Homemade Blueberry Oatmeal with Maple Syrup

Over the last few months as I’ve been watching my calories, I’ve started to learn to look for foods that are low in calories and high in “density” (my word for it).  These foods make you feel full for a long time.  No one likes hunger pangs 2 hours before mealtime, so by eating these “dense” foods you feel fine for 3-4 hours.  One thing I’ve noticed about these types of foods is that they tend to be high in fiber and low in carbohydrates.

Anyway, I made this for the first time tonight and it was awesome.  It’s a great breakfast meal, but I like to eat oatmeal around 9pm after I put my daughter to sleep.  It helps me relax and I don’t go to bed hungry and craving a Big Mac.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup Old Fashioned Oats (the cheap kind you find at any grocery store, NOT instant)
• 1/2 cup 2% Milk*
• 1/2 cup Water
• 1/2 tsp Cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
• 1 tbsp Maple Syrup
• 1/2 cup Fresh Blueberries (you could use frozen too)

*you could replace the milk with water to reduce the calories even more, but it won’t taste as “creamy”

Directions

Combine the oats, milk, water, cinnamon, and vanilla extract in a small pot.  Turn the heat to medium, and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.  It will start to get thicker as the oats absorb the liquid.  After the 5 minutes is up, add the blueberries and maple syrup.  Reduce the heat to low and cook for 5 more minutes, stirring occasionally.  While you are stirring, try to pop the blueberries so they ooze their goodness into the oatmeal.  I use this cool tool I got from Pampered Chef (thanks Mel!) which makes it really easy to pound away at the berries.  After the 5 minutes are up, you are done!

Nutrition

This recipe makes 1 really big serving or 2 average size servings.  The big serving is 316 calories and the average servings are 158 calories each.  If you eat the big serving for breakfast at 8am, you won’t be hungry for lunch until 1-2pm.  It’s high in fiber and protein, while being low in fat, sodium, and carbs.  Also, I’ve heard that blueberries are good for you too.