the winter weekend breakfast

My love of oatmeal was no doubt instilled in me by my dad.  He eats oatmeal almost every morning, loading it up with nuts and berries (dried or fresh).  He taught me the trick of putting a dinner plate over my bowl in the microwave so my oatmeal won't explode/boil over.  After much experimenting, I settled on my favorite combination of oatmeal stir-ins.  This concoction pays homage to my favorite breakfast when I was little, a "recipe" we learned in preschool of mixing Cheerios with peanut butter and honey.  Okay, I'll be honest.  I still eat Cheerios this way too.  My oatmeal though contains another ingredient - banana - which gets almost caramelized if you microwave your bowl right. 

Ingredients:

1/2 cup old fashioned oats (quick is fine too but I like the heartier texture)
3/4 cup soy milk
1 banana, sliced
1-2 tablespoons natural creamy peanut butter
1 tablespoon honey

Measure your oatmeal into a bowl.  Pour the milk over it.  Add your banana slices and stir it all together.  Cook in the microwave for 2 minutes.  Remove from microwave and stir in peanut butter, and then honey.  The peanut butter should stir in more easily once the mixture is warmed.  Put back in microwave for another 2 minutes.  It will be very hot, so use oven mitts when removing the bowl from the microwave.  Let sit for a minute or two, then enjoy! 

This is a hearty breakfast/brunch that will fuel you up for strenuous activities like hiking mountains or updating your blog.  I don't have time to make it before work during the week so it's my favorite weekend breakfast.  It is also delicious cold, if you can't eat it all and save your leftovers for later!

And a note about the book I was reading the day this photo was taken - David Nicholls is my new favorite author.  I picked up a copy of his novel One Day while in London Heathrow Airport and promptly devoured the entire thing on the transatlantic flight home.  I know people read entire books on flights like that all the time, but I have never been one of those people.  That book had me in a trance which concluded with heart-break at its ending.  The book was made into a movie, which I haven't seen and probably won't.  I sought out his other works from the chipublib (Chicago Public Library) and devoured A Question of Attraction almost as quickly as One Day.  This book was also made into a movie, Starter for Ten.  Nicholls' characters are flawed and garner empathy; their relationships are raw and soul-wrenching.  Next up on my list is his novel The Understudy...