Stewed Fig and Apple Steel-Cut Oatmeal

Happy Tuesday! Happy last week of school for me! Happy birthday to my older brother, Christopher!

There are so many reasons to be happy this week. One of the reasons includes starting every morning with this oatmeal. The inspiration actually came from my dislike of the appearance of fresh figs. Why are they so unattractive? Thus, I thought to myself: maybe if I stew them or make a compote, I can enjoy the flavor of figs without the ugly appearance.

Well, it turns out that stewed figs are, in fact, uglier than a regular ol' fresh fig. Bummer.

Cinnamon Fig Steel-Cut Oatmeal

Do not fear cinnamon! I often add just enough in my recipes to give it a warm, cozy taste, but whenever I add more, I never regret it. For this particular recipe, I took a deep breath and added a full 1/2 teaspoon. It looked like too much for a moment: it even turned the oatmeal! However, after one bite, I knew I had made the correct choice.

I highly recommend going with the full 1/2 teaspoon. You'll never know unless you try. If you must, you could always start with a 1/4 teaspoon and slowly add more until you think you have enough...but that would make you a wimp. :)

Maple-Bacon Oatmeal with Figs

Where does one find figs in April? Since trying them back in August, I haven't been able to get them off my mind.

Answer: Whole Foods.

As the title implies, this oatmeal could be created using a variety of fruits. Maple and "bacon" are the key ingredients of this recipe, but I chose to make mine "with figs." You could make yours "with apple" or "with plum." Go for it. Be you. ;)

Berry and Fig Oatmeal

For all of my fig lovers out there (and there appears to be a large herd of you), this recipe comes as both a gift and an apology. Although this may rock your world and taste divine, I must share with you that this will be my final fig recipe until next year.

Take a deep breath. You will survive this.

I've enjoyed working with figs and getting to know them, but fig season is escaping us. Actually, I can't tell you exactly what months fig season runs, but something tells me figs have a short season. It just seems like one of those fruits.

Coconut, Honey, and Fig Oatmeal

Last Monday marked my first day of school at NYC. Thanks to my lovely 40-minute commute, this entails me waking up at 4:45 for the next ten months. Thankfully, I love my job. I feel like you have to love your job in order to drag yourself from underneath your electric blanket at 4:45 (yeah, I sleep with an electric blanket in August; don’t judge me!).

Luckily for me and my exhausted self, I’ve enjoyed some fantastic porridges every morning. Feeling particularly ambitious on Monday afternoon, I whipped up FOUR different oatmeal recipes. Yeah. Four. My roommates kept filtering in and out of the apartment, shooting me odd looks as I ran around the kitchen, pulling out seemingly unrelated ingredients and dirtying every bowl and spoon and fork in the cupboards.

Fig and Banana Muesli

I know hundreds of people in my own neighborhood live without a roof over their head or food to eat. They can barely afford a loaf of bread, let alone figs. Still, I have to say that not having gas really sucks. Cold showers suck. Not having a functional stove sucks. Not having an oven that heats up sucks.

Luckily, I've had dozens of recipes from July to post, but those are running out. I'm eager to "stay ahead" of the posts. I don't like feeling pressure to slap a post together just for the sake of staying on schedule.  Moreover, I just have to admit that eating overnight oatmeal cold is just not my thing.

Oh yeah, did I mention I don't have a microwave either?!