Apple-Bran Oatmeal

Firstly, a giant thank you to Sangeetha of Kothiyavunu for incredibly generously bestowing not one, not two, but four awards upon this humble blog! Sangeetha, truly, you are too kind...

Because these awards don't specify a number of fellow bloggers to whom I can pass the gifts along, I am thrilled to give these four awards to all of my fellow bloggers! Y'all are the greatest!

You, my wonderful blogger friends, have also helped me approach the gradually dropping temperatures with more enthusiasm than usual... As one who is perfectly content when the thermostat hovers around 110 degrees Fahrenheit, but begins to shiver as soon as the temperature dips below 70 degrees, I usually brace myself to endure, rather than celebrate Autumn and Winter. This year, however, how could one resist the enthusiasm of Gina, of The Candid RD, who creates glorious, creative pumpkin dishes (even pumpkin burgers!) with such evident joy that even I, upon reading her posts, want to run outside and glory in the crisp fall air. Or Steph, of steph chows, who is already baking pumpkin pies (stunningly beautiful, heart-shaped ones, too!), and thus reminds me that I can already start planning for Thanksgiving, one of my favorite holidays! So, when I awakened yesterday morning to find the house thermostat read 63 degrees inside the house, I didn't despair... First, I set about cleaning the whole house, bow to stern, and then went through my morning workout, thinking that the combined flurry of activity would surely warm me up. I was adamant about not turning on the heat - after all, we're in Georgia, where one isn't supposed to need heating elements in October... Several hours, a clean house, invigorated muscles, and a warm shower later, I was still cold, and rather hungry as I hadn't yet fixed breakfast... and thus, with all the glorious oatmeal and Autumn inspiration provided by my lovely fellow bloggers in mind, and since Zach, who, amazingly, doesn't like oatmeal, was at his oncology clinical rotation for the day, I decided to fix a bowl of oatmeal! I was in the mood for something hearty, something Fall-spiced, so I added a diced Granny Smith apple, a handful of raisins, a generous helping of cinnamon, and, for added fiber, a scoop of wheat bran! I then simply stirred everything up with a cup of skim milk and popped it in the microwave... (I would have simmered the oatmeal on the stove-top, but I had removed all the grates from our gas burners and installed them in the dishwasher during my cleaning frenzy, thus inadvertently incapacitating my stove...)

When the oatmeal emerged, steaming contentedly, I was delighted to discover that the wheat bran had added an extra-creamy texture to the oatmeal, while happily absorbing the nutty flavor of the oats... For added protein and even more creamy, nutty flavor, and in true blogger style, I added a scoop of peanut butter on top! Peanut butter and oatmeal is seriously the best flavor combination imaginable... I hadn't quite thought about just how much the oats and bran would puff up and expand, however, and suddenly found myself with two whole servings...

so I had one serving for breakfast...

and the other, that afternoon, for lunch!

Indeed, I've never had a batch of oatmeal quite that good before...

Apple-Bran Oatmeal

*Note: This batch makes two servings - feel free to halve or double the recipe as you please...

1 Granny Smith apple, diced

1/4 cup raisins

1/2 cup rolled oats

1/4 cup wheat bran

1 1/2 cup skim milk or vanilla soymilk, almond milk, etc (for the vegan version!)

1/2 tsp cinnamon

2 T natural peanut butter

~ In a large, microwave safe bowl, stir together the apple, raisins, oats, wheat bran, milk or soymilk/almond milk, and cinnamon.

~ Lightly cover the bowl, and microwave at 2 minute intervals, stirring after each interval, until the liquid has been absorbed and the apples are tender. Feel free to add a bit more liquid if you like...

~ Divide the oatmeal into two bowls, and serve each with a tablespoon of peanut butter on top!

On the blog this time last year... Apple-Pear Sauce!