Creamy Maple Cranberry Oatmeal

Eating a variety of grains and fruit not only ensures that you get more nutrients, but also helps make breakfast more interesting.

Recipe Ingredients:

3 1/2 cups fat-free or low-fat milk
2 cups Quaker® Oats (quick or old fashioned, uncooked)
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/3 cup Aunt Jemima® Syrup, regular or light
1/4 cup toasted wheat germ

Cooking Directions:

1. In medium saucepan, bring milk to a gentle boil. (Watch carefully.) Stir in oats, cranberries and syrup. Return to a boil; reduce heat to medium. Cook 1 minute for quick oats, 5 minutes for old fashioned oats or until most of milk is absorbed, stirring occasionally.
2. Let stand until desired consistency. Stir in wheat germ.
3. Spoon oatmeal into four cereal bowls. Drizzle with additional syrup, if desired. Serve with milk or yogurt, if desired.

Makes 4 servings.

Tip: Freeze single servings of cooked oatmeal in small resealable freezer bags. Thaw in refrigerator overnight. Transfer to microwave-safe bowl. Microwave, covered, on DEFROST until hot, stirring once or twice.

Microwave Directions: In 3-quart microwaveable bowl, combine all ingredients except wheat germ. Microwave on HIGH 6 to 7 minutes for quick oats and 9 to 10 minutes for old fashioned oats or until most of liquid is absorbed. Let stand until desired consistency. Stir in wheat germ.

Nutritional Information Per Serving (1/4 of recipe): Calories: 360 18% Calories from Fat: 32 Total Fat: 3.5 5% Saturated Fat: 0.5 4% Trans Fat: 0 Cholesterol: 5 1% Sodium: 130 5% Total Carbohydrate: 71 24% Dietary Fiber: 5 21% Sugars: 33 Protein: 15 29% Vitamin A: 446 8% Vitamin C: 0 0% Calcium: 290 30% Iron: 2 15%

Dietary Exchange: starchbread:2; milk:1 nonfat; fruit:2.

Recipe and photograph provided courtesy of The Quaker Oats Company.