Apple Pie Oatmeal

Apple Pie Oatmeal

My mom and I are big oatmeal fans often going out of our way to pick up our favorite steel cut oatmeal from Brasserie, a cute local restaurant. The oatmeal was so delicious, I found myself often craving it. I decided to try to make my own variations of gourmet oatmeals. Oatmeal has a bad rep for being bland "health food". Oatmeal does have lots of health benefits such as being high in fiber which is good for your digestive system and helps keep you full longer. I decided that just because foods are healthy does not mean they can't taste delicious! In my family apple pie is one of our favorite desserts so I thought to combine the two to make apple pie oatmeal. This dish is now a staple in my house and my mom and I will often have it for a quick meal on the go.

You'll need:
1/2 cup of oatmeal (I prefer Stteel Cut Irish Oats by John McCann's)
1 apple (I like gala because they're usually sweet)
cinnamon (as much as you'd like, I generally use a heavy hand)
sugar (I use 3 packets of truvia all natural sweetner-1 for the sauted apples and 2 for the oatmeal)
1 tsp of butter (I use smart balance)
1 tsp of vanilla extract
*chopped nuts and whipped cream are optional

How to:

Boil 1 cup of water and once the water boils add the 1/2 cup of oatmeal (some people prefer to use milk since it adds an extra creaminess). While the oatmeal is cooking slice up some apples and chop them into very small bite sized cubes. Saute them in a pan with a little bit of butter. Once the apples start softening up (you'll notice this due to a more yellow color change) add in some sugar and cinnamon, stirring often to make sure the apples are all evenly sauted and coated in the sugar and cinnamon mixture. Once the oatmeal starts to gain more substance add the vanilla extract and the apples. I alwasy like to add some redi whip to my finished oatmeal, which really gives it that apple pie feel!