For our latest voyage to St. Louis, we decided to drive. We love the open road but mainly the ability to bring our two boys, (Boston & Otis) so they too can partake in the Christmas festivities with all of their cousins.

On the open road, no matter how much I pack, we inevitably end up at a fast food restaurant for either lunch or dinner. We have affectionally nicknamed most fast food stops… CrackDonalds or WacArnolds, Booger Fling, ScrubWay, Crapplebees, I could go on.

On our latest road trip, we stopped at McDonald’s, and I tried their new Fruit & Maple Oatmeal. I was actually impressed. You can get it all day, it wasn’t a ginormous serving size, and it was, well, good. I opted for the without sugar variety.

Anywho, I’ve been craving it ever since. Hence CrackDonalds and decided to make my own version at home.

Ingredients

• 6 oz water
• 1/2 c old fashioned oats
• 1 teaspoon maple syrup
• 1/4 teaspoon brown sugar
• 1/4 apple, chopped
• 1-2 Tablespoons craisins and/or golden raisins

Add water, oats, maple syrup and brown sugar into a small saucepan on low heat. This is the “hard” part. Take your time, if you cook it too fast, your oats will be crunchy. Remove from heat after all the water is absorbed. When it’s cooking I chop up my apple and share the other 1/2 with the husband.

Pour contents into a bowl and top with apples, craisins, and golden raisins! (I didn’t have any golden raisins today.)

I think it’s a great rendition of McDonald’s oatmeal without all the preservatives! Hopefully you feel the same. Obviously, if you like your oats sweeter, you can add more maple syrup and brown sugar, but I think the sugar from the apples and craisins are the perfect sweetness. Enjoy!