchased already had some dried fruit, so it was quite fruity. With the additional mixed nuts, it was a wonderful topping for oatmeal.  I did forget, however, and stirred the maple syrup into the oatmeal while cooking instead of drizzling it on top.  I usually stir in all the toppings on my oatmeal before eating anyway, so it wasn't a big deal for me. 

Berry Yummy Oats with Honey

This was a bit sweet for my tastes, though that's probably due to the fact that I mixed the honey into the oatmeal while cooking, and then Hubby drizzled some on top for the photo, so I got a double dose.  I couldn't find good fresh berries at are grocery store this past week, so I used frozen berries thawed in the fridge overnight instead.  They worked very well, as they weren't frozen with a sauce, and so thawed only slightly mushy. The slight tartness of the berries helped balance the sweetness, so breakfast was quite good, and I'd probably make this again, sans extra honey.

Honey Nut Oatmeal

This was good.  It didn't taste too far off from plain oatmeal, (with bananas mixed in, of course) with just a slight touch of peanut butter and honey flavor.  I liked the simpleness of it, and, as my Hubby said, the only thing that could improve it would be to actually put some honey nut cheerios on top.

Peaches and Cream Oatmeal, second variety

I love the peaches and cream recipes.  Part of this is that there is NO BANANA, which is great, but frankly, peaches and oatmeal just go together so well.  This one is slightly better than the last peaches and cream recipe. I liked the additional volume that the yogurt added, but for this one I would use regular yogurt, as the tang of the greek yogurt pulled a bit too much attention from the peaches, in my opinion.

S'mores Oatmeal

I am not fond of bacon.  My Hubby doesn't eat bacon.  Because of this, we decided to use the bonus recipe at the end of the month in this place.  This did not disappoint.  It was amazingly delicious. The greek yogurt offered a bit of tang, which, if you so choose, you could get away with using a plain 'american' yogurt instead. However, I liked the tang, and my only edit would be that I'll be putting more graham cracker in next time.

Enjoy!

Peaches and Cream Oatmeal and Peanut Butter Cup Oatmeal.

The Peaches and Cream Oatmeal was pretty good, though I wish I'd broken up the peaches a bit more before cooking...the flavor may have permeated a bit better. Other then that, it was wonderful to have a recipe WITHOUT any banana in it, for once. A good breakfast.

I LOVE peanut butter cups. Reese's....mmm... I fell in love with peanut butter on its own while I was pregnant, but I've always been a fan of the pb & chocolate combination. I love the ice cream laced with it, I love eating the cups plain...I even tried making a sandwich with peanut butter and chocolate chips. Disappointing, that one. Perhaps that's why this breakfast was not nearly as good as I was anticipating. It wasn't bad, just not wonderful. (I think I put too big of a dollop of peanut butter.) Oh well. I'm finding the simpler recipes are the best ones...the ones with a bit of fruit and some nuts. Speaking of, I may throw in some craisins with the trail mix today. We'll see.

Apple Crumble Oatmeal, German Chocolate Oatmeal, & Strawberry Dumpling Oatmeal.

Up next, Apple Crumble Oatmeal, German Chocolate Oatmeal, and Strawberry Dumpling Oatmeal. All three were delicious, but I'd have to say my favorite so far, of any that we've had, is the Apple Crumble Oatmeal. It was more like eating dessert, with no extra sugar actually added other than the natural sugar in the apple. It was a healthy indulgence that I'm tempted to sub in for some other day later this month if the planned one doesn't sound as good. We'll see...

The german chocolate oatmeal was good, if not outstanding. There was nothing really wrong with the recipe, it just wasn't stellar. You may find it's your favorite. Come to think of it, if you like german chocolate cake, you'll probably love this.

The strawberry dumpling oatmeal was originally supposed to be blueberry dumpling, but I decided to use the preserves I already had in stock rather than buy another jar just for this occasion. This recipe tasted surprisingly similar to, though better than, the strawberries and cream instant oatmeal you can buy. Yum!

Pseudo-Bento Lunch.

This was a quickly thrown together lunch for Hubby and me between a large breakfast and an early dinner.  We split the plate, though he didn't like the veggies I chose, so I got them all to myself.  I wasn't going to put celery on, but I decided there wasn't enough color on the plate, and so added it with the happy face to finish.  The salsa is called Texas-Style Salsa, from Harry and David's.

Pumpkin Oatmeal with Sunflower Seed Butter, and Chocolate Covered Strawberry Oatmeal.

While this first image does not appear to be the most appetizing thing, let me assure you that it's lack of color has nothing to do with a lack of taste. The Pumpkin Oatmeal with Sunflower Seed Butter was delicious. I replaced the stevia originally called for with sugar, but otherwise stuck pretty close to the recipe. Also, the sunflower seed butter may not look like what you'd normally see in stores, because I made it. Furthermore, I made it without a recipe, simply grinding a handful of sunflower seeds and mixing them with a pinch of both sugar and salt. I then added peanut oil until I reached my desired consistency and voilá! (Ok, I know that adding peanut oil to sunflower seeds completely misses the point of using sunflower seed butter instead of peanut butter. However, it was either that or canola oil, which, while it did make more sense to use the canola, I avoid using it whenever possible, and so used the peanut. I'm not allergic so it didn't matter! :) Make it as you wish, with whichever oil you deem best.) I found that this tasted best when the sunflower seed butter was stirred into the rest of the oatmeal. Enjoy!

While the Chocolate Covered Strawberry Oatmeal didn't turn out nearly as chocolately as I thought it would, it was really the perfect balance for breakfast. Sugar was used, again, and I couldn't find good strawberries at the market, and so used frozen, which I thawed overnight in the fridge first. In addition to this all, I ran out of vanilla while making this, so I was short by half the amount. I have since replenished my supplies and look forward to Apple Crumble Oatmeal on the morrow!