Back to My Tiny DC Kitchen: Berry Vanilla Oatmeal

Since the creation of my blog, a lot of my cooking has been done in my parent's large and well-equipped kitchen because I was home for the holidays. I LOVE cooking in that kitchen. I also kind of love cooking in my little dorm-room kitchen as well because it always presents new challenges. No counter space? I bring in the chair from the living room as an extra work-space. Need another mixing bowl? I use one of my pots. And you can just forget about two people cooking in their at once. To show you that I am not exaggerating when I say my kitchen is tiny, I took a couple of pictures:

Now, think back to one of my holiday posts where I posted a picture of my parents' kitchen. There is quite a difference! In fact, I'll post the picture again:

This picture doesn't even show the double oven, huge fridge or warming drawer, but you get the idea.

And of course, instead of going to the grocery store every time I want to try a new recipe, I have learned that substitutions are key. This is also an important lesson for me because the Watergate Safeway where I shop isn't necessarily the best-stocked grocery store I've ever come accross.

That's what I had to do for this recipe which I got from Ellie Krieger from Food Network. It is a healthy, quick, and tasty breakfast that you can easily make on a weekday morning and even have the leftovers later in the week.

Berry Vanilla Oatmeal

*This was originally Cherry Vanilla Oatmeal but Safeway didn't have dried cherries or cherry preserves so I played with the recipe a little

1 3/4 cups water

1 cup gluten free oats

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup dried cranberries

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 tablespoons raspberry preserves

1/4 cup almond milk

--you can obviously substitute with any kind of dried berry, preserves, and milk that you prefer or whatever you have on hand--

Put water, oats, salt, and dried cranberries into a medium sized sauce pan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 5 minutes for old fashioned oats and 1 minute for quick cooking oats. Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla and preserves. Put the oatmeal into bowls and pour 2 tablespoons milk over each bowl. This recipe makes 2 large servings.

**This post was edited on 12/12/10 to make it gluten and dairy free