You say oatmeal, I say "Yes Please!"

I love oatmeal. I love it plain or fancy, it is one of my favorite breakfast foods. Sometimes I like to experiment with new ways to make this favorite morning food of mine. I've added many different kinds of fruits and vegetables to jazz up my bowl. This morning I was thinking about an infant cereal that I use to feed my son, almost 26 years ago. *yikes* It was called Milupa and was made with rice and peas or carrots. James loved it. It made me think of adding carrots to my cereal and jazzing it up with spices to be a bit like carrot cake. Apparently this is not a new idea. I googled carrot cake oatmeal and came up with all sorts of recipes. Most of them were a tad more elaborate than I cared to be...seriously, icing on your carrot cake oatmeal? I prefer my oatmeal unsweetened and felt that the sweetness of the carrots and raisins would be sweet enough and I was right. That said, I added a sweetener to the recipe as an option for those of you that prefer a sweeter breakfast.


Carrot Cake Oatmeal

1/2 cup oatmeal
1 med-large carrot, finely grated or whizzed in the food processor until fine
1/4 cup raisins
1 cup almond milk
1/2 cup water
1/2 t cinnamon
1/8 t ginger
pinch nutmeg
1-2 T sweetener of your choice , maple, rice or agave syrup would work well (optional)
1-2 T chopped nuts

Place all ingredients except nuts and sweetener in a small saucepan. Cook over med-high heat stirring often until mixture comes to a boil. Once mixture comes to a boil stir until oatmeal is the desired thickness, usually about 6 to 8 minutes. Taste and sweeten as desired. Place in one bowl for a large serving or two bowls for smaller servings, sprinkle with chopped nuts.

*You could also drizzle a bit of soy creamer over your oatmeal if you would like a bit of richness.