Custard Oatmeal

I don’t make custard oatmeal every time I make oatmeal because it is on the time-consuming side, but it is a good way to go if you want something hearty. The protein and fat from the egg will keep you satisfied longer, leaving you less likely to graze on other stuff all day long (sometimes).

Ingredients

You need three base ingredients for custard oatmeal: oatmeal (surprise), skim milk (or whatever fat % you like), and eggs. How much of each depends on how much you want to eat. You should have twice as much liquid as dry oatmeal, so 1/3 cup of dry oatmeal means you need 2/3 cup of milk. I usually add 1/2 egg to 1 egg per serving. If I’m just cooking for me, I use the whole egg.

You should also have handy any toppings/mix-ins you want to use, such as vanilla extract, fruit, yogurt, and/or spices.

Directions

Pour milk into saucepan. Add eggs.

Beat eggs into milk by hand (with a whisk or a fork) until it is thoroughly blended.

Put stove burner on medium-low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. (If you are using steel-cut oats or whole oat groats only, add them now. Otherwise, wait.) This is the longest step because the mixture needs to heat very slowly so you do not end up with scrambled eggs in your oatmeal. If you start to see little scrambles of egg, turn the heat all the way down to low and give the pot a break from the hot burner until it cools down. Keep stirring until the mixture starts to thicken — you’ll see swirls of white, like this:

At this point, think about what you want to add and which type of oats you are using. If your oats are quick-cooking and you’re adding fruit that you want to cook, too, add the fruit first. If your oats are old-fashioned and need longer than one minute, add them first so they can start cooking. In this example, my oats were quick-cooking, so here are the apples and bananas going in first:

Apples are hard and need a few minutes to cook if you want them soft (like I do). Keep stirring. When fruit is just about cooked the way you like it, add the quick-cooking oats:

This is also a good time to add a couple drops of vanilla extract and spices (like cinnamon). Continue stirring until oats are cooked. Spoon into serving bowls. Add desired toppings (peanut butter and more cinnamon, in this case).