Warm Weather Food

Despite the hot weather, I still eat like it's cold outside. Very little can prevent me from eating a hot bowl of oatmeal in the morning (in my defense, my house actually feels like an iceberg because my mom doesn't like the heat).

But, I do enjoy adding summer fruits into said oatmeal to match the outdoors.

Of course, nothing is better than a big bowl of steel-cut oats. And, when I make them, they spend a long time on the stove, allowing time for ingredients to cook down into ooey gooey goodness.

For example, I often enjoy bananas that have been slow-cooked into the oats. However, I ran into a problem with cooking blueberries this way. Instead of getting the taste of blueberry pie like I expected, the blueberries just got really plump and lost all their flavor.

So, before starting to cook the oats, I cooked down some blueberries with maple syrup and lemon juice and then added the oats and the rest of the ingredients.

Success! Take that hot weather.

Cooking down the blueberries first got all the flavor out, making my oatmeal like the inside of a blueberry pie. And it was blue!

Blueberry Oatmeal

-3/4 cup blueberries
-1 tsp lemon juice
-1 tbsp maple syrup
-1/4 c steel-cut oats
-1/2 cup milk of your choice
-pinch of salt
-1/4 tsp vanilla extract
-1 tsp cinnamon
-1 tbsp ground flaxseed
-for the topping: extra blueberries, pumpkin seeds, drizzle of milk, and a dusting of cinnamon

1. Cook down the blueberries, lemon juice, and maple syrup over medium heat. After about five minutes, once the berries are starting to get mushy, break the berries up with a spoon so that all the juices come out (this will serve as part of your cooking liquid).
2. Add the oats, milk, cinnamon, salt, vanilla, and cinnamon. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and cover. Simmer for about 30 minutes, stirring occassionally, until the liquid is mostly absorbed.
3. Stir in the flaxseed (this will absorb the rest of the liquid) and pour oatmeal into serving bowl.
4. Add toppings.

Enjoy!

-Meri