I'm sorry. I feel like I am always leading you astray. If I'm not beckoning you to come sit down and have a cocktail, then I'm taunting you with a cookie, or suggesting you take the most innocent and wholesome of food stuffs and fry it. I will do better. There will be some food of nutritive value this year. Though to be honest this breakfast is not nearly as naughty as I'm making it out to be. It's filled with good stuff like oats and flax seeds and just lightly grilled until it has a nice little crisp crust. You need just enough butter (Earth Balance) to keep it from sticking to the pan. In a well seasoned cast iron skillet, that is practically none. I just love how perfectly wrong the words fried and oatmeal sound together, but if it makes you feel better you could certainly call them oatmeal griddle cakes. Because in short, you are treating left-over oatmeal like a pancake.
We have been eating oatmeal like this for several weeks now for the following reasons:
- The toddler can eat it with his hands. True, he can and will eat the bowl variety with his hands as well, but this pan-fried preparation results in way more oats in his belly than on his pajamas and in his hair. This is a benefit.
- Paul bought steel cut oats which take way too long to cook on an average Tuesday. This way I make the pot of oats one morning and we dine for three.
- Trina doesn't like oatmeal.
There I said it. In order to call myself your mom, I feel as if I should really enjoy a cinnamony bowl of oats in the morning, but I don't. I would prefer toast and coffee, and then a sandwich a couple hours later please. Or quiche with some breakfast potatoes would be nice. Or pie and coffee around 7:30, followed by a big bowl of spicy posole around 9. But I keep trying to like the oatmeal. I don't consider not liking something an acceptable state. So I'm treating the griddled stuff as my gateway breakfast. Who knows? Maybe it will lead to full-fledged porridge-filled mornings in my future. How cozy.
Fried Oatmeal
1 batch oatmeal (1 cup steel-cut oats cooked with 4 cups water)
A small handful of chopped nuts (Maybe 1/4 cup? I like toasted pecans.)
About a tablespoon black strap molasses (To taste, don't get the measuring spoons dirty.)
About 2 tablespoons sugar (Or skip the molasses and just use brown sugar.)
About 1/2 cup flax meal (This is not essential for structural integrity, just an easy way to eat some healthy seeds.)
A scant tablespoon butter
- Stir your favored add-ins into the pot of cooked oatmeal. Pour into a pie plate. Smooth out the surface. Cover and refrigerate over night.
- The next morning, heat the butter in a large non-stick or cast iron skillet. Cut oatmeal into wedges and fry on each side for a couple minutes until crisp and golden brown.
- Pass the maple syrup, please.
Happy New Year!
