I’m a pretty boring breakfast person. If it’s just me, I would eat oatmeal (with a few mix-ins like sliced banana, raisins, and almonds) every morning of the week. Partly because it’s healthy, but mainly because I don’t like having to think about what to eat. In the morning, I’m ready to eat and I just want something fast and easy to put in my mouth!

My love of breakfast has definitely evolved. I remember not really caring for it in high school and only drinking a fruit smoothie in the morning because my mom made me. Freshly made, every morning. Man, how lucky was I?

Then in college, I met dorm food. Boring, not so tasty dorm food. The saving grace of our dining hall was brunch on the weekends! You can’t really mess up eggs and pancakes, right? It might not be Michelin star worthy food, but it was definitely better then whatever we had for dinner the night before. Thus began my deep fondness for breakfast.

These days, time seems so short, and the pull-out-all-the-stops breakfast with bacon and scrambles and other deliciousness doesn’t happen all the time. But, oatmeal? That happens all the time. Like I said though, I’m pretty boring with it. My toddler, however, got sick of it really fast. It started with her big brown eyes looking up at me with a little sad face when oatmeal was put in front of her, yet another morning. She started listing off all other foods that sounded better than her boring oatmeal. “Owange? Cheese? Pasta?” A few morning laters, she just got mad at me. “Nooo oaa-meeeeew!!!” And that did it.

Now, we switch it up with bagels and cream cheese, toast with peanut butter, and on the lucky mornings when Pat is up and doing breakfast, scrambled eggs and smoothies. And now we’ve also added oatmeal back into the mix, but not just any oatmeal, this amped up version that I’ve come to really love.

What’s great about it is that you can still make a big pot of it and reheat it throughout the week. And, besides grating the carrots, it’s really easy to pull together. I love it, Gianna loves it, Caleb wishes he could eat it, and.. Pat? Well, I’m still working on him.

Morning Glory Oats, adapted from Joy the Baker who got it from Whole Grain Mornings. 

6 cups water
1 1/2 cups steel cut oats
1 1/2 cups grated carrots (about 3 medium carrots)
heaping 1/2 cup raisins
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut flakes

In a medium pot, bring 6 cups of water to a boil. Add oats, carrot, raisins, and all the spices. Stir and let it return to a boil. Lower the heat to low and partially cover. Let it simmer away for about 25-30 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the coconut. Serve with milk.