Apple Harvest Oatmeal

Try this homemade oatmeal recipe and you may never buy the microwave packets again. It’s hard to beat fresh apples and walnuts. 

Today is Monday, March 7 and it is National Cereal Day! I went with my favorite hot cereal recipe – My dad’s apple harvest oatmeal. I’ve always been very good about eating breakfast, and it’s almost entire thanks to my father. He always made sure we ate something before heading off to school.

His oatmeal completely ruined me for the packet kinds that you heat in the microwave. I remember purchasing a box of those from Sam’s Club before heading off to college, knowing I would be deprived of his oatmeal, and was severely disappointed. It was much too sweet in order to make up for the lack of general flavor, and they ended up collecting dust. You really cannot compete with fresh apple and walnuts.

This time (for the original photo in the post), I used steel cut oats because I wanted to try them out for something different. I’ve seen them popping up everywhere and have heard good things. It was quite tasty, but required longer cooking time compared to regular oats. In the future, I think I may use these type of oats for an overnight crock-pot version.

Post updated 10/29/14, last picture above is the original.

APPLE HARVEST OATMEAL

Serves 3-4

Ingredients:

3 cups milk

1-1/3 cup old-fashion oats (I used Bob’s Red Mill steel cut oats instead)

3 Tbsp packed brown sugar

1 Tbsp butter

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 cup chopped apple

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Directions:

1. In a medium saucepan, bring milk to a boil. Stir in oats, brown sugar, butter and cinnamon.
2. Cook until you reach desired thickness, stirring occasionally. (For steel cut oats, I cooked for 10 minutes uncovered, then 10 more covered.)
3. Remove from heat and stir in chopped apple and walnuts. Cover and let stand for a few minutes before serving.

Source: My Dad