Savory Oatmeal

Yeah... you read that correctly.

I am oatmeal's #1 fan. Don't bother fighting me on this one, I promise it's true. I have been an avid eater of oatmeal since I was a little girl. My parents always made me oatmeal with lots of brown sugar, cinnamon, maple syrup, and a splash of cold milk. SO good!! Because I grew up eating it, oatmeal is such a comfort food for me. I feel like I need to eat it once a day or I wasted an opportunity to bask in the goodness. No joke. 

(Side note: I no longer drown my oats in brown sugar and Aunt Jemima's maple syrup. I have advanced to healthier means of sweetening and flavoring; ripe bananas chopped and stirred into the still-cooking oats, almond butter, peanut butter, almond milk... you get the gist.) 

Yesterday, for breakfast I ate a Dave's Killer Bread Cinnamon Raisin Remix bagel with some almond butter and a load of berries. Great breakfast. Not oatmeal. As my dad and I were grocery shopping, I frantically tried figuring out a way to incorporate oats into my lunch. And by golly, I nailed it. 

SAVORY OATS

Things I used:

• 1/2 cup 100% whole grain oats

• 1 cup water

• White mushrooms: sliced

• Cherry tomatos: cut in halves

• A huge handful of spinach

• 1 Large egg

• Fresh cracked black pepper

• Dried thyme/oregano

• Trader Joe's "Everything but the Bagel" seasoning: do yourself a favor, if you don't have this, fix that

• Chili flakes/red pepper

• 1/2 very very tiny avocado: about the equivalent of 1/4 normal sized ago

How I did it:

Add the water to a pot and bring it to a boil

Add the oats once water is boiling and bring down to a medium heat

Add cracked black pepper and sprinkle some thyme and oregano into the oats, stir until combined

Cook the oats until they have reached desired thickness 

Remove from heat, add to a bowl, and cover with a paper towel to conserve heat

Spray nonstick oil into a pan on medium heat

Add mushrooms, halved cherry tomatoes, black pepper, and thyme/oregano into pan, occasionally stir until mushrooms brown and tomatoes start to soften

Add spinach into the pan and continue sautéing vegetables (and tomatoes) until the spinach is cooked down

Remove veggies from the pan and add to the top of the oatmeal, cover to keep warm

Respray pan to avoid egg getting stuck

Crack egg into the pan on medium heat, crack some more pepper over it, and cook until the entire egg white has become opaque

Carefully flip the egg so the yolk-side is down, and finish cooking through for about 30 seconds

Flip the egg back over (this is how I cook an egg over medium, the entire white is cooked and the yolk is still runny but protected)

Remove from heat and add to the top of the your oatmeal bowl

Add some sliced avocado and top it with some black pepper

Add a sprinkle of chili flakes to your egg

Finish it off with a shake of Everything but the Bagel seasoning, and you're done!

Read about some of the incredible benefits of oatmeal here.

Give it a shot before you knock it!