Eating between meals or commonly called as merienda or snacks is so common among Filipinos. I don't know in other cultures if you also fond of eating on between meals.
If we are used to it, our stomach seems asking for food during merienda time which is usually around 9 in the morning and 3 in the afternoon.
Since we used to it, as a wife and a mother I always think of something to prepare or cook for our merienda. I am not fond of buying food outside as long as I have something to prepare or cook to save and at least to eat an healthy option.
We usually have champorado, a left over rice added with water, cocoa or milo and sugar then boil it. Sometimes we also have tinoghong, a term we used, where I add water and salt the let it boil.
Sometimes I also cook fried banana, boiled some sweet potatoes or cassava. Sometimes if I don't have something to cook, my husband will buy some pandesal or bread and then we will pair it with Milo, a chocolate drink.
One day, my husband brought an oatmeal, which I learned later that it was an item he get from a gift certificate given by their cooperative because he won a raffle last May 1, Labor day.
My son haven't tried it ever since, so it is new to him and he is so excited to try it. I told him that we will buy apple first so we could make the same on what is in the picture of the label. He agreed but when his father came home that afternoon, he then cook some oatmeal and put milk and sugar along with it. He really likes the taste and almost every afternoon he requested to have it.
One day, I bought some raisins for it and his father bought an apple. I then decided to make an oatmeal with apple and raisins.
Let's prepare oatmeal with apple and raisins for merienda.
INGREDIENTS:
1 cup quick cooking oatmeal
2 tablespoon brown sugar
1/2 or large apple
Raisins
2 tablespoon of powdered milk
2 cups of water
PROCEDURE:
Boil the two cups of water first and then put one cup of quick cooking oatmeal in a bowl.
Pour the hot water in the bowl with oatmeal then add two tablespoons of powdered milk. Stir to mix it and then cover until it is cooked.
While waiting for the oatmeal to be ready, I slice the half of an apple into little cubes.
When the oatmeal is ready, I added half tablespoon of brown sugar thinking that it only needs a little amount.
I then added the sliced apple and raisins.
I mixed it, tasted it and not yet satisfied with its sweetness so I added an additional brown sugar until the desired taste was reached.
The oatmeal with apple and raisins for our merienda is ready to serve.
My son felt so excited eating it but in the end, he prefer to eat apple alone and oatmeal alone. In short he doesn't like them when combined 😂.
That's a healthy and easy to prepare merienda for you and your family.
Thank you so much for reading.