Cranberry Walnut Oatmeal

I'm officially out of my apartment and into the dorms! I'm SUPER excited about my job this summer. For those of you who don't know, I'm a teaching assistant for Duke TIP. The program gives gifted students a chance to take a class during the summer. There are some pretty cool classes being offered, like mock trial, creative writing, modern medicine, and more. My class is called mathematical problem solving. So far, it seems like I'm really going to enjoy this. I can't wait for the TIP-sters to get here tomorrow!

Training has been crazy busy, but I finally have a chance to cook! This recipe was inspired by one from "Hicky's Healthy Handbook." I got this cookbook as a gift from Spurs PC 11, and it's packed full of so many healthy recipes! The very first recipe in this book is for Cherry-Hazelnut Oatmeal. I'm not using the exact recipe, but it served as an inspiration for the one below.

Cranberry Walnut Oatmeal


Ingredients:
1 package instant oatmeal, original (unflavored)
1/2 cup skim milk
1 tsp brown sugar
1 1/2 tbsp dried cranberries
1 1/2 tbsp chopped walnuts
Dash of ground cinnamon


Directions:
Cook the oatmeal according to package instructions, replacing water with skim milk. Once it is cooked completely, add the remaining ingredients and stir to combine.

Taste Rating: 6
Not too bad. It's oatmeal, so you're not going to get an "ooooh my gosh this is amazing" from it unless somebody sprinkled fairy dust in it or something. I will say this is waaay better than those pre-flavored things you get at the store. The walnuts add a really nice crunch to it.

Easy Rating: 9
Microwave and mix. What could be easier? I am not giving this a 10, because I'm dishwasher-less, meaning I have to wash my bowl and spoon by hand in a bathroom sink. If I had a dishwasher, the easy cleanup would justify giving this a 10.

Overall Rating: 7
Since breakfast is the most important meal of the day (not only to give you fuel, but it can actually help you lose weight). This one dish has whole grains, antioxidants, good fats, protein, calcium, etc. All of that in 5 minutes? Win.