Today, being the snowy & cold day that it is, I decided that I wanted to spend the day in the kitchen. This is a surprise to many who know me lately..I am three months pregnant and SICK, SICK, SICK, so for me to be back in the kitchen is not my normal self. Who would have thought I would hate to be in the kitchen?? This baby number 5 has thrown me for a loop! (This is also the reason for my lack of posting lately, sorry!!)

Anyway, since I was feeling okay today, I decided to try some new food storage recipes I have had in my recipe pile for over a year now. I am going to put even more great recipes in the newsletter for Dec. & Jan., so watch for that (www.dealstomeals.com to sign up) All three of these recipes using OATS were SO fun to make and DELICIOUS!!

The idea behind these three recipes is that making items from scratch (from items in your food storage) can save you SO much money at the grocery store. Not only will it save you money, but these three recipes were actually SUPER fun to make. Even the kids liked to help and didn’t make too big of a mess 🙂

 

This recipe for homemade instant granola tasted EXACTLY like Quaker’s Instant Oatmeal. I have a friend who’s children will not eat the ‘old fashion’ kind of oatmeal, and will ONLY eat Quaker Instant. I can guarantee, with this recipe they will not be able to tell the difference! Not only will this homemade instant oatmeal cost PENNIES compared to the $3 for 10 packets, but this is a MUCH healthier version too! Those packets are filled with so much extra sugar and salt, and who knows what else. With this recipe, your children will be getting whole grains and their dairy (powdered milk has many vitamins and minerals). Give it a try!

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Here is this delicious recipe. It was so good I made me a bowl for lunch!

Homemade Instant Oatmeal
1 Packet
  1. 1/4 c. quick oats
  2. 1/4 c. powdered oats (put 1/4 c. of regular oats into a blender or food processor until they are blended into a powder--not as fine as flour, but just enough to break down the oats)
  3. 1 t. powdered milk (dry)
  4. 1 t. sugar or honey powder (you could omit this if you want to just season the oatmeal yourself)
  5. 1/8 t. salt
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If you don’t have Buy Me a Pie! app installed you’ll see the list with ingredients right after downloading it
Instructions
  1. Mix all together and then pour into a microwaveable bowl. Add 2/3 c. milk or water to the oatmeal. Microwave for 1 1/2 minutes and then serve with dried or fresh fruit, brown sugar or honey, and a little extra milk.
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Amounts to make a container full of oatmeal mixture are below. I am going to keep a #10 can of this mixture in my pantry so the kids before school can scoop out a heaping 1/2 c., put into their bowl, add the milk, microwave, and breakfast will be served. Every few times you use this mixture, you will want to stir what is on the bottom to the top to make sure all of the powder, milk, salt, and sugar gets evenly distributed. I think this will be easier than making several bags of the 1 packet amounts. But, either way will work.

Large Batch of Instant Oatmeal
Ingredients
  1. 5 c. quick oats
  2. 5 c. powdered oats
  3. 1/3 c. powdered dry milk
  4. 1/3 c. sugar or honey powder
  5. 2 1/2 t. salt
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If you don’t have Buy Me a Pie! app installed you’ll see the list with ingredients right after downloading it
Instructions
  1. Mix all ingredients together and put in a Tupperware or #10 can for later use.
  2. **For different variations, add cinnamon and dehydrated apples (I used my apples from the LDS Cannery and it was AWESOME!), or you can add dried fruit or other flavorings to make different types of oatmeal.
  3. Another recipe I made today was homemade granola bars. I have seen this recipe on several blogs, but I wanted to try it before I recommend you making them. If this recipe was judged on how easy they were to make, this would be a winner. I made my homemade instant oatmeal, granola, and granola bars in only about 1 1/2 hours.
  4. Here is the original recipe for the Regular Granola Bars and below is the recipe I came up with for Peanut Butter Granola Bars (I couldn't bare to add 1 c. of butter. For some reason the 1/2 c. butter and 1/2 c. peanut butter sat better with me).
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*One trick with these granola bars is to make sure they are sticky before you bake them. If you think they need more butter, peanut butter, or honey to make sure they stick together, do it! They will be crumbly if they are not sticky enough.

Peanut Butter Granola Bars
Ingredients
  1. 5 c. oats
  2. 1 c. krispy rice cereal
  3. 1/2 c. coconut
  4. 1/4. c. chocolate chips
  5. 1/4 c. peanut butter chips
  6. 2/3 c. brown sugar (I used even less)
  7. 1 t. salt
  8. 1/2 c. butter, melted
  9. 1/2 c. (plus another 2 T. or so) peanut butter, melted (just put the butter and peanut butter in the microwave for a few seconds until soft)
  10. 2 T. corn syrup
  11. 1/2 c. honey
  12. 1 t. vanilla
Add ingredients to shopping list
If you don’t have Buy Me a Pie! app installed you’ll see the list with ingredients right after downloading it
Instructions
  1. Mix together all of the ingredients and bake in a 9x13 pan at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown.
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Deals to Meals https://www.dealstomealsblog.com/

Alright, my third oat recipe for the day, Homemade Granola. I have posted this recipe before, but I LOVE it! The reason I made this again this week is because Sunflower Market has their fresh blackberries on sale for .67 (6 oz. container). This is an AWESOME price, so stock up! This sale continues through Wednesday, so get some and freeze them for later. The blackberries have been good in desserts, over yogurt (with the granola), in cereal, and in smoothies. Any time fresh fruit is on sale for great deals like this, that is the time to add them to your freezer and stock up! I just rinse the fresh fruit and then put it in a large freezer Ziploc bag. If you have time and room in your freezer, you can put the fruit on a piece of wax paper over a large, flat, cookie sheet. Freeze them until each piece of fruit is frozen and then put the fruit into the Ziploc bag. This will make it so they don’t get frozen in one large clump.