I’m big on textures and I love the Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Organic Thick Rolled Oats or Steel Cut. The thick rolled ones have a wonderful robust texture and an extra nuttiness about them that I love.
3 cups water
¼ tsp salt
1 ½ cups oats
1 fresh peach fresh or frozen (peel first) diced into ½ inch cubes
Put water on to boil with ¼ tsp salt. I go ahead and add my oats at this point, I don’t wait for it to boil like many people do. Once they reach a boil I reduce the heat to med low and cook for 10-20 more minutes. Add peaches about 7 minutes after reducing the heat, when the oats are a few minutes from being done cover and take off the heat. Let sit for 2-5 minutes.
Note: you have to stir occasionally and may have to add water as needed to keep them from drying out too much. I like a certain consistency of oatmeal so add water to your desired level of consistency. Also depending upon the ripeness of the peaches you may need to add them sooner or later… you want them to soften but not become total mush… unless of course you like them that way!
*Also the peaches can be replaced with any fruit you like. Sometimes I do apples, bananas, strawberries, or even cacao instead.
Add toppings:
Nuts – pecans, peanuts chopped, sliced almonds, macadamia, or walnuts
Seeds – sunflower, hemp, pumpkin, chia, flax
Dried fruits – cranberries, raisins, goji
Other toppings – coconut, cacao nibs, pumpkin puree, sweet potato, nut butters,
Other fresh fruits – blueberries, raspberries, strawberries
Sweeteners – Stevia, Lakanto maple flavored syrup, Lakanto Monkfruit sweetner golden, Swerve, Maple Syrup, Honey, chia jam, fruit butters
A few versions of my favorites are:
*Peach oatmeal with raisins, pecans, pumpkin seeds, a pinch of cinnamon and the Lakanto Monkfruit sweetner golden
*Banana oatmeal with walnuts, hemp seeds, goji berries, fresh blueberries, and Lakanto maple flavored syrup
*Cacao oatmeal with cacao nibs chopped peanuts and stevia
*apple oatmeal with raisins, cinnamon, sunflower seeds, coconut, and honey
Get really adventurous and go for a more savory oatmeal get really creative and add eggs, cheese, scallions, herbs, seasonings, and spices, cook it in broth, try adding spinach, tomatoes or corn, miso paste, ricotta cheese, yogurt, cottage cheese,
Mix it up, get creative and make it your own!