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Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Recipe experiment #1 PB&J oatmeal

As I stated in my last post, I'm hoping to try out some recipes I've found for camp meals over the winter...and hopefully make a good list of things to take with us next summer.  This first experiment was from a comment I saw on a home economics blog about making your own oatmeal packets similar to the store bought ones, only for less money. I love this idea because you can also control the sugar, and you can try other flavours that aren't available any other way.  The author said her kids loved adding a dollop of peanut butter and a dollop of jelly to their oatmeal and I thought, well that would be easy to make at camp, even when back country camping.  If you have a wholesale supply store in your area, you can buy those individual serving packets of jams and peanut butter like you get in a restaurant.  If not, next time you go out for breakfast and get toast, keep the jam packet they give you.  Restaurants aren't allowed to reuse them even if they aren't used, so it would just get thrown out anyway.  You can take peanut butter in small containers, but I'm not sure how well jam lasts at room temperature.  Of course if you are car camping, you can keep a small jar in your cooler.

PB&J Oatmeal - 1 serving

1/3 cup quick oats
2/3 cup water
1 packet peanut butter
1 packet jam or jelly of your favorite flavor.

Boil the water and add oats.  The recipe on the package of oats calls for salt, but I never add it.  It takes like 30 seconds for them to simmer to completeness, or let them sit for a minute.  Add in the jam and peanut butter, stir well.

Conclusion:  Squatch, not surprisingly, loved it, but Bubbie isn't a big fan of jam so took one tiny bite and handed me the bowl.  I think she might like it better with just peanut butter.  I will also try it with Nutella for her.  As for myself, I thought it was alright.  I wouldn't want to eat a huge bowl of it, I don't think, but it wasn't horrible.  It was easy to make, and would be easy to pack for either car camping or back country.  I also like that you don't add extra sugar, just the jam.

The great thing about taking oatmeal for breakfast is that you can easily let everyone have their own flavour choices.  I have a big list of ideas for oatmeal and how to mix it up, so keep watching for more.

If you can't find a restaurant supply store, and feel weird about smuggling jam out of a restaurant, you can order them online. There are places that sell them individually, and some that sell in bulk.  I'm trying to find one that's in Canada so the shipping isn't astronomically expensive and will post links when I come across some good sites.

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