Oats, Ginger and Apples

I decided that the post by Pat was too huge for those who like quick digestable bits of information, so I broke it down into two parts. So here is his recipe for a way to spice up your traditional oatmeal.


It's getting be that time of the year where it's unbearable to get up in your frigid house. At the same time the apple harvest is just wrapping up so there's mountains of apples to make stuff out of. So here's the breakfast that gets me out of bed all winter, with some of those autumn apples to make it like dessert first thing in the morning. What you'll need: rolled oats, water, cinnamon, ginger, raisins, an apple, brown sugar (or maple syrup) For 1 serving: Pour 1 1/3 cups water in a small pot, add about 5 shakes of cinnamon (I get those big jars that cost like a buck, so you can go nuts with it) and turn the burner on high. While that's boiling up peel and mince half an inch of ginger (see below) and dump that in the cinnamony water. When the water is boiling add 2/3 cups rolled oats and turn the heat down to low. You're gonna have to turn the heat down before the water boils if you have an electric stove, because otherwise the oats will froth over, and if the heat's too high the oatmeal on the bottom will get burnt and your pot will be a pain to clean out. Once that's simmering you can go get dressed, since it'll take the oats 7-10 minutes to absorb the water. Come back a couple minutes before it's supposed to be done and dice a third of an apple. You can save the rest but it'll just get brown so I usually end up eating it. A couple minutes before the oatmeal is done (it'll get those little dimples on the surface, like rice) dump the apples and raisons in there. Too early and the apples will get mushy and the raisons will become little fireballs, too late and they won't have time to warm up. Anyhow, when all the water's been absorbed give it a stir to get everything mixed in and let it stand for a minute. Dump all of it into a bowl and pour some brown sugar on top, then let it stand for another minute to let it caramelize real pretty. If you live in New England and can get maple syrup cheap this is also a delish touch. Heck, throw some more cinnamon on there if you really want to put on a show. Now you've got a piping hot breakfast that's got plenty of fiber, is slightly spicy (to warm you up even more) and sweet and fruity. This is kind of the gourmet version; when fall ends and the only apples available are trucked in from the Northwest you can skip them and go for the budget version. It'll still get you a pimp hot breakfast for like 25 cents and five minutes prep. Just remember to get some water in your pot before the scrapings dry, it'll spare you dish agony when you get around to cleaning up.