For the month of January, I have been trying to find a way for our entire family to enjoy an easy weekday oatmeal recipe that did not have sugar in it.  Since I have been trying to cut down our household sugar, breakfast was one of my main targets.  Most convenient breakfast items are filled with sugar especially packaged items such as cereal and instant oatmeal packs.  My children love apple cinnamon oatmeal but each pack has between 9-12 grams of added sugars!  That is almost half of the daily requirement of added sugars at breakfast! Children (and women) should have less than 25 grams (6 teaspoons) of added sugar per day.  

Hence I have been on a quest to develop a healthy & adaptable oatmeal recipe. Oats provide us so many benefits and I love having an easy instant oatmeal in our breakfast rotation.  I personally love my oatmeal with a half of cooked banana, almond milk and cinnamon – it tastes like banana bread.  But my children do not like the taste of the cooked banana in the oats. 

My quest to find a way for my children to enjoy oatmeal without sugar

They don’t love huge chunks of cooked fruit so I had to go back to the drawing board for them.  A friend told me her son loves to put frozen fruit in his oatmeal after it has cooked to cool the oatmeal down.  This worked perfectly for Savanna – she loved it with frozen blueberries.  John is not a huge blueberry fan so I decided to try applesauce since he loved apple cinnamon.  Success!  We all also enjoy some nuts for a little crunch, added protein and flavor.   We all enjoy it different ways but they are all fairly simple :).  All of these recipes can be made as overnight oats well!

PS – I recently learned that it is national oatmeal month so there is no better time to add oatmeal to your weekly breakfast rotation.  You can learn more about why oats are good for you here.

PPS: As with all kids some days they like things and then the next week they don’t – I made this for a few days for John and then yesterday he declared he didn’t like it. Maybe I over did it so what works for some may not work for all, but we will keep trying.  

Healthy & Adaptable Oatmeal Recipe

Banana Bread Oatmeal (my personal favorite)

Ingredients:

1/3 cup instant oats or instant oats blend 

1/2 of banana

1/2 cup almond milk

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tbsp chopped nuts

Directions for Hot Oatmeal:

1. Add all ingredients to a bowl and microwave on high for 1 minute
2. Breakdown banana and stir to incorporate
3. Put back in microwave and cook for 30 secs – 1 minute
4. Enjoy!

Directions for Overnight Oats:

1. Mash your banana in a bottom of a jar or container that has a lid.
2. Add the remaining ingredients to your jar and stir until thoroughly combined.
3. Place in the refrigerator overnight.
4. Enjoy!

Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal (the boys favorite)

Ingredients:

1/3 cup instant oats or instant oats blend 

1/2 cup unsweetened cinnamon applesauce 

1/2 cup almond milk

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tbsp chopped nuts

Directions for Hot Oatmeal:

1. Add all ingredients to a bowl and microwave on high for 1 minute
2. Stir to incorporate all ingredients
3. Put back in microwave and cook for 30 secs – 1 minute
4. Enjoy!

Directions for Overnight Oats:

1. Add all ingredients to a jar and stir until thoroughly combined.
2. Place in the refrigerator overnight.
3. Enjoy!

Blueberry Oatmeal (Savanna’s Favorite)

Ingredients:

1/3 cup instant oats or instant oats blend 

1/2 cup frozen blueberries

1/2 cup almond milk

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tbsp chopped nuts

Directions for Hot Oatmeal:

1. Add all ingredients except for the blueberries to a bowl and microwave on high for 1 minute and 30 seconds
2. Add blueberries and stir to incorporate
3. Enjoy!

Directions for Overnight Oats:

1. Add all ingredients to a jar and stir until thoroughly combined.
2. Place in the refrigerator overnight.
3. Enjoy!