June 29, 2010

Fire and Ice Sour Cherry Oatmeal

This weekend they started harvesting the cherries in the orchard next door and I'm busy eating frozen local ones from last year.  Doing my part to clean out the old I say.

I've been eating oatmeal a lot lately since I seem to notice it's lactogenic effect.  My new favorite oatmeal is Bob's Red Mill Scottish oatmeal.  It's creamy even when made water (since I'm off dairy and avoiding soy milk) and cooks quickly, unlike that Irish stuff that you have to remember to start the night before.  At first I was making it with dried cherries, raisins, nuts and cinnamon, then I moved on to frozen blueberries but now I'm in love with this combination. 

Fire and Ice Sour Cherry Oatmeal
Makes 1 serving

2 oz (~1/3 cup) Scottish oatmeal
1 cup water
a large pinch of salt *very important
5 oz (~1 cup) frozen sour cherries, no sugar added
1 tablespoon raw honey, I often buy from Sleeping Bear Farms
1 1/2 teaspoons extra virgin coconut oil

-Cook the oatmeal with the water and salt.  Two minutes in a microwave or use a stovetop or when I'm feeling more ambitious I follow this Soaked Oatmeal recipe.
-Top the steaming hot oatmeal with the frozen cherries and then drizzle over the honey and coconut oil.  The cold from the cherries will make the honey taffy-like and the coconut oil hard like Magic Shell.
-Eat right away to enjoy the textural and temperature contrasts. 

**As soon as I get some sweet cherries I'm making a batch of these Rum Soaked Preserved Cherries.