morning glory oatmeal

As promised…health food! And, bonus, it's also tasty. This is my apology for Tuesday's gastronomical gut bomb. I'm not gonna take it back. But just know you should probably try to work some of this oatmeal into your diet to balance out that mayo- and cheese-laden craziness. Everything in moderation, amiright?

So in college I was a devoted fan of instant oatmeal. You know the kind. Comes in a little brown packet. Pre-seasoned with dried chunks of apple or maple flavoring or spices. Done in a minute. Those packets were my go-to breakfast most days.

Recently, I tried instant oatmeal again. I know this is the part where I'm supposed to say something like this: Horrors! Instant oatmeal is a scourge upon our society and all that is wrong in the world!!! Never again will I sully my taste buds with such a vile creation!

But, guys, instant oatmeal is still pretty decent. However, I knew it could be better, as most all things are*, from scratch.

This oatmeal is inspired by traditional morning glory muffins, with grated carrots, orange zest, coconut, raisins, and lots of spices. However, I'm already planning other variations like maple pecan, chocolate peanut butter banana, or just a basic version with brown sugar and cinnamon.

I'll just go ahead and state the obvious: this oatmeal blew those old brown packets out of the water.

morning glory oatmeal

ingredients:
3 cups water
1 cup milk, plus extra for serving
1 cup steel-cut oats
1 cup grated carrots (about 2 medium carrots)
1/2 cup golden raisins
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
3 Tbsp light brown sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
2 tsp grated orange zest

directions:
In a saucepan, bring the water and milk to a gentle boil. Stir in the oats, carrots, golden raisins, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, brown sugar, vanilla, and salt and return to a boil. Decrease the heat to low and partially cover. Cook the oats stirring just once or twice until it begins to thicken and the oats are soft yet chewy, 25 to 30 minutes.

Remove from the heat and stir in the coconut flakes and orange zest. Cover and let sit for 5 minutes before serving.

Serve warm as is or with an extra splash of milk. Can be refrigerated and reheated throughout the week, just add more milk before reheating.

yield: 4 servings
source: barely adapted from Joy the Baker, originally from Whole Grain Mornings

*With the exception of boxed brownie mix, of course.