Grilled Oatmeal –

When I saw this on the menu at Trader Duke’s, the restaurant attached to a Doubletree I stayed in, I knew I have to have this. I did, on the third and last day I stayed there and am glad I did. Grilled Oatmeal is breakfast heaven – healthy, hearty, and happy! This is warm, gooey, comforting, hearty, and familiar steel cut oats encased in a crunchy, crispy exterior.

Crunchy oats along with loads of scrumptious berries and packed with goodness nuts cooked with maple syrup and grilled to perfection – aren’t you in breakfast heaven now?

So here is what I ate at Trader Duke’s: Grilled Oatmeal – Homemade oatmeal with strawberries, blueberries, and Vermont Red Maple Granola, grilled and topped with a yogurt honey drizzle. $6.75
Here is the photo – not sure if it does full justice to the food – that I took before I dove into it at Trader Duke’s!

Flash forward to when I came home and described the meal to DH and the little ones. Of course, they all love oatmeal and they wanted me to make it for them. So using what I remembered the friendly lady serving us told me about how they make it, and of course, the internet (one recipe I found was here), I ventured into the land of grilled oatmeal.

So here is my version of it:

What you need:

• Steelcut oatmeal (I used the Trader Joes Quick cooking Steel cut oatmeal) – 1 cup
• Nuts (I used sliced almonds) – 2 tbsps
• One banana – Sliced
• Mixed berries (I used mixed frozen berries – raspberries, blueberries, blackberries) – 1/4 cup
• Maple syrup – to taste – 2 tsps (you can also use other sweeteners like sugar, brown sugar, or even jaggery)
• Water – 2 cups
• Milk – 1 cup
• Butter/coconut oil – 2 tsp
• Toppings of your choice

How to make it:

• Boil the water and add the oats to it, when 3/4 cooked (about six to seven minutes), add the milk to it. Cook for about three more minutes and add the maple syrup (or you can use other sweeteners), nuts, berries, and the bananas to it.  Gently mix and cool it down.
• Spread it in an 8 inch cake pan and once a little cooled, put it in the refrigerator overnight (or at least two hours).
• When ready to grill the oatmeal, preheat the grill – or in my case, I used my faithful old pan.
• Cut the oatmeal into desired shapes and place it on the grill/skillet/pan.
• Lightly brown it by adding a little butter if and as needed on both sides.
• Serve with toppings of your choice – maple syrup, fruit sauces, fruits, nuts and more.

Here are my photos:

Tips and Notes:

• This dish has endless possibilities – you can add anything you want in it – nuts/fruits/other – even savory items; you can add anything you want on it when ready to serve – nuts/fruits/spreads/yoghurt/whipped cream/others.
• If you find yourself without two hours in hand to refrigerate it, you can bake it for about 15 minutes. You can turn the oven on as you get the ingredients ready and as you cook the oatmeal so the oven is ready for you on time
• You can make batches of this oatmeal beforehand, freeze it and use it anytime you want. The pan seared/grilled oatmeal is super portable and if you need it sweetened/flavored, you can add it while cooking the oatmeal so the dry, crispy, crunchy, almost toast-like oatmeal is ready to eat for you without the need for toppings (since you have everything in it) anytime, anywhere.

As I researched some more, I found that it is also called pan seared oatmeal and one of the recipes I loved is here.

So, do you think you will try grilled oatmeal soon? Do let me know if you like it when you do and leave a comment either way – your own version of it which I would love to try, what I can do different.. 

Memes:

1. “Wasn’t that the definition of home? Not where you are from, but where you are wanted” – Verghese, Abraham –  Cutting for Stone
2. “Have regular hours for work and play; make each day both useful and pleasant, and prove that you understand the worth of time by employing it well.  Then youth will be delightful, old age will bring few regrets, and life become a beautiful success, in spite of poverty.”

3.  “She read all sorts of things: travels, and sermons, and old magazines. Nothing was so dull that she couldn’t get through with it. Anything really interesting absorbed her so that she never knew what was going on about her. The little girls to whose houses she went visiting had found this out, and always hid away their story-books when she was expected to tea. If they didn’t do this, she was
   sure to pick one up and plunge in, and then it was no use to call her, or tug at her dress, for she neither saw nor heard anything more, till it was time to go home.”  ― Susan Coolidge, What Katy Did – this quote is perfect for me, as my parents said exactly
   something similar to firend and relatives of me and actually would ask them to hide the books if they wanted me to talk and playJ
4. “Nothing comes from nothing, Thieflet; no story comes from nowhere; new stories are born from old–it is the new combinations that make them new.” ― Salman Rushdie, Haroun And The Sea Of Stories
5. “People can tell you to keep your mouth shut, but that doesn’t stop you from having your own opinion.”
   ― Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl
6. When a child asks you something, answer him, for goodness’ sake. But don’t make a production of it. Children are children, but they can spot an evasion quicker than adults, and evasion simply muddles ’em. To Kill a Mockingbird
7. It’s the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting. The Alchemist
8. Today you are you, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is youer than you. – Dr.Seuss
9. “In Liesel’s mind, the moon was sewn into the sky that night. Clouds were stitched around it.” – – The Book Thief
10.  And last, but not the least, a tribute to Maurice Sendak – “And Max, the king of all wild things, was lonely and wanted to be where someone loved him best of all.” (Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak, 1963)“Then from far away across the world he smelled good things to eat, so he gave up being king of the wild things.”
    ― Maurice Sendak, Where the Wild Things Are

So, did any of these authors or books or maybe even the actual quotes make your list? Do let me know by leaving a comment or link back… Would love to hear from you..