Pear & Cranberry Cream of Wheat & Oatmeal Bowl

There’s nothing like a big bowl of oatmeal to warm you up on a cold morning. Temperatures in Charlotte have been dropping down into the 20s overnight so breakfast has been all about warm foods. After spending last winter drinking green smoothies while shivering in front of a space heater I decided that while smoothies are delicious, they’re not worth freezing over!

I have been playing around with all sorts of new oatmeal combinations. One of my favorite ways to switch up my oatmeal is to incorporate other grains. I rediscovered Cream of Wheat while visiting my grandmother a couple of weeks ago and brought the box back to Charlotte with me. Using a tablespoon of it in my oatmeal has made it super fluffy and voluminous, especially if I stir in an egg white at the end. If you haven’t tried this yet, I promise it’s not weird. My grandmother was so confused to see me stirring egg into my oatmeal but it’s tasteless and adds volume and a few extra grams of protein.

I also like to mix and match the fruits in my oatmeal. While banana and apple are my standard flavor choices, I’ve been loving a fall-themed pear and cranberry mixture lately.

Pear & Cranberry Cream of Wheat & Oatmeal Bowl

I wanted to share a recipe for you today for my Pear & Cranberry Cream of Wheat & Oatmeal Bowl. It’s a delicious mix of cream of wheat, oatmeal, chia seeds, pears and cranberries. If you want to take your oatmeal bowls over the top, add a scoop of peanut butter and some preserves on top. In this bowl I used blueberry preserves and natural salted creamy peanut butter but I can’t wait to make this again after Thanksgiving and top it with homemade cranberry sauce. Yum!

Pear & Cranberry Cream of Wheat & Oatmeal Bowl
(Recipe developed by Jen Eddins, Peanut Butter Runner)

Pear & Cranberry Cream of Wheat & Oatmeal Bowl

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• Author: Jen Eddins
• Prep Time: 5
• Cook Time: 30
• Total Time: 35 minutes
• Yield: 1 Serving 1x

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Ingredients

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• 1 tablespoon Cream of Wheat
• 1/4 cup rolled oats
• 1 tablespoon chia seeds
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• Nonstick cooking spray (I like coconut oil cooking spray)
• 1/2 ripe pear, diced
• 2 tablespoons dried cranberries
• 1/3 cup water
• 1/3–1/2 cup milk of choice (almond, cashew, skim, whole…)
• Tiny pinch of salt
• 1 egg white
• 1 tablespoon peanut butter or almond butter
• 1 tablespoon preserves of choice

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Instructions

1. Place a small saucepan over medium heat and add cooking spray, pears, dried cranberries and cinnamon. Cook for 3-4 minutes or until pears start to soften. You may need to add a little more cooking spray as necessary as fruit is cooking. (Note, you can also use coconut oil or butter here too.) Once fruit has started to soften, add the chia seeds, oats, cream of wheat, water, milk and salt and reduce heat to low. Let oats cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, until mixture starts to thicken and oats soften. Add a little more milk if needed. The key is to keep the heat low here and not to cook too quickly. Oat mixture should be thickened and soft after about 5-7 minutes. At this time you’ll want to add the egg white in a slow stream and keep stirring continuously. After egg white is added, keep stirring for about 20 more seconds. I mix pretty vigorously here to kind of “whip” the oats and increase the volume even more.
2. Pour into a bowl and top with preserves and peanut butter. The peanut butter will melt and spread as it sits on top of the hot oats.

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And here are the nutritional stats. I shoot for 400-600 calories with breakfast so this falls nicely in that range. If I need a little staying power I usually just double up on the peanut butter. Always a good idea! 🙂

Looking for more warm breakfast inspiration?
Banana Egg White Oatmeal
Quinoa Breakfast Bake with Blueberries and Bananas
Cranberry Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal