Baked apple oatmeal

I love the little prepackaged packets of apple cinnamon oatmeal, organic of course. There is a problem with them though: they contain lots and lots of sugar! At 24 grams of sugar they are almost twice the sugar I can have for 1 day. So what to do? Make your own.

Here is a homemade alternative for the packets. There is no added sugar besides what the apples and raisins contain naturally and that's what I like! This recipe would also make a great food storage addition, just replace the fresh apples with freeze dried or dried apple slices. Also please note that the recipe calls for old fashioned rolled oats which are more nutritious than the quick cooking ones.

Here we go:

1 medium apple, cored and chopped
1/2 c old fashioned rolled oats
2 tablespoons raisins
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Pinch of salt (remember, sea or himalayan crystal salt, NOT regular table salt!!!)
1 cup water

Preheat oven to 350F. Combine all ingredients in a small baking dish and stir well. Bake uncovered for 15-20 min stirring once or twice until the mixture becomes thick and apples are soft.

My take on the recipe:
Since I love anything sweet, I would add some Truvia, Xylitol, honey or some type of natural sweetener to this after it comes out of the oven. I would also add more cinnamon and minus the raisins, since I love the former and dislike the latter. I would even think about replacing the raisins with slivered almonds or pecans, yum!

You could also skip the oven and cook it on the stove but I think you'd better start with cooking your fresh apples a little before adding them to the oatmeal.

This recipe is from Rodale.