It’s a gloomy day out there. Cold. Snowy. Grey.
It’s the type of day where you don’t want to leave the house in the morning. It’s the type of day where you get a chill that you can’t seem to shake for hours afterwards.
And if this isn’t bad enough. We’ve only really hit our first true chunk of winter. It’s probably going to get colder. And it’s going to stay that way for the next couple of months.
Cheery thought, isn’t it?
Well, here’s something to warm both your mood and your body: a healthy breakfast that will get help get you through that walk to work or school. Nutritious and delicious, it has also been around for centuries.
And, so, without further ado: Hot Cereal with Applesauce and Maple.
We’re not looking at rocket science here. Instead we are moving away from the pre-packaged envelopes of instant oatmeal (with their added salt and processed sugars) and making some bulk hot cereal with flavours your entire household will enjoy. Krista is a fan of using Red River cereal for her breakfast. Truth be told, she makes her own blend of grains and seeds, but it looks and tastes awfully similar. I tend to use local rolled oats bought from Joanne’s Health Food.
About a minute before your cereal is done cooking, mix in a few spoonfulls of applesauce and a bit of local maple syrup. Serve in a bowl with milk. I usually have some juice or local apple cider to add a few more vitamins, but other than that, you have a filling, tasty one-dish breakfast.
We make our own applesauce — which means that it is dirt-cheap and sugar-free. We leave some chunks of apple in it to improve the texture of the cereal. You can find my tips on making applesauce in this blog entry.
When it comes to syrup, we buy ours from the Farmer’s Market. After all, we have some of the best syrup in Canada right here. Robert and Jill Staples of Cavan have proven this by winning some major awards at the Royal Winter Agricultural Fair.
And while applesauce is a natural choice, so are all kinds of other fruits. We have no shortage of home-grown frozen raspberries from the summer, as well as dehydrated strawberries from our patch. Both can be added for an extra fruity kick.
Simple. Warming. Delicious.