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You know my parents would be so proud of me if they were still here. Not because of what I’ve accomplished or the woman they inspired me to be but because that 7-year-old-girl-with-the-squiched-up-yucky-face-not-gonna-put-that-in-my-mouth-ever is eating oatmeal… ON PURPOSE! No seriously, you people don’t get it! My Mom would make us eat it on those very, very bitter cold school mornings as that would keep our tummies warm while we waited for the bus. Okay here’s the deal… I’m the youngest of 6 and was spoiled. My siblings are considerably older than I am.. like they are ANCIENT *wink* (love you guys!) so by the time it was my turn to wait for the school bus a good 1/2 mile or so away in the middle of no man’s land, my dearest father would drive me to the bus stop and sit there with me, in the car, with the heat running. Hot oatmeal in my tummy was NOT a good thing in a hot car… just sayin’. So when a big bowl of plain oatmeal was placed in front of me that squinched face appeared. Sure I’d try to make it into something ‘better’ (perhaps my inner chef was calling out) but back then the only way I knew how to make it better was to add sugar…and I mean A LOT OF SUGAR!
As I got older – you know the drill pretty much. Girl falls in love with the kitchen, girl experiments with oatmeal, girl realizes oatmeal doesn’t suck. And voila! A miracle… I ♥ oatmeal now. Obviously, huh? lol
Well this morning I made the mistake of just ‘running out to my car’ in just a tank top, sandals and thin pj bottoms. Um yeah.. it’s 18 degrees outside, snowing and FRIGGEN COLD! And why did I do this you may ask? Well I didn’t think it was that cold in the first place and I wanted my water bottle – yeah, not like I don’t have 42 of them in my cupboard right now. Genius I tell ya! I ran back in the house (by the way, wearing a tank shirt while it’s snowing outside = VERY COLD wet flakes down your back… not good!) shivering like a (as my Daddy used to say) “dog crappin’ razor blades!” Yeah I know… lovely image. But it’s funny.. admit it, you chuckled *wink*. Anyway I was damn cold. And what’s the best way to warm you up when you do something idiotic like I did this morning? No, not change clothes and put on warm ones (Geesh… that’s too easy), I’m talking scrumptious oatmeal.
I could have gone with one of these already posted
Cranberry Ginger White Chocolate Oatmeal
Dark Chocolate Oatmeal
Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal
but I wanted something different; something semi-sinful (okay, no, I wanted full on decadence). As I was thinking of some concoction I saw the jars upon jars upon jars of Homemade Luscious Caramel Sauce I had sitting on my counter. Once look of that sauce and I knew I HAD to incorporate that some way into my oatmeal. I opted then to go into pure debauchery mode and transform that drab bowl of plain oatmeal like my Momma used to make (sorry Mom) and into one of those ‘I could slap a nun for a bite of that’ tastes. *no, don’t ever slap a nun.. like ever! God’ll slap you and then I will. *
No really, take a moment and let it sink in. Stare at it…
your mouth is watering now, isn’t it? *grin*
Now if you didn’t want to, I *suppose* you could leave off the chocolate (which actually I did in one bowl – I mean you have to taste test all options, right?). Without the chocolate the caramel flavor was so much more intense.
And lemme tell you something folks…
Those sugar pecans… HOLY CRAP BATMAN! SOOOOOOOOOOOO fanfriggentastic! I mean seriously, you’re going to want to make a batch of them just by themselves. You WILL snack on these puppies sans the oatmeal.
Day 3 – Countdown to Christmas Sugared Pecan Turtle Oatmeal 2012
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Ingredients
- 1 cup milk
- 1 Tbl heavy cream *only use if you’re using lowfat/nonfat milk
- 1/2 cup quick cooking oats
- 1/3 cup pecans
- 2 Tbl brown sugar
- 4 Tbl Caramel Sauce, warmed
- 3 Tbl mini chocolate chips
Instructions
- In a small sauce pan over low heat add the milk and cream.
- Bring to so a simmer. You do not want to boil this.
- While the milk is simmering, in a medium pan over medium heat, add in the pecans and brown sugar.
- Gently stir them around to toast the nuts and melt the brown sugar. ~5-6 minutes. You will ‘smell’ the nuts when they have that warm nutty smell.
- When the brown sugar has crystalized to the pecans, turn the heat off and allow the nuts to cool.
- When steam starts to come off of the milk, add 2 Tbl caramel sauce and stir to combine.
- When the milk caramel mixture is combined, add in the oats and stir.
- While stirring gently, cook for 3-4 minutes or until desired thickness is reached. If it’s too thick add a Tbl of milk.
- Pour the cooked caramel oatmeal into a bowl, garnish with sugared pecans, chocolate chips and remaining 2 Tbl of caramel sauce.
That looks so yummy!! Wish I could eat nuts!!
Julie – you can so leave out the nuts and go straight for Caramel Chocolate decadence! If you wanted that crunch factor, you could take Grape Nuts and brown them in some butter and brown sugar. Heck you could even use granola.
Merry Christmas and Best Kitchen Wishes!
★★★★★