Experiment #4: Raspberries and cream oatmeal

My inspiration for this came from a really yummy looking recipe for raspberry cheesecake oatmeal.  To be honest, I was going to make it with cream cheese, even though I wouldn't be able to make it that way when camping, but to my disappointment, I didn't actually have any cream cheese in the fridge.

This recipe calls for large flake oats that cook in 4-5 minutes.  I did this because I wasn't sure how long it would take for the raspberries to rehydrate, and figured a few minutes of cooking would be better than eating berries with the consistency of styrofoam. (If you've never eaten a dehydrated raspberry, it's kind of nasty)  Also, I made this for 2 people, where normally I've been making a 1 serving sample.

Raspberries and Cream Oatmeal (2 servings)

1 2/3 cup water
2/3 cup oats (large flake)
1/2 cup dehydrated raspberries
1 tbsp powdered skim milk
1 tbsp granulated sugar

Put the raspberries into the water right away.  Once the water comes to a boil, add the oats and stir until cooked (should be 4-5 minutes) then stir in the powdered milk and sugar.  The raspberries will break up into individual little pieces, but that actually makes it better because it means you get berry flavour in every bite.

Conclusion:  I'm pretty picky about my oatmeal.  I can't even get through a packet of the instant stuff because the last few bites worth make me want to puke but I scraped the bowl of this.  Chris liked it too.  It starts off kind of tart, but as you eat it, it seems to get sweeter.

When I calculated how much water (okay there was no calculating. I totally guessed)  I figured the recipe on the oats calls for 2/3 cup water for 1/3 cup of oats (1 serving.) I doubled that and added another 1/3 cup for rehydrating berries and for the milk.  It seemed to work well and the end result was neither too runny or a thick glue-like glob, so yay me!  As to using large flake oats, yes it will increase fuel use to boil the oats for that long.  I'm not sure if letting them sit in a cosy for a few minutes would work, I imagine it would.  I don't have a cosy, but once I make one, I'll give it a try.  I prefer large flake oats over the instant stuff anyway, so I'm hoping it works out.

Tomorrow's experiment...Curried Pumpkin Soup...it's on the dehydrator now, so I'll let you know how it turns out.