There are two ways to make oatmeal delicious: creativity, and good oats. I’ve been eating a lot of oatmeal this winter. It’s my weekday morning standby, and I’ll often make a more elaborate version on the weekends when I’m not cooking up pancakes or waffles. Good ingredients and variety and both key in keeping it tasty.

First, the oats.  There are lots of kinds of oats out there, starting with instant, followed by quick-cooking, regular (or “old-fashioned”, as if regular oats were no longer cool enough), and finally steel-cut. There are also various fancy or multi-grain varieties. Instant oats cook the fastest – instantly, like magic. Steel cut oats take the longest to cook, about 45 minutes on the stovetop (and they don’t do well in the microwave).

As a general rule, the longer your oats take to cook, the healthier they are for you. This is because quick-cooking varieties are made by stripping out the slow-but-nutritious parts of whole oats. The more you strip out, the less nutrition remains. The longer cooking kinds also have more flavor and character, for the same reason. Considering that the “long” cooking time for “old-fashioned” oats is 3 or 4 minutes in the microwave, there’s no real reason not to use them.  You don’t have to do anything – just wait 3 minutes longer while you go about your morning.

Steel-cut oats are another thing altogether, and they take both time and attention (in the form of occasional stirring). But they have as much resemblance to instant oats as bears do to teddy bears. They have texture. Character. A nutty flavor. They’re worth the extra effort for that alone, when you have the time.

But oats alone aren’t good eating, no matter how good the oats are.  There are a thousand ways to spice up your oatmeal, and almost all of them are more interesting than raisins.  My favorite source of inspiration for oatmeal is Trader Joe’s, where they have a huge selection of dried and frozen fruits, almost any of which could be a good addition.  I like to use these better than fresh fruits, because they’re easy to keep on hand, less expensive, and once they’re cooked up, the difference isn’t that noticeable. If you’re using dried fruit, just add a little more water; if you’re using frozen, use slightly less water. Don’t limit yourself to fruit, either, though it’s my most frequent choice.

You’ve got choices of sweeteners, too.  Brown sugar is most traditional, and has a nice flavor, but any sugar substitute will do well.  The sweetener can add as much character as the main ingredient: I like to use maple syrup, with certain kinds of fruit.  Honey can also be a nice touch (though, personally, it’s not usually my thing.)

Here are a number of oatmeal variations that I really like.  (No pictures this time – my kitchen is still out of commission.)

• Dried blueberries and brown sugar (my current favorite)
• Raspberries and maple syrup (perhaps flavored with Earl Grey)
• Dried cranberries and brown sugar and ginger
• Cheddar cheese, a pat of butter, and fresh ground pepper (kind of like grits)
• Pumpkin pie: a large spoonful of canned pumpkin puree, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, pecans, and sugar
• Mashed banana, honey, and walnuts
• Tea of any kind, like chai, Earl Grey, or fruit teas

There are also a number of things I’ve seen, but haven’t tried yet:

• Nutella and peanut butter (saw this on a menu over the weekend, but didn’t order it, and now it’s haunting me. I will be making this when I have my kitchen back.)
• Dried cherries and vanilla extract
• Jam of your choice
• Chopped peaches (with honey, and optionally with cream)

I especially like the idea of savory oatmeal, which Mark Bittman first made me thing about, but it’s far outside my usual idea (and most people’s idea) of what oatmeal is. (Here’s an idea from Bittman for oatmeal with olive oil and tapenade, which would either be awesome or gross, and I can’t decide which.) I haven’t explored this idea much, but it seems like it has potential – though it doesn’t lend itself to a quick breakfast.

Do you like oatmeal, or do you think it’s weird? If you like it, how do you like to dress it up? I know I’ve hit on only a tiny fraction of the tasty possibilities that are out there.

As you might expect, croissants make wonderful French toast. They are rich and tender and easy to eat. (I like to think there’s something fitting about turning French croissants into French toast… though I doubt they make it this way in France.) They don’t need maple syrup to make them taste good – fresh fruit does the trick much better.

