If you aren’t yet tired of all the pumpkin-flavored foods this season, here’s a simple recipe for oatmeal to help jumpstart your day!
Unfortunately, this recipe does require a few ingredients you’ll need to get off campus. These include the oatmeal itself, pumpkin puree and pumpkin pie seasoning. You can use instant oats instead of oatmeal, but I opted to use Quaker brand brown sugar cinnamon flavored oatmeal packets, which I think helped to add some extra sweetness. I was able to find all of the ingredients for a fairly reasonable price at Giant.
Additionally, you’ll need milk, which can be substituted for almond milk or another lactose-free option, and salt. These you can find at the Jay’s Nest or Marketplace.
To start, pour about 2 cups of the oats or oatmeal into a bowl. Add one and a quarter cups of milk, a cup of pumpkin puree, half a teaspoon of salt and two teaspoons of pumpkin pie seasoning. Mix the ingredients together and microwave the oatmeal for two minutes, pausing to stir it halfway to ensure it is heated thoroughly. Then, grab a spoon and enjoy!
Following the recipe exactly creates a fairly thick oatmeal, so if you prefer it thinner, you can add more milk or less pumpkin puree. You can also follow the recipe’s ratio and scale it down for a smaller portion if you don’t have a large appetite or much time to eat in the morning.
If you still need a bit more sweetness, feel free to top your oatmeal with white chocolate chips or a whipped topping, or add some chopped nuts for some texture variety.
I don’t typically like oatmeal, since I’ve found it to be somewhat bland and I don’t particularly enjoy the texture. When I gave this recipe a try, I didn’t have high hopes, especially since I don’t have measuring cups in my dorm, and I was mostly eyeballing the amount of each ingredient as I added them. However, I was pleasantly surprised by its lovely autumnal flavor.
This recipe makes a fairly large portion, so I was able to share it with some friends. One of them also doesn’t typically like oatmeal but tried it anyway and agreed it was better than what she’s had previously. My other friend also liked it, though they’ve always been partial to oatmeal in general.
Although not the most easily accessible in terms of ingredients, this recipe is quick and easy and yields delicious results for a hearty breakfast. Give it a try!
