Last of last summer’s blueberries

We’ll miss you.

Oatmeal interpretations: walnuts + cocoa + honey

Mid-holiday pause: oatmeal with blueberries, almond+fig spread, walnuts, honey, nutmeg

We are detoxing between two weekends of incessant festivities.

(But, you know, there’s still room for some almond+fig spread.)

New York Times oatmeal + buttermilk + blueberry pancakes, with a twist or two

Dear New York Times,

You don’t mind my tinkering with your lovely pancake recipe, right?  We go a long way back, you and I: all the way to my dirt-poor student days when I couldn’t wait to pick up your infant-sized Sunday self from street vendors on Broadway late every Saturday night.  (Oh, how your “Home & Garden” section gave me hope then, by reminding me that someday I, too, may have a kitchen larger than my underwear drawer.)  So, thanks for being a good sport about the liberties I’ve taken with your recipe.  Here goes my interpretation, in which many shortcuts are taken, nothing gets sifted, and hazelnuts make a surprise appearance.

New York Times oatmeal+buttermilk+blueberry pancakes

• 2 eggs, whisked
• 2 cups buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon canola oil
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup white flour
• 1/2 cup rolled oats
• 1/3 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/3 cup ground hazelnuts
• a fistful of frozen blueberries (yes, those farmers’ market lovelies earmarked last summer for a gray December day just like this)

1. Combine the first four ingredients.
2. Add the rest.  (I suppose you could sift the flour–but why?)
3. Wake up the husband to…
4. Cook the pancakes on a griddle,  1-2 minutes per side.

Baked oatmeal with apple + cranberry sauce

So you just had a marvelous four-day break and are feeling a bit insulted by the harsh return to reality?  Here, try some of this:

Baked oatmeal with apple + cranberry sauce

• 1 large apple, peeled and shredded
• 1.5 cup rolled oats
• 3 cups water
• leftover cranberry sauce

1. Combine the oats, water, and apple in a baking dish and bake on 400F for 20 minutes.
2. Add the cranberry sauce to the top and bake for another 5 minutes or so.
3. Serve with honey.

Yes, I suppose you will still have to go out and brave the world.  But you will be going out with something righteous and warm in your tummy, and that helps a little.  (Oh, and coffee?  That helps a lot.)

Oatmeal interpretations: pears + Nutella

This made me curse a little less at 6:47 AM.

Oatmeal interpretations: egg + salt + pepper

1) Cook the oatmeal.

2) Stir in a loosely scrambled egg.  (No worries; the heat of the oatmeal will cook it.)

3) Season with salt and pepper.

3) Swoon.

Oatmeal interpretations: apple + cinnamon + brown sugar + nutmeg

This is a bit more labor-intensive than our typical oatmeal interpretations, since it exceeds our maximum allowed breakfast prep time limit of 3 minutes.  It also requires a certain degree of wakefulness, which Mr. Onepot and I rarely achieve on weekday mornings as we stumble blindly and grumpily around the kitchen while assembling the, um, most important meal of the day.  After all, a knife and a grater are involved!  But oh, it’s worth it.  Once the oatmeal is done, just pile up half a grated apple and heap it with brown sugar and cinnamon and nutmeg.  What’s not to love?