My favorite oatmeal recipe

An unsolicited plug for Bob's Red Mill products, located just south of Portland proper in Milwaukie, Oregon. Bob is a cool guy and makes some lovely products. In particular I'm fond of his oatmeal. Most mornings I use it to make the world's best oatmeal.

To make the world's best oatmeal you'll need:

• Bob's Red Mill steel cut oats. Steel-cut is the metalest of oatmeals.
• About a quarter-cup of almonds. I'm partial to the dry-roasted kind which you can find at Trader Joe's.
• A banana, sliced with a knife if you're a pansy or torn to bits with your bare hands like your ancestors before you. Also: see bullet-point one about steel cut oats bing the metalest of oatmeals.
• Cinnamon, to taste.
• Ginger, to taste.
• A tiny-dash of vanilla extract.
• A teaspoon of almond butter or peanut butter.

Occasionally I'll mix it up with seasonal berries, figs, raisins, walnuts, or a splash of almond-coconut milk.

Generally I throw the spices in with the oats while they cook, and sometimes I'll throw in the almonds/walnuts in too just to soften them up. I also used to throw the bananas in for a while, but kept burning them and got tired of the mess. Weird as that may sound, cooking the banana with the rest of the oatmeal actually tastes pretty great and smells even better!

Serve it with wicked-strong, home-roasted coffee and I promise you the rest of your day will be downhill from there because it's just too awesome.