Recipe to Share - Instant Oatmeal

My girls like to eat instant oatmeal in the mornings. As I've tried to gather food for our 3-month supply I've tried to buy a few boxes of the stuff. Then, I came across this recipe for homemade instant oatmeal and realized that if they liked it, we had a winner. Fortunately, they love it and request it every morning! I like that it's much cheaper than the commercial product, and I feel like it's healthier because you don't need much sugar. Plus, there's no more yucky banana oatmeal packets left in the box that no one will eat! Leah has requested S'more oatmeal everyday for a week. Kaitlyn usually has S'more oatmeal but really liked Blueberries and Cream oatmeal this morning. Earlier in the week I made up ziploc premade "packets". Now I just make sure I have ground oatmeal on hand and it's easy to put together in the morning. I thought I'd post the recipe in case it benefits anyone else:

Instant Oatmeal ala-Home Valerie Bradford

3 cups Quick-Cooking Oats
Salt
Small sized Zip Baggies

Put 1/2 cup oats in a blender and blend on high until powdery. Set aside in a small bowl, and repeat procedure with an additional 1/2 cup oats. If you're using a food processor, you can do the 1 cup of oats in one batch. Put the following ingredients into each zip baggie: 1/4 cup un-powdered oats, 2 Tbsp. powdered oats, and 1/8 tsp. salt. Store in an airtight container.

To serve: Empty packet into a bowl. Add 3/4 cup boiling water. Stir and let stand for 2 minutes. For thicker oatmeal, use less water - for thinner oatmeal, use more water.

Variations:
1 . Apple-Cinnamon Oatmeal- To each packet add 1 Tbsp. sugar, 1/4 tsp. cinnamon, and 2 Tbsp. chopped dried apples.
2. Sweetened Oatmeal- To each packet add 1 Tbsp. sugar or 1 packet 'Equal' artificial sweetener.
3. Brown Sugar/Cinnamon Oatmeal - To each packet add 1 Tbsp. brown sugar & 1/4 tsp. cinnamon
4. Oatmeal w/Raisins & Brown Sugar - To each packet add 1 Tbsp. packed brown sugar and 1 Tbsp. raisins.
5. Health Nut Oatmeal - To each packet add 2 Tbsp. any kind of wheat germ
6. Fruit & Cream Oatmeal - To each packet add 1 Tbsp. non-dairy coffee creamer and 2 Tbsp. dried fruit
7. Fun Fruit Oatmeal - To each packet, add 6 or 7 pieces of 'fruit snack' type dehydrated fruit.
8. Confetti Oatmeal - To each packet, add 1 tsp. decorative cake/cookie sprinkles.
9. S'More Oatmeal - add 6 miniature marshmallows and 1 Tbsp. Milk Chocolate Chips to each packet.
10.Cookies n Cream Oatmeal - add 1 crushed Oreo cookie and 1 Tbsp. non-dairy coffee creamer to each packet.
11. Exploding Oatmeal - add 1 tsp. sugar, and 1/2 tsp. 'Pop Rocks' candy to each packet. This one is fun for celebration days, such as birthdays.
12. Bart-man Oatmeal - add 2 Tbsp. 'Butterfinger B.B's' candies to each packet.