Gourmet Savory Hot Cereal with Bacon, Spinach, and Parmesan

This is my new go-to meal when I get home after a long day, tired and hungry. Five ingredients. Ten minutes. Rich, crispy strips of bacon with silky spinach quickly sautéed in olive oil, over a creamy, nutty ‘risotto’ of Hodgson Mill Oat Bran Cereal, sprinkled over with grated parmesan, a pinch of sea salt, and a grind of black pepper. It’s is an incredibly speedy way to a meal that’s delicious and satisfying without being too heavy.

The beauty of oats is that a little salt one way or a little sugar the other is the tipping point for dinner vs. breakfast/dessert. Remember when we talked about how convenient it is to make a big pot of steel cut oats for the week, and using different toppings to keep your meals exciting? It got me to thinking about other, more savory ways you can dress up a hot cereal, and this is the first dinner-worthy combo I’ve found that’s good enough to tell the world about . (Using bacon feels a bit like cheating–what isn’t delicious with bacon? But it’s just so tasty with the oats.)  And if you aren’t a fan of sweets for breakfast, it makes a fantastic start to the day, too.

I find I personally like the texture of oat bran cereal the best when I use half whole milk and half water. Feel free to experiment one way or the other; it works to make it with water, and it works to make it with all milk; I do think it is helped by a little bit of fat. If you agree, but all you have is water, you could always add a little knob of butter or a glug of olive oil.

Multigrain Sweet Potato Date Muffins

I pretty much gave up on store-bought muffins a long time ago. It only took one or two disappointments to make me avoid them; maybe it was the “bran” muffin that was timid and cakey, overly sweet, and obviously dyed with brown food coloring; maybe it was the even “cakier” sugar-encrusted blueberry muffin with only 3 blueberries in it. Those are breakfast cupcakes, people. If I wanted cake, I would order cake. When I order a muffin, I expect something I can really sink my teeth into. Something that will stay with me a good part of the morning, not give me a sugar crash by 10 a.m.

These muffins, on the other hand, combine the earthy sweetness of roasted sweet potatoes, the light caramel chewiness of dates, and the hearty goodness of oats, wheat bran, flaxseed, soy, wheat germ and cracked whole wheat in Hodgson Mill Multigrain Cereal. No simpering breakfast cupcakes here; these have a firm, springy texture that makes you take your time and savor each bite, and just enough sweetness to go great with a cup of coffee. I love the body and texture Multigrain Cereal brings to baked goods—if you like these, you might also want to try my Multigrain Pumpkin Pancakes.

Rise and Shine Tropical Multigrain Muffins

I had the best muffin a few weeks ago– a lifesaving muffin. I was on a road trip, driving through Michigan, and having a really hard time finding quick road food that was not covered in cheese, or deep-fried, or both. I stopped at a little diner and the sign at the front advertised “Rise and Shine Bran Muffins” packed with pineapple chunks, apples and raisins, and it was like someone turned on the sun in the middle of the night. Night and day, muffin, you are the one . . . .