Orange and Sweet Potato Oatmeal

I hope nobody is getting impatient at my lack of baked and overnight recipes. My preference has always been for stove-top oats, so I will continue that trend most of the time. It also doesn't help that I do not have a microwave (for realz), so when I heat up my oatmeal in the morning, I just throw it on the stove to warm while I do my hair and make up. That definitely wouldn't work with a baked oatmeal!

However, I feel like I've pumped out some pretty fantastic recipes lately, so I will not apologize. This one uses just five ingredients and a pinch of salt--hurray for simplicity! As it turns, one orange is all it take to add a special brightness to a simple sweet potato porridge.

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.

Salted Plum Oatmeal

Bubble tea (or “boba,” if you prefer) is the best. I sometimes feel like I judge people on whether or not they like bubble tea. Not in a “You don’t like boba = you suck at life” kind of way, but in a “You don’t like boba = I don’t understand you and we can’t be friends” kind of way. Like, I’m sure you’re a great person…but we just can’t be friends.

My favorite bubble tea place—despite all the wonderful teas I’ve had in NYC—is the Tea Garden in the Twin Cities in Minnesota. I’m serious. The best. You can actually taste the TEA, and it’s not just a sugar/juice-fest. They also have a ton of different flavors, and you can mix and match up to three flavors at one time. How is that NOT awesome?

Choco-Cherry Cashew Oatmeal

KIND bars cost too much. Let's all agree on that. Certainly, they are a high-quality product and deserve to cost as much as they do. However, this girl will not be buying them on the regular. This girl receives a living stipend (not an actual salary) and spends too much money at Banana Republic.

However, I splurge on one or two bars from time to time. In August, when I was technically homeless for a week, was massively in debt, and had no functioning kitchen to cook in, I survived on bananas, hummus, and whole wheat naan. To make my life seem less pathetic, I also treated myself to one single KIND bar.

I remember unwrapping it for a mid-morning snack during my staff training session. For a moment, my boss's voice faded off as my attention focused on the brilliance happening in my mouth. Dark chocolate, sweet cherries, and salty cashews worked harmoniously and created a chewy, crunchy, decadent snack bar.

Oatmeal Recipes for Autumn Lovers

I can take a hint. When I asked for what ingredients you'd like to see more of in my recipes, the resounding opinion was simply everything autumn. I couldn't agree more, which is why I've been pumping out all sorts of hearty, autumn goodness. Summer food is delicious, but when the temperature starts dropping slightly and everyone breaks out their best pair of boots, delving into a bowl of cozy porridge is truly perfection. This is the time of year when the "seasonal porridge lovers" join us crazies who eat it year-round. For once, everyone's in agreement, and we can all share our love of hot, creamy, pumpkin-themed oatmeal. :)

Here are my favorite and/or most popular autumn-themed oatmeal recipes. Plus, since everyone lurrrrves my autumn recipes, I capped myself off at ten recipes instead of five. (And yes, there will be pumpkin.)

Pumpkin Pie Steel-Cut Oatmeal

For over a year, I had to stomach the fact that my Salted Brownie Baked Oatmeal was my #1 most viewed recipe. I mean, that recipe was fine and dandy, but number one?? C'mon. Not even close. I could name thirty recipes that I'd pick over that one.

Luckily for me, the most wonderful thing happened about a month ago. As always, August and September ushered in the yearly pumpkin craze, and my Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal received a great deal of love on Pinterest. Out of nowhere, this recipe vaulted into the #1 spot and surpassed the Salted Brownie by thousands of views. COOL. I feel like my Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal is a much better representative of my blog than the Salted Brownie.

I love my pumpkin pie recipes. Certainly, they're not my MOST favorite, but they're in my Top Ten. You might think that I'd be satisfied with a stove-top, baked, and overnight version, but no, I'm not finished. Now that I've fallen in love with steel-cut oats, it just made sense to add another variation to my pumpkin pie family.

Autumn Muesli

I don't know what it is about muesli lately, but I am all about it. I think it's because I've been setting my electric blanket too high at night, and when I wake up in the morning, all I want is cold muesli.

This muesli essentially just celebrates autumn. Okay, so maybe pumpkin didn't make it in (don't worry, that's coming!), BUT there are pepitas, which are pumpkin seeds, so...I guess that counts! I also used dried apples, raisins, golden raisins, dried cranberries, and pecan pieces. DIVINE.

My first bites were certainly pleasant, but I felt that something was missing. It was almost too light and bright and sunshiny. It needed more autumn. I took a risk and added a dash of cinnamon, and wow, it made all the difference!

Raspberry Plum Oatmeal

I love plums. I didn't realize it until fairly recently. They're such a pleasant size, easy to eat, not messy, and silky-soft on the inside. They are like a beautiful marriage between peaches and apples.

Unfortunately, I haven't had great luck with them in oatmeal. In my experience, they just don't give off much flavor. Pairing them with raspberries was quite successful, though! The raspberries provided the much-needed pow of flavor, and the cubes of soft plums could simply add a little variety to each spoonful.

Mexican Hot Chocolate Oatmeal

To all of you who turn your noses up every time I stir bananas into my recipes where they don't belong, you are in luck! With great self-control, I resisted the mashed banana. I did it for YOU.

Obviously, regular hot chocolate is brilliant. I never realized how much I loved hot chocolate until I moved to the East Coast and experienced the brilliance of L.A. Burdick's and City Bakery. These places serve up rich, thick, chocolate goodness that just coats your throat with luxury. What makes Mexican hot chocolate unique is the addition of cinnamon (and occasionally other spices). I included an optional pinch of cayenne, for I never turn down an opportunity for a little fire!

Gingerbread Steel-Cut Oatmeal

I've made Gingerbread Oatmeal before. You might remember it. It was one of my trials. One of my struggles. One of my white flags.

I gave up and just borrowed a recipe from Vegan Yack Attack.

This recipe is mine. Well, I can't take all the credit, of course. VYA's recipe did influence me a lot. However, I made sure to include some bananas in my version because I'm stubborn like that. I'm grateful I did because this was one spicy [insert colorful language here]. The banana helped mellow out all those cloves.