And the winner is...

Congratulations, Bethany! You will love your prize pack (and thanks for the recipe)! To everyone else that participated—thanks for reading Daily Dose! Keep eating your vegetables. Promise me you will. Can you promise me? I promised you something, remember? If you read yesterday's post, you know that I've got an oatmeal recipe for you and I'm here today to deliver it. Oh, and—there's a vegetable involved. One cup of a shredded, orange vegetable.

Hold on, hold on. Before you "yuk" and "ew" all over the place, just hear me out! I mean, you eat carrot cake. Right? It's not exactly the healthiest of desserts, but it does taste mighty fine. And carrots are fairly good for you. So how about a bowl of carrot cake oatmeal?

Yeah, I thought you'd come around. Looks good, right? It was. Very good, actually. Angela over at Oh She Glows posted the original recipe, and of course I made a few slight mods to accommodate my tastes and available ingredients. The resulting recipe:

Carrot Cake Oatmeal
Ingredients
1/2 cup oats
1 cup finely grated carrots
1 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tbsp maple syrup
2 tbsp crushed walnuts

Directions
Finely grate your carrots, then set aside for later use. Add milk and lemon juice to a pot set over medium heat. Stir, then add the spices and stir again. Let the mixture warm up, but don't bring it to a boil. Add the oats and carrots when you feel the liquids are sufficiently heated, stirring until mixed. Cook until the mixture thickens, but again—don't bring it to a boil. (Adjust your heat setting if necessary.) Add the vanilla, maple syrup and one tablespoon of the walnuts. Pour it into your favorite oatmeal bowl, then top with the remaining walnuts and a dash of cinnamon before enjoying what you've just created.

Note: Angela added coconut milk cream to her oatmeal. I didn't have any in my cupboards as I'm not the biggest coconut fan, which means I don't cook with it very often. Needless to say, I left it out. But I did have a lonely little packet of Artisan coconut butter on hand.

I figured it wouldn't hurt to give it a go as another topping, and you'll be happy to know that I'm glad I did. It was tasty. Although a bit overpowering at times, so I only added a little bit to each bite.

But still, the oats were fantastic without it so don't despair if you're lacking in the coconut department. I'm also thinking some maple syrup drizzled over the top would have been delicious, but alas...I forgot to test that theory. Next time. With that, I leave you. I'm off to visit Princess Diana's wedding dress. (Honestly, I am! It's on display at the art museum in Grand Rapids.)

Question: What sinful dessert would you like to see in oatmeal form? (I'm feeling creative in the kitchen these days...)