Pan-fried Oatmeal

Eating healthy can be likened to a journey. One discovers new and inspiring things along the way. This morning as I sat at the dining table reading and enjoying my morning coffee, the thought of breakfast popped into my mind. I’ve been on an oatmeal kick lately but being that it was the weekend, I wanted something a bit more decadent and my regular oatmeal sounded boring. 

Pancakes or waffles sounded more like weekend breakfast but I really wanted to maintain my healthy breakfast streak. Then the idea came to me to use oatmeal instead of regular flour. I would simply grind up the oats in my food processor and sub the “flour” for regular flour. It would be a breakfast adventure. It would still be my regular oatmeal, just doctored up a bit and pan-fried. That sounded decadent enough to appease my weekend breakfast yearning. 

Recipe adapted from this one found on Pinterest: 

Ingredients: 

3/4 cup oat flour (approximately 1 heaping cup of regular oats, ground in a food processor or blender)

1/2 teaspoon baking soda 

2 eggs

1/3 cup milk (I used almond milk)

2 tablespoons agave syrup 

1 teaspoon vanilla

Butter for griddle

Raspberry jam (or other fruit jam of choice)

100% pure maple syrup

Directions:

In a bowl, whisk dry ingredients 

In a separate bowl add wet ingredients and whisk lightly to combine

Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and whisk until smooth. Adjust mixture with more flour or milk to reach desired consistency, one tablespoon at a time.

Place skillet over medium heat and add a couple of tablespoons of butter. Once the butter has stopped sizzling, ladle 1/4 cup of batter for each oatcake. Pan-fry on each side approximately 3-4 minutes. Repeat until batter is gone. Makes approximately 6 medium-sized oatcakes.

Serve with equal parts raspberry jam and maple syrup, blended together and heated.

They turned out delicious! 

The pan-fried oatmeal cakes were slightly more dry than regular pancakes, possibly due to the lack of a fat or oil used in the recipe, but topped with the raspberry jam and maple syrup they hit the spot. 

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?