Some mornings I get sick and tired of preparing food for my children. The freezer’s saved my butt on several occasions, especially when the girls wake up earlier than expected. Since I started our breakfast plan, I have made crepes, muffins, egg breakfast cups, and more to put in the freezer and take a lot of work out of my morning routine. But I feel like the most revolutionary of them all has been the fruity oatmeal mix-ins. I am beyond thrilled to share them with you today!
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Fruity Oatmeal
I absolutely love this idea for a quick and delicious oatmeal option for my girls. What I’ve been doing is making fruit purees and sauces that I can freeze in my Mumi&Bubi freezer trays
(which I reviewed in this post about a baby food freezer cooking day). I just add a cube to each girl’s oatmeal in the morning and mix in.
The sky is the limit with these fruity mix-ins for your oatmeal. Many of these recipes contain honey, so if you are feeding them to a child younger than one, please leave it out since honey can be fatal to a baby’s life. In all of these sauces and purees, you can probably leave out the sugar or cut it down if you’d like.
Strawberry Sauce
Strawberry Sauce
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup honey
- 4 cups sliced strawberries about 1 1/2 lbs.
- 2 tsp. vanilla
Instructions
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Put all ingredients into a medium saucepan and simmer over medium heat. Use a wooden spoon to stir constantly for 5 minutes.
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Let cool and puree with immersion blender or in the blender. If you want it chunky, just don't puree it.
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Store in a glass container in the fridge or freeze in ice cube trays to easily add to oatmeal whenever you'd like.
Blueberry Puree
Blueberry Puree
Ingredients
- 1 cup blueberries if frozen, thawed
- 1 tsp. lemon juice
- 1 1/2 Tbsp. honey
- 2 Tbsp. water
- Pinch of cinnamon
Instructions
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Puree all ingredients in a blender.
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Store in a glass container in the fridge or freeze in ice cube trays to easily add to oatmeal whenever you'd like.
Recipe Notes
Makes somewhere around 9 oz. of blueberry puree.
Adapted from One Hungry Mama (link no longer available)
Cherry Puree
Cherry Puree
Ingredients
- 12 ounce bag frozen cherries pitted, thawed
- 1 Tbsp. honey
- 1/2 Tbsp. lemon juice
- 2 Tbsp. water
Instructions
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Add all ingredients to a blender and puree.
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Store in a glass container in the fridge or freeze in ice cube trays to easily add to oatmeal whenever you'd like.
Recipe Notes
Makes about 13 oz. of cherry puree.
I was impatient when I made this, so I didn't quite thaw the cherries. However, since I was planning to put them back into the freezer after pureeing, it was probably better that way. Once something has been thawed, it really shouldn't go back into the freezer.
Adapted from What's Cooking America
Crockpot Cinnamon & Raisin Applesauce
Crockpot Cinnamon & Raisin Applesauce
Ingredients
- 6-7 apples I used Gala
- 1/3 cup water
- 1-2 tsp. cinnamon
- 1 tsp. sugar optional
- 1/2 tsp. vanilla
- 1/2 cup raisins
Instructions
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Peel and chop apples. Throw everything into a crockpot and turn on low for 4 hours. Puree or leave chunky.
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Store in a glass container in the fridge or freeze in ice cube trays to easily add to oatmeal whenever you'd like.
Recipe Notes
Adapted from two recipes from The Frugal Girls and the book Baby Love
Makes nearly 30 oz. of applesauce.
How to Use Fruity Oatmeal Mix-Ins
Are you excited yet?? These will definitely boost the flavor of your child’s oatmeal and easily add more fruit to their diet.
To use these fruity oatmeal mix-ins, I start by making my child’s oatmeal either in the microwave or on the stove. Then I get out a couple of fruity mix-ins (usually just one cube per child, or 3 cubes if you’re making a large batch on the stove) from the freezer and pop them in the oatmeal. I add the cubes to the oatmeal the last few seconds in the microwave or the last minute or so if making the stovetop oatmeal. You could also just put the cubes in a small saucepan over medium low heat and melt them. Most of the time I also add half a mashed banana to the oatmeal and sauce.
I think the best way to make these mix-ins affordable as well as the most flavorful is to make them as the fruit comes in season and goes down in price. As summer wears on and turns into fall, I plan to try peach, plum, and pumpkin puree. I think using fresh fruits is best, but sometimes it’s okay to use frozen to make these (like I did for both the blueberry and cherry purees).
If you don’t want to freeze the sauce or puree, use it for other purposes such as on top of pancakes, mixed in with yogurt, or on top of ice cream.
Make a couple batches of these yummy sauces and purees for your baby or toddler, and you won’t have to work too hard to get breakfast on the table. Your child won’t even realize they are eating fruit!
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[…] cherries to Bella when I made her some stovetop oatmeal and stirred in cherry puree as the fruity mix-in. She definitely liked it! Other ideas: Cherries are so delicious as a snack, but you might want to […]