Haute-meal: How to Jazz Up Your Morning Oatmeal

Seven oatmeal recipes that go beyond your average oats

Let’s face it: these slushy, arctic mornings offer no incentive to get out of bed. But where weather fails, breakfast prevails—especially if you’re making one of these tasty oatmeal recipes. Here’s to warming up from the inside-out.

Apple-Berry Baked Oatmeal
via Whole Foods Market

Vanilla extract and vanilla yogurt make this baked breakfast treat full of winter-blues-fighting flavor. You can sub in different fruit according to what you have on hand, and the cake-like texture means you can take a slice along for a breakfast on the go.

Pumpkin Oatmeal
via Food Network

I strongly disagree with the fact that eating pumpkin-flavored everything should end with Thanksgiving. Better for you than a slice of pie, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, and pumpkin make this recipe perfect for chilly days.

Pomegranate Baked Oatmeal
via Fit Foodie Finds

Antioxidant-rich pomegranate juice and seeds make this oatmeal a tangy and sweet morning treat. Bonus: the pomegranate seeds sure do make it pretty.

Banana Walnut Oatmeal
via Kitchen Simplicity

As if anything could warm you up in a more comforting way than oatmeal reminiscent of homemade  banana bread. You’ll forget about the icicles outside in no time.

Baked Sweet Potato Oatmeal
via Healthy Food For Living

No matter what form they take, sweet potatoes always seem to be delicious. Having them warmed up with oats, cinnamon, nutmeg and brown sugar should be no different.

Oatmeal-Rhubarb Porridge
via EatingWell magazine

May the tangy goodness of rhubarb in this recipe remind you of warmer, brighter days. (Find frozen rhubarb at Whole Foods Markets.)

Blackberry Maple Oatmeal
via Itsy Bitsy Foodies

Use either store-bought or homemade blackberry maple syrup in this recipe. It’s a simple addition that will make your oatmeal—and your morning—much more enjoyable.