Gaining weight on a tight budget: Power-packed oatmeal

(For a re-cap, one of my daughters is recovering from an eating disorder and is in the process of weight restoration. She requires a great deal of calories every day. However, this kind of meal could also meet the nutritional needs of someone needing to gain weight for other reasons.)

This morning, we made another power-packed shake for breakfast, with whole milk, oats, peanut butter, canned pumpkin, cocoa powder, sugar and oil. It topped 650 calories.

But yesterday, we did another weekend, power-packed favorite -- the meal-in-a-bowl bowl of oatmeal.

I make this in the microwave, for ease.

In a microwaveable casserole dish:

• bring 1 cup of whole milk, and a pinch of salt just below boiling (about 2-3 minutes in the microwave).
• stir in, 1/2 cup rolled oats, and any of the following:

• 1/4 cup canned pumpkin, applesauce, or mashed, cooked yams
• 2 to 3 tablespoons finely shredded carrots or zucchini
• 1 tablespoon butter or oil
• 2 teaspoons or so of sweetener (honey, sugar, agave, jam, jelly, maple syrup, molasses)
• 1 to 2 tablespoons peanut butter (or other nuts butters)
• 2 to 3 tablespoons chopped nuts or seeds
• 1/4 to 1/2  cup chopped apple, pear, sliced bananas
• cocoa powder
• pinch spices (cinnamon, cloves, ginger, nutmeg)
• ground flax seeds
• 1 tablespoon heavy whipping cream
• extracts (vanilla, maple)
• minced, cooked ham, or, crumbled, cooked bacon, or, diced, cooked breakfast sausage

• Microwave for an additional minute or two, until the oatmeal is porridge-y consistency. Top with 1/2 cup of additional milk, if desired. 
• This is 1 serving.

The first two items, the whole milk and 1/2 cup of rolled oats, contain about 300 calories. As I'm creating a bowl of oatmeal, I add up the additional calories in my head. My daughter is now taking in 650 calories for breakfasts, which means I need to add 350 more calories from the remaining list. It would be easy to just add fats and sugars, but we're going for complete nutrition in 1 meal, so I like to add some fruit and/or vegetables, nuts and/or seeds and/or some cooked breakfast meat.

For the rest of the family, I make a second, larger casserole dish of oatmeal in the microwave, using water in place of milk, and omitting the addition of oils, butter, whipping cream. I still add fruit/veg, nuts/seeds, crumbled bacon, ham or sausage, and flavors/spices, for interest, variety and nutrition.