Warm, Hearty Oatmeal

Fall is here in Oslo and I’ve started craving warm, gooey porridge for breakfast. Fall is my favourite time of year, especially here in Oslo with all the beautiful colours, some sunshine, long walks in the park and my birthday;) I’m also excited about getting back to school, music, folk dance, blogging, etcetera, but right now I’m just enjoying the changing of seasons. Along with school start and colourful leaves, fall also means harvest and lots of locally produced fruits and vegetables. Yes, I do get excited about fresh and local produce because half of the year it’s to cold to grow anything here and hence everything is imported. Which affects both the flavour and quality, but most importantly, our planet.

Here is my favourite, super simple oatmeal/porridge recipe with a few suggestions to spice it up or increase the variation of vitamins and minerals. Ready, set, go!

Ingredients: 1 large portion/ 2 medium portions – if you’re afraid it’s too much, use 1 dL oats and 3 dL plant based milk instead. Remember that you can also store leftovers for later or breakfast the next day. Who knows, maybe someone else living under your roof would like to try as well?

1,5 dL oats (I use quick oats)

4,5 dL oat milk or other preferred plant based milk alternative (both oat and almond milk work well)

2 tsp chia seeds

Optional: 1/2 – 1 grated carrot, depending on how comfortable you feel about putting vegetables in your porridge. It does add vitamin A, it counts as one of your five veggies a day and doesn’t affect the flavour, so it’s a win-win-win. It even adds some orangish-yellow colour to the porridge.

Suggestions for toppings: 1/2 small apple (chopped), 1 tbsp nut butter of choice (I prefer almond), roughly chopped nuts, berries, cinnamon, raisins, whatever you want. My favourites are apple, almond butter and cinnamon.

Method:

The whole process from when you turn the pot on should not take more than 15 minutes, but if you’re afraid you won’t have enough time, make overnight oats instead. Add the same ingredients to a jar and refrigerate it over night. I can’t promise it will be warm and gooey though, cause it won’t.

Add the oats and plant based milk to a pot and turn the heat on medium-high as you grate the carrot into it (use the finer part of the grater to avoid large bits of carrot – unless that’s your thing, in which case, carry on). Add the chia seeds and stir.
Bring it to a boil and turn the heat down while stirring occasionally to avoid burning. Once the oats have expanded, there’s no excess plant milk lying around and the sketchy mixture sort of looks like porridge, you’re good to go. Transfer to your favourite porridge bowl (yes, I have one) and add your toppings of choice. Bon appétit! Or jam it all into a mason jar and run for the bus.