Citrus Oatmeal with Cranberries & nuts (vegan)
Nothing starts the day greater than a heart-healthy bowl of oatmeal. This recipe prepares a much more nutritious bowl of oatmeal than your instant Quaker oats (with tons of refined sugars & preservatives) & only takes a few minutes to prepare!
Oatmeal just provides so many health benefits... it provides fiber, stops your cravings (& is low calorie/fat), stabilizes your blood sugar, removes bad cholesterol, possibly prevents heart disease & cancer, stabilizes levels of Estrogen (oh hey PMS...), & even soothes & enhances your skin. It's great for anyone of all ages going through/preventing whatever health issues. (high blood pressure, heart problems, etc) & is suitable for so many diets (vegetarian, vegan, & gluten free).... can it get any better?
I've always been a big breakfast & morning person. Mornings = new beginnings & new opportunities to improve & create. Even if my friends & I pulled an allnighter, seeing the sun rise was an indicator that I had to prepare a big bowl of oatmeal for me & my friend. Crystal would immediately brighten up once she heard me preparing a bowl of this oatmeal for her. Each spoonful of this heart-healthy oatmeal would not only give us such warm comfort & smiles, but the great citrus tang from the orange zest would wake us up from a painful, long night of autocad-ing. The nutrients & flavors altogether would give us that much needed boost to crank out those final hours by our 2PM submission deadline.
This fruity, nutty, nutritious, vegan & gluten-free oatmeal takes < 5 minutes to prepare. What's more is that this recipe is so flexible that even if you can't use even a few ingredients, you can easily experiment & replace them with others. See bottom chef notes for some ideas or stir up your own concoction :)
Citrus Oatmeal with Cranberries & nuts
2/3 C low-fat vanilla (dairy/nondairy) milk (see chef notes at bottom)
1 tsp brown sugar, more if desired
2 tbsp chopped walnuts (or other nuts)
In a medium sized bowl, mix together the milk, oats, orange zest, & dried fruit. If you have time, allow it to soak for 3-5 minutes.
Microwave on high for 1 minute. Stir mixture and continue to microwave until mixture starts to boil.
Remove oatmeal from microwave and stir. Cover & let it sit for 2 minutes. Stir in sugar & nuts. Add more milk & orange zest if desired.
-if you don’t have some kind of vanilla milk, use plain milk/water & add 1 tsp of vanilla extract while soaking.
-regular milk can easily be replaced with soy or almond milk. If you can do without the creaminess, then milk can also easily be replaced by water.
-cranberries/raisins are easily interchangeable.
-if you'd like to experiment with fresh/dry fruit, feel free to make any of the following combinations: chopped pears (w/ orange zest/spoonfuls of orange juice mixed with the milk), banana's with raisins, walnuts, & raisins for a banana bread flavor, &/or apples w/ raisins & cinnamon for an apple pie flavor. Sprinkle some turbinado sugar or pour in just a spoonful of honey or peanut/pumpkin/fig butter after microwaving if desired :)