My “special occasion” for making it this morning was supposed to be the approaching end of strawberry season in DC. Vendors at the farmer’s market were telling me there were only a couple weeks left, so I figured it was a good time for French toast and strawberries. But then we found the first raspberries of the season, so we had to change plans and have French toast with raspberries instead.

Good, fresh raspberries are precious. They’re hard to find, they’re pricey, and they don’t keep well. But I love them so much that it’s worth getting them whenever they’re in season (and that it’s worth taking up limited patio space on a crazy experiment to grow them myself – which has yielded a few flowers so far, so it seems to be working!)

They do keep quite badly – I’ve had too many bad experiences of leaving raspberries in the fridge even for a day, and finding them moldy. That’s just heartbreaking, so I always try to eat them the same day I get them. It’s not very hard.

I didn’t do anything special to make the French toast. I used one croissant per person, and made my usual batter of one egg, an equal amount of milk, a big pinch of sugar, and a bit of vanilla. (That amount was just right for 2 servings.) Then cut the croissants in half, coat both sides in batter, then cook each side until it’s lightly browned. Serve it with any sort of fresh berries and, if you want to be truly decadent, some whipped cream or creme fraiche.

Then go dream about it until it’s berry season again.

When I got home, the first nostalgia-inspired dish I made was breakfast tacos.  They probably almost certainly weren’t the real thing.  I don’t know the history behind breakfast tacos, but they’re an Austin specialty, and the locals love them so fiercely that I’m sure they’re steeped in tradition. (Austin readers: is this true?)

Most of the ones I had in Austin were similar, and very simple: potatoes, scrambled eggs, and cheese on a small flour tortilla.  Maybe some chicken or beef for you carnivores. Wrapped in foil, with salsa on the side.  You can see why they’re supposed to be a great hangover cure.  (Not that anyone at SXSW has tested that theory…)

Mine were sort of like that, but different enough that it was probably sacrilege.  I don’t care. They were tasty, and that’s the point. I used scrambled eggs, but sweet potatoes in place of regular ones, and a nice strong smoked cheddar that we happened to have.  I also used corn tortillas instead of flour ones, and they added a nice heartiness.

If you’re not religious about your breakfast tacos, then they’re as flexible as you want them to be.  There’s no recipe: just pick your fillings and load them onto a warm tortilla.  Scramble some eggs.  Pan-fry some potatoes.  Add beans. Or sausage, or even tofu.  Use cheddar cheese, or jack, or queso fresco.  Pile them high with veggies.  Dip them in salsa.

Just don’t work too hard at it – it is breakfast, after all.

But it’s not often I get to use fresh fruit – fruit season and oatmeal season don’t overlap much.  So, when I saw a box of raspberries at the farmer’s market this weekend, I knew I had to buy them and use them right away.  I had already been pondering oatmeal for brunch, and thought I would mix them in.  Oatmeal with raspberries!  It would be perfect.

I got my berries home and set about making oatmeal – boil the water, add the oats, simmer until done.  Except, as the oats were cooking, I found myself looking around for something to add that would complement the berries, and my nose was drawn to the mug of Earl Grey steeping on the counter.  Tea in oatmeal?  I pondered it.  Why not?  I poured half the mug into the oatmeal pot, and replenished the water in my mug.  I let it cook a little more to absorb the tea, then added some maple syrup, stirred in the raspberries.

It was good!  So good that I would do it again if I had the chance.  Anything with raspberries could hardly fail to be good, but in this case the ingredients melded really nicely.  In fact, I might try it again with frozen berries, which are both easier to come by and more economical.  The berries made it luxurious, and the tea – a successful experiment – gave it a hint of sophistication.  Next time, I would add the tea at the beginning, in place of most of the water, or else I might steep a tea bag as the water heated up.  Either way, I’d look for a stronger flavor.

And I regret that I don’t have pictures.  This was one of those spontaneous dishes that I didn’t think to photograph until I’d eaten half of it.

I’m still on the lookout for more fun oatmeal toppings.  Any suggestions?