Hot Cereal Mix

I love oatmeal. But lately I have been becoming slightly bored of my usual old-fashioned oatmeal. I know there are many ways to jazz up oatmeal, but I was looking for a different kind of hot cereal mix. I have already made plenty of dry cereals, so I was looking for one I could cook in the microwave quickly in the morning and enjoy hot. I have a wide variety of healthy whole grains on hand that I love. So I developed a hot cereal mix using only five ingredients; oats, oat bran, flaxseed, wheat germ, and bran, that can be whipped up in less than five minutes.

For simplicity's sake (or maybe to complicate things further), we will call the oats "A", the bran "B", and the remaining ingredients (oat bran, flaxseed, and wheat germ) "C". 
The ratio of ingredients to make any amount of cereal mix is as follows A:B:C = 4:1:2. So 4 quantities of oats to 1 quantity of bran to 2 quantities of the remaining ingredients. Just start with an amount of bran, put in four times that amount of oats, and two times that amount of all the other ingredients. 
Here are some examples:

Hot Cereal Mix
old-fashioned oats....2 cups...1 cup...1/2 cup...1/4 cup
oat bran................1 cup...1/2 cup...1/4 cup...2 Tablespoons
ground flaxseed.......1 cup...1/2 cup...1/4 cup...2 Tablespoons
wheat germ...........1 cup...1/2 cup...1/4 cup...2 Tablespoons
natural wheat bran...1/2 cup...1/4 cup...2 Tablespoons...1 Tablespoon

The first amount makes approximately 5 1/2 cups or 16 serving, the second 2 3/4 cups or 8 servings, the third 1 1/2 cups or four servings, the fourth 3/4 cup or 2 servings.

I just measure all of the ingredients in a seal-able bag, seal it, then shake it up real good. I also give it a good stir each time before using. I store this mix in the freezer and cook it from frozen, because all of this ingredients go rancid quickly. I store all of these ingredients in the freezer anyway to keep them fresh.  If you began with your ingredients at room temperature or refrigerated, you can probably store this mix in the fridge for a few weeks instead.

The ingredients in this mix can probably be varied, and I know you can definitely leave the bran out if you don't like it, as well as probably other ingredients too, except for the oats. The amounts need not be 100% accurate either. I really like the texture of this cereal, but it is certainly different than oatmeal, and may not be everyone's cup of tea. Salt, sugar, and spice can be added to the dry mix, or you may add these as well as honey, maple syrup, molasses, jam, fresh or dried fruit, peanut butter, nuts, seeds, or whatever you like to individual servings after cooking. I like a hefty spoonful of cinnamon and some fresh fruit myself. Cooking instructions are to follow in tomorrow's post.