Grain expectations: Skip the instant packets and make a healthier version of the fruit-and-cream oatmeal you loved as a kid

I’m going to attempt to do something a little tricky this week – I’m going to try to get y’all excited about … oatmeal. As a kid, I ate those instant “Quaker Oats Fruit & Cream” variety oatmeal packs almost daily, and I loved them. To this day, I still love those instant oatmeal packs. I’ve done quite a bit of long-distance backpacking in my day, and instant oatmeal is kind of a mainstay breakfast item in the hiking community. I started by using whole-grain rolled oats instead of instant oats, which are less processed, meaning your body works harder to break them down.