I have mentioned before how the Sneaky Mama loves baked oatmeal. It is a great way to get your kids to eat oatmeal and oatmeal is packed with oodles of nutritional gems. This morning it is rather cold and rainy and so, as you may have guessed by now, we are having oatmeal. But in our house, if I make plain oatmeal I might as well make it and then throw it on the floor because certainly, that’s what my children will be doing! (Well, at least the toddlers. . .the older ones do know a little better. . .)
Orange vegetables (well technically pumpkin is a fruit. . .but in my mind it falls into the rare category of ‘frutegetable’ because it really doesn’t taste like a fruit) for some reason are very sweet compared to say. . .broccoli. Because they are sweeter than your average vegetable and pack a huge vitamin C punch, they are easier to get into the mouths of picky palleted babes. This recipe uses pumpkin puree and honestly, it takes like oatmeal-pumpkin pie. In fact, I won’t even consider it lying if you tell your kids you’re having pumpkin pie for breakfast.
Like almost all recipes, I found this on the internet (at about.com actually) but have tweaked it to suit our family. Here is our version:
2 cups quick or old-fashioned oats
3 cups milk
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/8 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp allspice
However many raisins or dates your child will let you stick in there!
Use brown sugar, honey or maple syrup to sweeten slightly.
The Sneaky Mama’s Preferred Cooking Method
Place oatmeal in a microwave-safe bowl and stir in the milk. Microwave on high for 2-3 minutes. Remove from microwave and stir in pumpkin puree, and the spices. Heat for 40-60 seconds, or until heated through.
Stir in raisins. Sweeten with your choice of sweetener.
Stovetop Method
Bring milk to a boil in a medium saucepan. Stir in oats and cook on a medium heat for about 5 minutes. (You can generally follow the directions on the box of oatmeal). Add pumpkin and spices and stir until heated through. Stir in raisins just before serving. Add sweetener as desired. In our house, this means that you have to add individual sweetener to each bowl to suit each child.
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