Holiday Oatmeal with Cranberries & Orange

Everyday oatmeal all dressed up for Christmas with fresh cranberries and small bites of tangerine, a real study in taste and texture and temperature contrasts. It's a perfect choice for simple but still special breakfasts during the holidays, leaving room for ... dare I say? ... a cookie or two?

Approachable, Memorable Whole Food, Simply Prepared. Morning Oatmeal All Glammed Up for the Holidays. Mere Minutes to the Table. A New Addition to The Homemade Pantry, a Kitchen Parade Specialty. Budget Friendly. Weekday Easy, Holiday Special. Great for Meal Prep. Perfect When Cooking for One or Two. Weight Watchers Friendly. Vegetarian. Naturally Gluten Free. What're you waiting for?! So Good!!

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Intentional Holidays.

The holidays just rush up and take over, right?

Like a dam, let loose. Like a litter of puppies, at kibble time. Like the old Black Fridays, the doors opening at an ungodly hour.

I hear you, especially when Thanksgiving comes late.

Plus, the "big days" of the holidays get all the attention, right? Everything else is just preparation.

So when those big days fall through, the whole holiday season falls flat, all effort and no payoff.

Since 2020 (yeah, that 2020 and all its implications), I've been building a repertoire of small traditions to make December its own celebration, just us. In my head, it's our personal version of Little Christmas.

It starts with Charcuterie for Two, a weekly tradition during December. An exuberantly seasonal salad many weeknights. It includes a hunter's feast in early December and a solstice dinner on the darkest day of the year and holiday versions of our weekly Fri-Dates.

But this year, I'm looking for still-smaller traditions to make December feel special in quiet ways.

Like wearing jingle bells and a Christmas-red wool scarf going out. Like a candle on my desk while I'm working, Finnish-style. Like panettone toast. Like closing down the evening with a few cookies or a couple of easy-easy Finnish Christmas Stars. Like re-reading Christmas cards and letters on New Year's Eve, when there's time to absorb and reflect.

And now, something for mornings, too, a new tradition introduced by my sister just last year.

Holiday-friendly oatmeal totally works! No special groceries. Just minutes to make. And yet it "feels" and "looks" special, celebratory, festive. Plus there's just something so alluring about that snappy cranberry sourness with just a touch of sweet fruit.

A new breakfast tradition to look forward to throughout December? This is it!

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Recipe Overview: Holiday Oatmeal with Cranberry & Orange

• This is everyday stovetop oatmeal all dressed up for Christmas with fresh cranberries and tangerines. The oatmeal is a little bit creamy, that's thanks to cooking the oats and fruit in a 3:1 mixture of water:milk. (For more creaminess, use a 2:2 or 1:3 mixture.) It's a real study in contrasts: that snappy cranberry sourness with a touch of sweetness; the soft fruit with the chewy oats; the hot cranberries with the cold tangerines.

• Distinctive Ingredients = Old-Fashioned Oats + Cranberries + Tangerine
• Short Ingredient List = all the above + water + milk + salt
• For Serving = half & half + cinnamon sugar
• For Garnish, Optional = tangerine sections
• Kitchen Tools = a large heavy pot + a wooden spoon for stirring
• It takes about 15 minutes to cook the oatmeal on the stove, nearly all of it is hands-on, stirring, stirring, stirring.
• The oatmeal is quite pretty, popping with that brilliant cranberry color.
• No special cooking techniques are used here, you're just cooking some oatmeal (plus a few extra ingredients) on the stove.
• This is a time-friendly recipe, it's on the table in 20 minutes, start to finish.
• This is pantry-friendly recipe, calling only for ingredients likely to already be on hand during the holiday season.
• This is a calorie-friendly recipe, even with a little added sugar and a splash of half & half.
• This is a budget-friendly recipe, no pricey ingredients to shop for or order.
• As written, the recipe yields five cups of cooked oatmeal. My husband usually wants two cups, I'm always more than satisfied with one cup and often, even a half cup.
• This recipe works especially well for those Cooking for One or Two. If you like, it's easy to cut the recipe in half.
• So good! I hope you love it!


• For a larger batch of oatmeal, also cooked with that water:milk combination, check out Creamy Oatmeal. During the winter, this is a breakfast staple in our kitchen. I make a big batch early in the week, making breakfast extra fast. It has no sugar so we often serve it topped with eggs.
• Not quite what you're looking for? Check out my other oatmeal recipes.

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Why I Love This Recipe & You Might Too

• ... maybe we've been indulging a bit much? or maybe are saving up for a lunch or evening out?
• ... my palate wants something special but without all the richness of many holiday dishes
• ... it's a healthy, make-ahead breakfast for holiday mornings, one that works for early-risers and late-comers both
• ... there's no getting enough cranberries during the winter!
• ... someone came home from the grocery with a big bag of tangerines, no letting them go to waste
• Ready to get started? Here's your recipe!

