Strawberry Kiwi Oatmeal: Simple, Seasonal, and Slow

Whew, it's been a while, hasn't it? Why have I not posted any new entries? Where I been? What have I been doing? Well, nowhere and not much; I just haven't been super inspired lately, nor have I really cooked anything of much interest (I'm not one to blog about every darn thing I eat, y'know). Excuses aside, I come to you this morning to break my blog fasting and to present you with a bowl of strawberry kiwi oatmeal.

I have had this love of oats for the past few years now, and I never seem to grow tired of them, especially Irish oats (a.k.a. pin-head oats or steel-cut oats). Sure, they take twenty minutes to cook, but they're well worth the effort. They're chewy and just more satisfying to eat than rolled oats. I don't really follow a recipe per se, when I make oats, I just go with the flow of what I have on hand. The only "recipe" is for the base oats...

1/4 cup Irish Oats
1 1/4 cups Hot Water
~ 1/4 cup Soy Milk, Buttermilk, and/or Plain Fat-Free Yogurt
Pinch of Salt

Throw the oats, salt, and water into a small sauce pan and boil on low until thick. Pour in your dairy, return to boil, simmer until thickened to your liking.

From here I add in whatever piques my palette. This morning I had strawberries and a kiwi on hand, so I took one big berry and diced it fine and did the same with half of the kiwi. These I added in about half way through the cooking process. Adding some of your ingredients while the oats boil allows them to cook into the oats and give you an overall background flavor. When the oats got to my desired creaminess, I sliced another strawberry and the other half of the kiwi and used them to top the oatmeal. I also took the liberty of adding a few drops of stevia extract to boost the sweetness factor, a bit.

Simple, seasonal, and slow.