Stove Top Carrot Cake Oatmeal

I will admit that I am not a fan of stove top oatmeal. The Mr. has tried to make it a handful of times and every time I eat as much as I can but ultimately end up dumping it in the trash. It just never seems to taste like the instant stuff that comes in those convenient pouches. *Mega apples & cinnamon fan here* But this morning I woke up craving oatmeal and my instant stuff was all gone.  *Looks at canister of old fashioned oats* I started looking online for an oatmeal recipe that was easy to make, could be done on the stove top (a lot of recipes were baked) and something that sounded good and wasn't just  brown sugar mixed with oats. Which is when I found this recipe over at Oh She Glows.

The Mr. was pretty confused when at 9am I was in the kitchen grating away on some carrots, and like the gentleman that he is, he took over the grating so that I could work on getting everything else together. I will say that when I told him what I was making, I got "the look". You know, the look that says "I question your sanity". I shrugged it off thinking "you'll eat your unspoken words in about 20 minutes mister".  After all, this is the man that requests carrot cake every year for his birthday. How could he think carrot cake oatmeal was going to be anything short of amazing? He totally ate his unspoken words because this oatmeal rocked.

It didn't have that bland oatmeal flavor with random pockets of sweetness added in. It didn't even have a very sugary taste to it. Now granted, it didn't taste like I was eating mushy carrot cake either. You could taste the carrots, the maple syrup, the bursts of sweetness from the raisins and the crunchy nuttiness from the walnuts. It was like Disney World in my mouth. My taste buds were having the time of their life. I'm not saying that I'll never go back to the instant stuff because lets be honest here, the apples & cinnamon is outstanding, but it definitely opened my eyes to the fact that homemade oatmeal can be just as good.

Serves 2

• 1 heaping cup finely grated carrot (about 1 large)
• 1 cup and 2 Tbsp almond milk
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon, to taste
• 1/4 tsp ground ginger
• 1/8th tsp ground nutmeg
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 cup regular oats
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp lemon juice (optional)
• 2 tbsp chopped walnuts, divided
• 2 tbsp raisins, divided
• 2 tbsp pure maple syrup
• 1 tbsp sweetened shredded coconut, for garnish
• 1 tbsp coconut milk cream + 1/2 tsp pure maple syrup, to garnish (optional)

1. Finely grate 1 heaping cup of grated carrots. You want to use the fine grate and not the large one so the carrot shreds are very small. This helps the carrot blend in more.
2. In a medium sized pot over medium heat, whisk together the almond milk, optional coconut milk cream, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and a pinch of salt.
3. Stir in the grated carrots and oats. Adjust heat if necessary or bring heat to low if it starts to boil. Cook for about 8-9 minutes, stirring frequently. When the mixture has thickened up, remove from heat and stir in the vanilla extract, 1 tbsp walnuts, 1 tbsp raisins, and 2 tbsp of maple syrup. Remove from heat and portion into bowls.
4. Top the oatmeal with the remaining walnuts, raisins, and shredded coconut. If you are using coconut cream, you can mix a bit of the cream with maple syrup and drizzle on top of the oatmeal, as shown in the photo. Sprinkle with cinnamon for garnish.

This recipe is submitted in
My Meatless Monday
Just Another Meatless Monday