Weekend Breakfast

A quiet Sunday morning. You awaken and make your way down to the kitchen. Make a couple of cups of coffee. One for yourself and one for your husband. You feed and pet the kitty, then hand-deliver coffee to the husband. Spoiled. Perhaps, but totally deserved.

You then settle in at your desk to enjoy your coffee and morning ritual of sitting in front of the computer and discovering what happened on the Internet in the mere eight hours you were asleep. Suddenly the coffee cup is empty. Not too much later the stomach starts to growl. So back to the kitchen you go.

What's it going to be? Often on the weekends, a more extravagant breakfast tempts you. Scrambled eggs with beans and toast, American pancakes with bananas or berries and maple syrup, or breakfast tacos maybe? Today however, simplicity calls.

Whole oats are soaked in almond milk, then topped with fresh blueberries, a dollop of Greek yogurt, and finally, a drizzle of agave syrup. A perfect start to the morning. A new weekend breakfast ritual created.

What is your favorite weekend breakfast? Do you have a tried and true morning breakfast ritual?

Winter Breakfast

"Did you add salt?" He always asks me that when I make the oatmeal. I never cooked oatmeal with salt before we met. Salt is for savory food and oatmeal is a sweet, breakfast food, right? Okay, technically oatmeal is not sweet at all but you'll never catch me eating it plain or without some sort of sweet addition. And though I never would normally add salt to oatmeal, now I find my hand uncontrollably hovering over the salt bowl for a pinch to toss into the oatmeal as it cooks. 

There are still days that I forget and cook it without salt but nowadays, most times you'll find just a hint of salt flavor mixed in with my butter and brown sugar, or fruit topping. The tiny hint of salt provides a more rounded flavor and when I think about it, most chocolate chip cookie recipes that I've come across call for a little salt. 

A few combinations of things that you could find adorning my oatmeal:

- Fresh blueberries, walnut halves, butter, brown sugar and milk

- A light sprinkling of homemade granola, with sliced bananas & milk

- A BIG dollop of fresh “fruktkräm" and milk. Fruktkräm is a homemade Swedish jam made with any leftover berries and fruits, that are slightly passed their freshness but not quite ready for the compost, with a little added sugar and potato flour for thickener. So delicious!

... or one of my new favorites...

- Sliced bananas and a tablespoon or two of ground cinnamon cooked in with the 

  oatmeal that is then topped with a dusting of brown sugar and a heavy pour of milk. 

 Complete with a lovely cappuccino...

Good to the last spoonful...

And if I'm feeling especially inspired... 

baked oatmeal with bananas, blueberries, milk, eggs and a touch of sugar, cinnamon and pecans...

What favorite toppings or flavors adorn your oatmeal?