walnut brownie oatmeal

Oatmeal reminds me of pork chops. (Stay with me, here.) Remember when it was pork chop night in the 90's and the news told our moms that pork needs to be cooked? A lot! To kill the bacteria! So you got this dried out, super chewy chop that you just smothered in applesauce to try to make it better? Well, I always had the same experience with oatmeal. It was bland. But little did I know that, like the elusive juicy pork chop, there were so many amazing topping choices out there. I give you, for example, Walnut Brownie Oatmeal:

Walnut Brownie Oatmeal
(serves 1)
1/3 cup oatmeal (I love Silver Palate's Thick & Rough Oatmeal)
3/4 cup water
handful chopped walnuts

1/2 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon brown sugar

dash of vanilla extract
Place water and oatmeal together in a saucepan over medium high heat. When the liquid and oats come to a boil stir well to keep it from sticking and keep stirring until most of the liquid is absorbed. Take off the heat, pour into a bowl and add the rest of the ingredients. 

Obviously since the discovery of toppings, I've been having a blast experimenting with oatmeal (see Banana Bread Steel Cut Oats and Baked Peanut Butter Banana Oatmeal) and who wouldn't after a lifetime of blah? Now if only I can get pork chops to taste this good...