Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Oatmeal & Vanilla Bean Oatmeal

Mmmm... oatmeal! It has been getting cold here and a warm bowl of oatmeal in the morning has been so comforting. Of course, I get bored with the same old bowl of oatmeal with a little brown sugar sprinkled in. So, I turned to the wonderful world of food blogs and I wasn't disappointed. I found some great oatmeal recipes.

This week I have tried two; Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Oatmeal from Veggie Terrain and Vanilla Bean Oatmeal from Hot Off The Garlic Press. Both were amazing!

The raisin cookie oatmeal was out of this world! I loved how the walnuts provided some crunch and the cinnamon and nutmeg just highlighted the oatmeal. It really did taste like a cookie! So good!

The vanilla bean oatmeal was also great! It was more subdued, but not in a bad way. It had that classic vanilla flavor. If you think it is too expensive to use a vanilla bean for oatmeal, check out EBay! I didn't even think you could order vanilla beans on EBay, but you can and I did - for a heck of a lot cheaper than at the grocery store! Also, you could just use vanilla extract for the oatmeal, but I LOVE vanilla beans! I didn't take a picture of this oatmeal because it just looks like a plain bowl of oatmeal. But, I promise you, the flavor is anything but plain!!!

I will be trying another oatmeal recipe soon, so keep an eye out for that!

Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Oatmeal

1/2 cup oatmeal

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup milk

1/4 cup raisins

1/8 tsp vanilla extract

1 pinch nutmeg

1/2 Tbsp. brown sugar (or to taste)

1/4 cup walnuts

2 pinches ground cinnamon (or to taste)

Boil water and milk in medium saucepan. Stir in oatmeal & raisins, & reduce heat to low. Simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally for 3 - 5mins.

After oatmeal has cooked, remove pan from heat & stir in vanilla & nutmeg. Next, stir brown sugar into oatmeal.

Place oatmeal in individual serving bowl & sprinkle with walnuts & cinnamon.

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Vanilla Bean Oatmeal

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup oatmeal

1/2 vanilla bean, scraped

Pinch of salt

Brown sugar, optional

Boil milk and water with vanilla bean. Add oatmeal and pinch of salt; cook until done. Pour into bowl, add brown sugar, if desired.