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Meatless Monday: Trail Mix Oatmeal

Yes, your mom was right, breakfast is the most important meal of the day! Start your day off right with this hearty, healthy breakfast. Kids who eat a nutritious breakfast are less likely to be overweight and eat more fruits and fiber-rich foods throughout the day.   Kids who don’t eat breakfast have lower math scores and slower memory recall.  And eating a healthy breakfast isn’t just good for kids. It is one of the key behaviors needed to maintain a healthy weight in adults.

I love cleaning out my fridge and combining delicious leftovers into a new meal!  I already had almond paste and dried cranberries on hand so this was a quick and easy weekend breakfast.  I like to make extra on weekends so in the rush of getting everyone out the door on time Monday morning, it’s easy to have a healthy, nutrient-dense, protein and fiber rich breakfast to get all our days off to a good start!

Ingredients

  • 2-3 cups water
  • 1 cup (150 g) gluten free oats
  • 1/2 cup (60 g) pumpkin (from a box, BPA-free can or made fresh from a sugar pumpkin)
  • 2 tbsp almond butter
  • 1/2 cup dried cranberries (I dried fresh cranberries in a dehydrator); if you get already dried, packaged cranberries look for ones that are sulfite free without any added sugars)
  • 3/4 cup almond paste (leftover from making homemade almond milk)
  • 1/4 tsp sea salt (more as needed to taste)
  • 1/4 tsp cinnamon, plus more for garnish and to taste
  • 1/4 cup (25 g) raw almonds for garnish

Directions

  1. Bring water to a boil, add a little salt.
  2. Pour in oats and reduce heat to low.
  3. Cook for 10 minutes.
  4. Add pumpkin, almond paste, almond butter, cinnamon, cranberries and the rest of the salt as needed.
  5. Cook until desired consistency is reached, about another 10 minutes.  Add more water as needed.  I needed almost another cup during the cooking process.
  6. Cover pot and let sit for 5 minutes.
  7. Scoop into bowl, garnish with raw almonds and cinnamon.

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

Servings: 4

Calories: 500

Fat: 26g

Trans Fat: 2g

Cholesterol: 0mg

Sodium: 20mg

Carbohydrates: 65g

Fiber: 10g

Sugars: 27g

Protein: 16g