GF Oatmeal, the Old Fashioned Way, with Fruits & Cinnamon

Bonjour and a lovely good morning to you all!

Today I want to show you a simple way to make a very healthy version, to replace quick cooking oats that we get in those awful little packets. I was talking with my Poppa Bear and we were having a discussion about breakfast.

At home we were down to little in the pantry and I was forced to eat those oatmeal packets for breakfast. It was not ideal, was likely loaded with allergens-I took meds right away to avoid unpleasantness, and was so overly sweet; I had to cut it down with the handful of remaining plain oats I had. Yeah, we really needed to do groceries. Quaker oats used to be a product that was synonymous with quality.

Boy have times ever changed! I was shocked by how small the packets had gotten, was depressed by how minuscule the flakes had become, and was turned off by the horrid amount of chemically tasting sugar. The apple bits were almost non-existent as well, I was really left wondering what happened to this once looked forward to, nourishing, and hearty portion breakfast staple; from my childhood?

In this fast-food, destroy the environment, gmo-laden, gluten infested, and profits before people world, oats has easily become a victim of the times.

I was not to be deterred.

If you have been following the blog, you will be well aware that I have been on a homesteading kick. That includes dehydrating my own vegetables and fruits, along with starting an emergency preparedness stash. The latter of the two was because I saw an info thing on the Government of Canada website, telling Canadians that we should all have, a minimum 3-day supply of food an water.

I agree, having lived through the Quebec ice storm many years ago, I remember what it's like to be without electricity for weeks in the middle of winter, as food supplies rot on the fridge and dwindle. Never again!

So, as I was dehydrating and prepping, I realized that my organic raisins and apples would be perfect with my newly bought, gluten-free, quick-cooking, plain oats!

I laid out the ingredients and made a super fast, better tasting, and waaaay healthier version of speedy oats.

These are only oats:

I got them on special for $4.99, which was a great buy as they usually retail for $6.99. I bought 3 bags of different oats. One was steel cut and two were quick cooking; I plan on going back to pick up a few more, as I like to use these in baking a lot.

They're certified GF, non-gmo, are kosher, and free of all priority allergens! I also love that this is a Canadian product, buying Canadian and local is always a bonus for me.

Here's the nutrition info, should you like to know more.

The next pics show you what the oats look like:

Up close:

I have tried these and another brand called Mum's, I will do a review on both of these in the near future. For today, I am focusing on the easy peasy recipe. Enjoy!

GF OATMEAL-THE OLD FASHIONED WAY, WITH FRUITS & CINNAMON

Ingredients:

2/3 Cup GF quick cooking oat flakes

Handful dried apples

Handful dried raisins

1/2-1 tsp Ground cinnamon

Small pinch pink sea salt

Boiling hot water

2-3 Tbsp Grade B Maple syrup or 1 tsp maple sugar. (Optional)

Milk of choice (Optional)

Method:

-In a bowl, place all dry ingredients

-Bring water to a boil in kettle, pour water over ingredients, just up to the oats. I like a very lumpy oatmeal, feel free to add more water if you prefer. Cover immediately with a plate and let sit for 3-5 minutes.

-Remove cover and stir with a spoon, add maple syrup and stir.

-Add milk of choice if you like, I sometimes heat my unsweetened almond milk to make it all hotter, but I also like it cold.

These are my dehydrated apples, I made them in the Excalibur dehydrator. Note that they are not brown, I did not use sulfites as I am allergic to them. I simply soaked the chopped and sliced apples and immediately placed them in a half/half mixture of cool water and lemon juice. After 5 minutes, I drained them, lay them on trays and allowed to dehydrate for 6-8 hours at the raw food setting 105 degrees. You DO NOT need chemicals that are harmful, to keep your fruits from browning.

Adding the boiling water and covering is important.

Stir it up!

Then it looks like this:

I made some fresh apple and carrot juice to go with.

If you want, you can make little Ziploc baggies of the dry oatmeal ingredients and have them at the ready, to be poured into a bowl, super fast for a rushed morning; without sacrificing quality or health. Then you can re-use the Ziploc baggies again for the same recipe next time. Feel free to change up the ingredients, I dehydrated blueberries and cranberries.

These were from frozen, needed no added sugar and came out perfectly!

For the cranberries, I added a bit of maple syrup because these are very tart, but not a lot, and what was great about dehydrating all these fruits was that, some of them were on their last legs. I ended up avoiding food waste, adding to my food prep, and having a great time doing it; all the while controlling what was going into my food.