I love oatmeal.  It’s warm, hearty, filling, stick-to-your-ribs delicious plant-based eating.  For years, I’ve been making a breakfast oatmeal that I call “warm apple pie oatmeal”.  It is the base for this recipe and is utterly delicious on it’s own.  Recently, I’ve been adding a bunch of extras to my oatmeal to load it up with fiber, Omega-3’s and lots of other important nutrients and minerals.   I’m so excited to share this new and improved version of one of my breakfast faves with you.

One note on preparation;  I do make these in the microwave because mornings in our household it a bit of a mad rush to get to the gym and workout, get dressed and ready for work, walk and feed the dogs, etc… in order to make the 7:30 AM train.   If you’re averse to using a microwave, you can totally make this on a stove top and it comes out just as great, it just takes a little bit longer.

Prep time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 3 minutes
Servings: 1 large individual serving

Ingredients:

1/2 C  rolled oats.  (Be careful; do not use quick-cooking oats)

1/2 C  boiled water (or from an instant-hot)

1/2 C unsweetened applesauce

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/8 tsp ground nutmeg

3 dates, diced

3 prunes, diced

2 TBL raw unsalted walnuts, chopped

1 TBL ground flaxseed

1 TBL slivered almonds

1 TBL Zante currants

Directions:

1)  Place oats in a microwave-safe bowl and add the 1/2 cup of hot or boiled water over them.   Use a spoon and press down the oats into the hot water to make sure all of the oats are wet. Let them soak for 3-4 minutes.

2)  While the oats are soaking, dice the dates and prunes and chop up the walnuts into smaller bits.

3)  Once the oats have mostly absorbed the water, place them on high in the microwave for 2 minutes.  Cooking times and strengths are different on each microwave so there might be some variation here.  When they’re cooking in the microwave, they will eventually come up to a rolling boil, but the oats stay in the bowl as they roll and boil.  When they’re done, they should look a bit pasty and there should be no water left at all.

4)  Add the applesauce, cinnamon and nutmeg.  Mix well to incorporate.

5) Microwave again for somewhere between 30 seconds and 1 minute.  If you’ve added room temperature applesauce, you’ll only need about 30 seconds.  But if your applesauce was refrigerated, you’ll need to go for a minute to warm it back up.  At this point, this is the “warm apple pie oatmeal” and it’s good to eat on it’s own.

6)  Add the remaining ingredients to the bowl, mix well and enjoy while warm.

Tip:  Add seasonal items to mix up the “warm apple pie” base to your oatmeal.  You can use dried cranberries and pecans in the autumn or dried cherries or fresh berries in the summer.  Make it your own and tell us what you did differently!

I love my diced dates and prunes, chopped walnuts, slivered almonds, and Zante currants!