It recently occurred to me how odd my recipe collection here in my posts is. From reading here, one would get the impression that I cook mostly muffins; that is not the case. The recipes that I post are for things that I actually bother to follow a recipe for; most of the things I cook–the stews, pastas, potatoes & rice dishes that make up my day-to-day life aren’t necessarily planned, and certainly aren’t measured–and this is what most cooking, as well as most of my life, is like: I look at what’s available, and I make the best of it.
Among the best is this breakfast oatmeal, which my daughter and I started making after having some incredible oatmeal at the Tiny Cup Café in Brooklyn. The inspiration was theirs, but the genius behind it is probably my daughter’s.
Ingredients:
- Oatmeal
- Milk or something like it (I use some unsweetened almond milk and a little sweetened)
- Salt
- Nuts
- Dried Fruit
- Fresh Fruit
- Pumpkin Seeds
- Sunflower Seeds
- Coconut
- Chocolate Chips
- Peanut Butter
- Whatever else you can think of
Step 1, Heat the liquid: It doesn’t matter how much, but I would advise about a cup per serving, I like to get it boiling first, then add a dash of cinnamon and salt, but you can do what you have to.
Step 2, Add the dry ingredients and stir, let simmer: Half 
the amount of oatmeal that you added of liquid. If you are adding dried fruit (or fresh), I like to add it next so it softens, but you might like it firmer. At this point, I am digging through my nut drawers and seeing what there is to add. I love dried cherries, almonds, sunflower and pumpkin seeds, but I make do with what is in the drawer.
Step 3, Simmer: Until it gets firm and lumpy, maybe 20
minutes; usually, I am ironing a shirt at this pint, so I don’t really know how long it takes.
Step 4, Serve: I like a pat of butter on it, and maybe some brown sugar, but some people like a little more milk or cream.
