Baked Apple with Oatmeal, Cinnamon, Almonds and Raisins
When was the last time that you ate an apple that was REALLY delicious- that brought back childhood memories of how apples aught to taste and never do? Like... forever, right?
Well, I picked up a bag of "Jonagold" apples at my local supermarket yesterday, saying they were from a farm in the region and the plain bag won me over. No advertising, no brand name. But you never can tell. Sometimes you get lucky- mostly you don't... but dear heavens my dear readers out there- this time I hit the jackpot!
These apples were sweet and tart at the same time, ridiculously crispy and bursting with juice and flavor... and I am not kidding when I tell you that I went straight back out and bought myself another bag before they were gone! But that was Saturday and today is Sunday... and one of those scrumptious apples HAD to become my breakfast!
I made it by peeling and slicing the apple and heating the slices in my frying pan with a little water. Yes that's right- water! I just wanted to accumulate some heat and get the juice in the apple itself to heat up and to soften the structure of the slices- which happens within the space of 4-5 minutes. THEN I added a pat of butter :-) - not too much mind! Just enough to give the slices a slight glaze. I sprinkled them lightly with cinnamon, tossed them a few times and then set them to one side.
Next, into the same pan, went my oatmeal- 2 handfuls to 1 apple. I added almonds and raisins, a pinch of salt, a teaspoon of Stevia and enough water to get everything moist and then added a generous amount of cinnamon. I stirred everything together until it became a smooth mass and then added milk to get it nice and creamy. I reduced the heat and let it simmer for 5 minutes until all of the liquid was absorbed and the oatmeal was soft and chewy... yummy! In the meantime, I turned my oven right up and ready to finish my breakfast treat off!
Next step was simply to layer the oatmeal and apples decoratively and to pour a little extra milk and a drizzle of honey over everything... then into the oven it went at 300°F for 10 minutes with 2 minutes on broil at the end- what could be easier? Or more of a treat on an Autumn morning? Basically, the bottom line here, as with almost all of my little breakfast treats, is that you CAN use the same old ingredients, the simple staples that you always have in the cupboard and still make new and exciting variations day in and day out- the only limit is your own imagination!
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