Pumpkin, Apple, and Cranberry Oatmeal

Pumpkin. How can I make more pumpkin recipes? What else can be done with pumpkin? These are the questions I ask myself twice a day.

What spices and herbs go well with pumpkin? What fruits pair well with pumpkin? What different forms of oatmeal have I not tried with pumpkin?!

The result of this never-ending search is today's recipe. Seeing how well apples paired with sweet potatoes, I knew they'd be smashing with pumpkin. Of course, cranberries are my go-to dried fruit for autumn recipes, so I threw those in as well. Aaaand bam, cue the world's coziest breakfast.

On another note, I just have to share that I'm becoming freakishly closer to vegan every day. I've gotten to the point that the smell of my roommate's fried eggs makes me a little squeamish, and don't even get me started on the sight of cheese. Just looking at cheese repulses me. I used to severely limit my dairy and egg intake, but I would occasionally have feta or goat cheese on a salad, or indulge in a dessert that obviously contained variations of cream, eggs, butter, etc. The last time I bit into a friend's pastry, all I could taste was the butter, and I instantly wanted to spit it out and wash out my mouth. Seriously. I'm so ready to be a crazy vegan hippie. Mom, if you're reading this, I'm sorry (except I'm not at all).

I love my morning porridge. So vegan. So healthy. So clean. So warm. So lovely.

Anyway, the recipe below makes two servings!! I bolded and underlined that because I know it's an abnormality on my blog and people might not realize they're making a double serving. I did this to avoid only using half an apple because I know people hate it when I do that. :)

Pumpkin, Apple, & Cranberry Oatmeal

by The Oatmeal Artist

Prep Time: 2 min

Cook Time: 5 min

Keywords: stove top

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Ingredients (serves 2)

• 2 cups milk of choice, or water
• 1 cup rolled oats (I use Country Choice Organic)
• 4 pitted, chopped dates
• 1 apple
• 1/3 cup pumpkin puree
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• pinch nutmeg
• pinch ginger
• pinch allspice
• pinch of salt
• handful dried cranberries

Instructions

1. Bring milk (I use 1 c almond milk and 1 c water) to a boil, add oats, and reduce heat to medium. (If you'd like to add a teaspoon of flax or chia seeds, do so now.)
2. Add dates and dice apple into oatmeal immediately.
3. Once more of the liquid has absorbed, add pumpkin puree, vanilla extract, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and salt. Stir.
4. When you're pleased with the consistency of the oatmeal, stir in half of the cranberries, and then transfer to a bowl. Add a splash of your milk of choice, the remaining cranberries, and any other additional toppings (shredded coconut, nuts, etc.).

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**You can also find hundreds of other oatmeal recipes (as well as tons of other meatless recipes) on my Pinterest account!  You can also like The Oatmeal Artist on Facebook. Thanks!