Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal

I still have a crisper full of apples from the orchard. This morning, despite unusually warm temperatures, I woke up craving a bowl of oatmeal. My thought: Apples and oats go together like ramalamalam...whatever they say in Grease. So I combined the two. And it worked out just swimmingly. (It's kind of hard to mess up a bowl of oats, though. Right?) I started off with this guy:

I think it's a Gala. But why is it that an apple with some leaves on it is even better than one without, despite the fact that they're the same apple from the same orchard...possibly even from the same tree?

Maybe it's just me.

Back to the oats. I took half of the crisp ball of deliciousness above and shred it to bits with a cheese grater, then combined it with the following:

Plus some water, obvi. (Can't boil oats without it.) Notice the peanut butter? Sorry...the Archer Farms Almond, Peanut & Cashew Butter from Target. It's the bomb, and it's almost gone.

One lonely little serving. And so why spend all that time scraping it out when you can just turn the empty jar into a bowl? And then, when you pour the hot oats on top of it, the oats melt the butter a little which makes it easier to mix in. It sure is a trick to love, if you ask me. Oh, and Bakery on Main's Apple Raisin Walnut Granola...


...not a fan. I wasn't sure if I'd like it, so I only put a small handful on top of my finished bowl of oats. I mean, it was OKAY. But just okay. I liked the crunch it added to the oats, but would have been satisfied there with just the chunks of fresh apple I threw on top at the last minute.

Anyway, let's get to the recipe.

Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal
Ingredients
1 apple; half shredded, half chopped
1 cup of water
1/2 cup of old-fashioned oats
1/2 tsp cinnamon (more, depending on taste)
2 tbsp nut butter
Apple-based granola, optional

Directions
Cook the oats accordingly, adding the shredded apple and the cinnamon when they reach the consistency you like. Stir in the nut butter if you aren't using an almost-empty container. Top with the chopped apple (and the granola if you so desire).

I get hungry just thinking about it. Other possible additions include a touch of brown sugar for that apple pie taste, or maybe a (small) drizzle of caramel to make it taste like a caramel apple. But, well...that would bring down the healthy factor a little. Splurge if you want, though. We're allowed to on occasion.

Funny side note: About a year ago I posted a recipe for Apple Cinnamon Overnight Oats. I think you could easily turn that recipe into a bowl of hot oats, too.

Preggo update, in case you're curious:

I am officially in my third trimester. Time flies! The belly is getting bigger and the kicks are getting stronger. I've noticed more fatigue and some swelling in the legs if I stand for too long, but a good book and some elevated legs typically solves the problem. My emotions ran crazy today for some reason, I can honestly say it's one of the very few times they've done so. I blame it on fatigue. I didn't sleep much on Friday night—I blame that on Caribou Coffee and their inability to distinguish between decaf and regular—and I think it set a bad tone for my weekend. But anyways, I'm still doing good and loving the experience. My first baby shower is this coming weekend, so OF COURSE it's going to be a long week.

Time to soak up the rest of my Sunday.

Question: What kind of oats did you eat, the last time you ate oats?