Toasted Apple-Pecan Oatmeal with Maple Syrup

Oatmeal is boring. This will help.

Home made chunky applesauce:

2 lbs apples skinned, cored, and sliced.
1/4 cup sugar (sorry but the applesauce is very bland without the sugar)
1/4 t salt
1/4 C water

In a saute pan combine all and gently simmer/boil until the apples are soft but not mushy. This will make extra home made applesauce for later, it will have less sugar than store bought and no preservatives....a good alternative despite sugar content. Mash together but leave some chunks.

Toast 1 cup pecans in the oven at 350, watch them closely as pecans.....like all nuts....burn easily. Test how toasted they are by smell and look, they should become a deeper brown but not black, and release a deep nutty pecan smell. After they're toasted you can add what you want to the oatmeal and reserve the rest for other uses.

Make the oatmeal as directed, substituting milk for water if you want more protein. Put a large scoop of oatmeal in the center of a bowl. Pour in enough milk to make a moat around the oatmeal. Top it off with a large scoop of home made applesauce and sprinkle the toasted pecans on top. You can add flax seed to the oatmeal if you'd like. Drizzle sugar free Maple syrup on top of the pecans or if you're feeling decadent use brown sugar, or both.