When we talk about food for a particular time of year, it seems that we focus on dinner, and sometimes lunch ideas. Here are a couple of fall breakfast ideas:
I'll start with something I recently learned about oatmeal... instant oatmeal is totally unnecessary unless you like the very even texture of it. I don't... so one day (maybe the idea came from Hestia, because I can't imagine where else I would have got this idea) I put boiling water in regular old organic oatmeal (I get mine from Trader Joes, but I'm sure you can use any oatmeal). It takes longer than instant to absorb the water, but it gets soft with no cooking and is completely palatable. Of course, there are ways to dress it up, and here is one especially fitting for the season:
Oatmeal (maybe 1/2 to 2/3 cup)
Cinnamon (just a bit - like 1/8 of a tsp in a single bowl)
Pumpkin pie filling (maybe 1/4 tsp)
Brown sugar (a big spoonful)
Or, here's a family recipe that I like a lot - but it's pretty sweet, kinda like having dessert for breakfast!
Baked Oats
1 tbsp butter
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
3 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
2 1/2 cup oats
1 cup milk
Topping
1/2 stick butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon (I do more... but I like cinnamon)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream together 1 tbsp butter and sugar. Mix in eggs, salt, and baking powder (I actually put in extra cinnamon here too). Add milk and oats alternately. Pour mixture into a 9x9 or 9x11 greased baking pan. To make the topping: over low heat melt the 1/2 stick of butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon until the butter melts. Pour over oat batter. Bake 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
If you want to improve the nutritional value of the dish you can add any of the following:
2 tbsp flax seed
1/8 cup wheat germ
1/3 cup applesauce (replacing an egg)
1/2 cup raisins or other dried fruit
1/2 cup chopped apples
A good use for quick or instant oatmeal is mixing it with yogurt, straight from the package (no cooking necessary). I tend to mix oatmeal, plain yogurt, fruit, nuts and maple syrup. Yum. You can do the same with regular oatmeal, I believe, but it must sit overnight in the fridge for the oats to soften up.
ReplyDeleteI've heard of letting the oatmeal and yogurt sit overnight... I think the Swiss do it a lot. But I don't think it's truly necessary... unless you want very soft oatmeal. My hubby regularly mixes regular oatmeal with yogurt and eats it for breakfast, and he doesn't let it sit at all! Of course, you have to have a taste for that, I think! It's too chewy for me, but I find that 15 minutes will do it for boiling water or yogurt.
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