I got a little text last week that read like this, “Mommy, you are going to send me a Valentine’s Day package right?” You can probably guess who that was from.
My 21 year old oldest son?
NO…
My 17 year old next in line son?
NO…
My 14 year old son from his bedroom?
NO…
11 year old son from the next room?
My 19 year old daughter…love the way she called me mommy…have not heard that in awhile!
You know how girls get once in college?? They usually eat Dominos pizza late at night or swear off Dominos pizza late at night. My daughter is the latter of the 2…well sometimes. Lets just say that she loves her healthy food. So with that in mind, I racked my brain for what homemade goodie I could send her that fit the bill of a healthy food.
Hmmmm…she loves oatmeal. How about homemade oatmeal in a Ball canning jar? I had heard somewhere that you could just add boiling water to the mixture, shake and there you have it. I have plenty of canning jars so I looked up the idea online and found tons of recipes. I went with a very simple one from the website www.amybites.com (loved the site!) and added my own mix ins.
Instant Oatmeal in a Canning Jar
For each 8 oz. canning jar fill with:
1/2 cup old fashioned oats that have been pulsed into little pieces in a food processor
Flavor Add Ins:
CRANBERRY ORANGE
2 T dried sweetened cranberries
1 T slivered almonds
2 tsp. sugar
1/4 tsp. grated orange zest pinch of salt
APPLE PIE
1/4 cup freeze dried apples
1 T chopped toasted pecans or walnuts
2 T brown sugar packed
3/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. allspice
pinch of salt
CHOCOLATE LOVERS
1 T unsweetened cocoa powder
1 T almonds
1/2 T chocolate chips
3 tsp. sugar
pinch of salt
DATE COCONUT
1 T chopped dates
1 T chopped walnuts
2 tsp. coconut butter
2 tsp. brown sugar
pinch of salt
I used the above recipes but did not have all the ingredients so I fudged and made up my own as well. I used freeze dried blueberries and raspberries and added brown sugar and pecans. I also added chia seeds to that one. You can basically make up any combination of flavors that you like!
You can pretty up the package and make sure to put the preparation directions on the jar. The preparations are the following:
Microwave Prep
Add 3/4 c up to 1 cup water. Cook for 2-3 minutes. Stir let cool a little and adjust sugar if needed.
Traditional Prep
Add 3/4 c to 1 cup boiling water. Stir and let sit until desired consistency is reached. Adjust sugar to taste.
I topped the lid with a white heart doily and wrapped a piece of bakers twine around the jar. I also used the removable labels so that the jars could easily be used again. (It took me way too much time to scrub off some of the labels from past recipes)
I did throw in some chocolate covered pretzels for the chocolate binging that definitely is a part of a girl’s college existence!
Happy Valentine’s Day!!
Meg