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HOLIDAY OATMEAL with CRANBERRY & ORANGE

Hands-on time: 20 minutes
Time-to-table: 20 minutes
Makes 5 cups (easily halved or doubled)

OATMEAL
• 2 cups (185g) old-fashioned rolled oats (not quick or instant)
• 1 cup (233g) milk
• 3 cups (666g) water
• 1/4 cup (50g) brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt (assumes Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt)
• 2 cups (224g) fresh or frozen cranberries

PER SERVING
• 1 small tangerine, a few sections saved for garnish, the rest chopped small
• 1 cup Cooked Oatmeal
• A splash of Half & Half or Cream, optional but wonderful
• A sprinkle of Cinnamon Sugar, optional but wonderful
• Tangerine sections, for garnish, optional
• Blueberries, for garnish, optional

OATMEAL In a large, heavy saucepan with a lid, combine all the oatmeal ingredients. Bring the mixture to a boil on medium high heat, covered and stirring occasionally, then reduce the heat to maintain a simmer and cook, stirring often, until the cranberries pop and the oats are fully cooked.

PER SERVING For a single serving, in a soup bowl, mound the tangerine pieces in the center of the bowl, then top with the Cooked Oatmeal. Pour a little half & half around the edges. Sprinkle with Cinnamon Sugar and garnish with a few whole tangerine sections and a few blueberries.

Dig in while hot. So good!!

TAKE CARE! The cranberries may "pop" as they cook, sometimes spurting out of the pot. A lid makes all the difference but failing that, long sleeves will protect your arms. If the popping is too much, just turn the temperature down so the "pops" are fewer and smaller.

TIMING TIP The oatmeal is easily meal-prepped beforehand and then reheated to serve; you'll probably have to add some extra milk to loosen the oats.

TEMPERATURE TIP But don't stir the tangerines into the oatmeal until right before serving: for temperature contrast, you really want the oats and cranberries to be hot but the tangerines and half & half or cream to be cold.

LEFTOVERS reheat well in the microwave or on the stove but again, you'll probably need to add some extra liquid to loosen the oats.

VARIATIONS Go ahead, splurge a bit! Fresh blueberries are pricey this time of year but maybe splurge on a small container, even just a few taste extra-festive mid-winter! Or how about pomegranate seeds? Or a few toasted nuts or for a little barely sweet crunch, Maple-Glazed Pecans?

ALANNA's TIPS Make sure the pot is big enough to hold five cups of cooked oats plus plenty of room for stirring plus room for "swelling" as the oats cook. Better to go too big than too small, you don't want oatmeal to boil over on the stove! For anyone with a bag or two of cranberries in the freezer from last year, this is a good way to use them up before stocking up on new bags for this season. What about using dried cranberries? I've only made this with fresh cranberries but do think that dried cranberries would work, especially with a new Trader Joe's product, no-sugar dried cranberries. What about using leftover cranberry sauce instead of cooking cranberries with the oats? Go for it. But I'd probably skip the sugar (since cranberry sauce is usually already sweet) and stir it in late. For cinnamon sugar, here, I like to mix 2 tablespoons of sugar with 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon. It's less heady than my usual Cinnamon Sugar but somehow works perfectly.

FOR MORE INFO If you "skipped straight to the recipe," please scroll back to the top of this page for ingredient information, ingredient substitutions, tips and more. If you print this recipe, you'll want to check the recipe online for even more tips and extra information about ingredient substitutions, best results and more. See https://www.kitchenparade.com/2024/12/holiday-oatmeal-with-cranberries-orange.html .

Inspired by my sister and adapted from Creamy Oatmeal

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Shop Your Pantry First

(helping home cooks save money on groceries)

~ oatmeal recipes ~
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~ All Recipes, By Ingredient ~
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Kitchen Parade is written by second-generation food columnist Alanna Kellogg and features fresh, seasonal dishes for every-day healthful eating and occasional indulgences. Quick Suppers are Kitchen Parade favorites and feature recipes easy on the budget, the clock, the waistline and the dishwasher. Do you have a favorite recipe that other Kitchen Parade readers might like? Just send me a quick e-mail, you'll find my current address in the FAQs. How to print a Kitchen Parade recipe. Never miss a recipe! If you like this recipe, sign up for a free e-mail subscription. If you like Kitchen Parade, for more scratch cooking recipes using whole, healthful ingredients, you're sure to like my food blog about vegetable recipes, too, A Veggie Venture. If you make this recipe, I'd love to know your results! Just leave a comment below.

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