If you love feeding your family a hot and healthy breakfast on chilly mornings but feel like you lack the time for something homemade, this quick and easy cranberry pumpkin oatmeal is just what you’re looking for!
It’s gluten free and made on the stovetop with rolled oats, dried cranberries (or substitute raisins), milk (pick your favorite to make it skinny or even vegan), maple syrup and pumpkin purée.
This whips up instantly in under 10 minutes and tastes almost as good as Thanksgiving pie!
Raise your hand if you’re guilty of eating oatmeal almost every morning.
My hand definitely just shot up high in the air.
I’m the first to admit – when it comes to breakfast, I like easy. Actually, I like easy when it comes to practically everything.
But at 6am on a busy weekday morning? No way am I going to stand in the kitchen for longer than absolutely necessary.
That’s probably the reason why we’re in a bit of a plain oatmeal rut. My toddler loves it, it keeps me full and gives me energy and I can basically make it while still sleeping.
Sort of.
But since it does get kind of boring, I decided I need to make more of an effort. So I’ve been on a quest to find still-quick-and-simple-but-more-interesting-than-virtually-nothing oatmeal additions that make our breakfasts exciting again.
Since pumpkin breakfasts are pretty much a staple in our home on weekends during fall (as I can prove with my super-popular pumpkin waffles or this amazing pumpkin stuffed french toast), adding pumpkin puree to our oatmeal has quickly become a new favorite.
It’s really just my basic oatmeal recipe, with a few extras thrown in.
And thrown on top, because there is nothing better than a mountain of delicious toppings on a bed of warm oats!
Here are a few suggestions to take your cranberry pumpkin oatmeal to the next level:
Go the extra mile with your pumpkin
Make it a little less easy and use homemade pumpkin puree. I mean, nothing against the convenient canned
stuff. But I love steaming a small pumpkin fresh from the farm and blending it to use in all my favorite
pumpkin recipes. This is super handy if you have a baby starting solids, by the way!
Improvise
If you don’t have pumpkin pie spice mix, just use whatever fall-inspired spices you do have. Cinnamon,
nutmeg, cloves… Or make your own pumpkin pie spice!
Customize, customize, customize!
For the milk, use whatever you have on hand or what you like best! I used organic whole milk.
If you don’t like cranberries, use raisins. Or use nothing at all, your call. And instead of pecans, walnuts work
really well, too. I leave out the nuts and extra cranberries for my toddler though.
Make the right amount
Please note that the recipe is written to serve 2!
I chose this so it would be super easy and convenient to half it if you’re making it just for yourself, or to multiply it for a larger family.
If you want to spice up your routine oatmeal for fall, I definitely recommend you give this delicious almost-like-pumpkin-pie version a try!
Bonus points because you’ll be feeding your family vegetables at breakfast already 🙂