Apple Pie (for breakfast!)

In the past, Apple Pie has always made me think of two things:

1. A story my mom has told us about her high school friend singing "High Hopes" whilst mopping the floor at her fast food restaurant job (you know, "I've got hiiiigh hopes; I've got hiiiigh hopes; I've got high-in-the-sky apple piiiiiie hopes..."
2. My brother with a big bite of apple pie in his mouth when we went to see what "present" our dog left for us in the garage (circa age 5 [me] and 7 [my brother]). He can't eat apple pie very comfortably to this day.

Neither of those things are very appetizing, but for some reason that's just what pops in my head ((and for some reason, I still love apple pie)).

After today, thankfully, I'll have something else to think about when I hear, "Apple pie":

 That's right, apple pie in a bowl! I was at a loss for breakfast this morning, so I scoured the kitchen for any worthy ingredients. I decided (predictably) on oatmeal. Here's what I whipped together--

1/2 c. raw oats
3/4 c. vanilla almond milk

~1/2 t. cinnamon

~1/8 t. nutmeg

~1/8 t. salt

~1/4 c. Old Fashioned applesauce

~2 T. chopped walnuts (optional)

~2 T. raisins (optional)

~3 T. granola (optional)

• For the oats, I used 'Old Fashioned', but I personally like 'Quick Oats' much better. I just haven't perfected my method of cooking the Old Fashioned ones yet. But that's all I had, so...
• Anyway I put the oats, milk, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt in a Pyrex measuring cup and heated this mixture in the microwave for about 3 minutes. I had to stop it at ~2:15 so it wouldn't boil over [it did anyway; I was too late...], and then I heated it for about another minute after that, until all the liquid was absorbed and the oats were no longer chewy.
• I normally would cook the oats on the stove, but I was lazy and didn't feel like washing the pot. I recommend stovetop. It doesn't take any more time (unless you have to wash a pot), and it is easier to monitor. Plus [warning: I'm occasionally a hippie] I think it tastes better.
•  While the oats were cooking, I put the last three ingredients into the bowl that I was planning on eat out of. 
• the nuts: I like a variety of textures in my food, so I added the nuts for a nice crunch, plus a little protein
• the raisins: completely optional if you think it would be weird to have raisins in your apple pie. I admit, it kind of is weird, but I'm a fan of raisins. (I could probably put them in my spaghetti and be perfectly okay with it...)

•  Then just add the cooked oats into the bowl of goodies and mix well.
• I sprinkled a bit of granola on top for an apple crumble kind of feel, but, again, this is optional.

It came out just right for me, but if you can't tell by all the tildes in the recipe, I pretty much just tossed things in a bowl (and tried to estimate quantities while writing this). Play around with it, and enjoy. Hopefully you'll end up with something edible.

Happy Tuesday, and here's to hoping I don't waste my "extra" day of February tomorrow!
-M


PS- Yep, no "mindful monday" this week. I was too busy keeping my mind on the ridiculous traffic while I drove back from a family reunion. Forgive me.