Pumpkin, Orange, and Rosemary Oatmeal

As my regular readers know, I love rosemary. And all herbs. But especially rosemary. It’s one of the most satisfying and attention-grabbing flavors and goes surprisingly well with so many ingredients (especially fruits!). So today, I paired it with another fruit: pumpkin. (As much as we want pumpkin to be a veggie, it’s a total fruit.)

What you’ll need:

• 3/4 cup milk of choice, or water*
• 1/4 cup quick-cook steel cut oats*
• 1 tsp finely minced rosemary
• 1/4 cup pumpkin puree
• juice of half an orange
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• pinch of salt
• 2-4 tsp maple syrup (optional)

How to make it:

1. Bring milk (I use 1/2 c almond milk and 1/4 c water) to a boil, add oats and rosemary, and reduce heat to medium.
2. After a couple minutes, stir in your pumpkin puree, orange juice, vanilla exract, and salt. Stir occasionally.
3. If desired, add maple syrup to taste. The orange adds some sweetness but you’ll likely need more.
4. When you’re pleased with the consistency of the oatmeal, transfer to a bowl. Add a splash of your milk of choice and any other additional toppings (nuts, coconut, dried fruit, etc.). I do not recommend topping with more rosemary as raw rosemary is very tough and not fun to chew.

Just an FYI:

The orange brightens up the dish, just like in my Orange Sweet Potato Oatmeal. Orange and pumpkin are a good pair, orange and rosemary are a good pair, and rosemary and pumpkin are a good pair. What a fabulous trio!

In fact, the orange and rosemary add a lot of interesting flavor, and I didn’t need to add any sweetener. Always a win.

If you’re tired of Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal or Pumpkin Spice Latte Oatmeal, make this your pumpkin recipe of the season!

Random Recommendations: 

• [reads] the book “The Language of Food” by Dan Jurafsky is perfect if you love food, linguistics, history, or (like me) all three
• [eats] Chocolate Covered Katie’s Sweet Potato Chili is my go-to chili recipe each winter