Cranberry Almond Oatmeal

It's been a little quiet this week, for which I will not apologize! I enjoyed the break. I came down with the flu last weekend, and it set me back quite a bit. I had recipes to post, but I felt pretty tired, busy, and lethargic the rest of my week. It took me heap-loads of ambition to drag myself out of my funk this morning, but I'm finally back.

I recently received an Amazon gift card for Christmas. Being a very strange person, I decided to buy groceries with it. Like anyone who eats freakishly strange but healthy food, some products (e.g. chia seeds!) can be expensive and/or hard to find, and Amazon is a beautiful place to find these things. What did I buy with my earnings? KIND bars.

Yes, my friends. I used my Amazon gift cards to purchase KIND bars from Amazon. KIND bars, as in the crazy elitist granola bar that's low-sugar, vegan, gluten-free, all-natural, etc. You can buy one of these bars for like $3 at the airport, so buying a box for $12 felt pretty cheap to me. :) And dang, it was worth every penny. I actually loathe granola bars (they just taste awful, even if they're "organic" and all that jazz), but THESE bars are to die for. They have WHOLE nuts in them, and you can taste the distinct flavors of each nut/other ingredient, and it's not just a smashed up, processed chunk of puffed rice with corn syrup gelling it together.

So anyway, after sampling each of the flavors in my variety pack, I've decided that the cranberry almond version is my favorite. As I was enjoying one the other day at school, I realized I've never done a cranberry almond oatmeal before, so voila....

Cranberry Almond Oatmeal

Required Ingredients

1/2 cup regular rolled oats

1 cup liquid (water and/or milk of choice)

1/2 ripe banana
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract

pinch of salt
almonds

1. Bring liquid (I use an equal mixture of almond milk and water) to a boil, add oats, and reduce heat to medium. (If you'd like to add flax or chia seeds, do so now.) 
2. Mash banana thoroughly and add to the oatmeal. Also add cranberries at this time.
3. Once more of the liquid has dissolved, add vanilla extract, almond extract, and salt. Stir.
4. If you'd like to add any extra ingredients (coconut oil, dried fruit, nuts, sunflower seeds), do so now.
5. When you're pleased with the consistency of the oatmeal, transfer to a bowl. Serve with another splash of your milk of choice, almonds, and any other additional toppings (shredded coconut, nuts, etc.).

**You can also find hundreds of other oatmeal recipes (as well as tons of other meatless recipes) on my Pinterest account!  Thanks!