As a child my favorite sandwich was peanut butter and banana….hands down. That's not so say that a PB&J (especially one heavy on the J) didn't make me smile too, but if I had my choice of the sweet component in the salty-sweet sandwiches of my youth, it was always banana.
To this day if I see a few perfectly ripe bananas sitting on the counter my first thought is not to eat it straight-up, blend it up in a smoothie, or craft it into a banana bread. No, my first thought is to slice it on a bias, nestle it into a deep layer of rich peanut butter spread onto some good old-fashioned white bread (don't judge me), and take a psychic trip back to grade school while eating my favorite sandwich with plenty of potato chips thank you very much.
As I don't often have white bread in the house (aren't you glad you didn't judge me prior to the jump?) I've resorted to getting my peanut butter and banana fix by making this dish. Creamy (or crunchy) peanut butter is swirled into steel-cut oats just before they're done cooking, then once in the bowl they are topped with sliced bananas, Craisins, a few chopped nuts of your choice, a drizzle of honey or maple syrup, and if you're really feeling like a bad little boy/girl, a nice splash of heavy cream.
Yeah baby….that's what I'm talkin' about, a hot bowl of childhood memories to start your day. What could be better?
Cheers – Steve
Ingredients
- 1 cup milk
- 1 cup steel cut oats
- 1/3 cup peanut butter (feel free to substitute any kind of nut butter you like)
- enough sliced banana, dried cranberries, chopped nuts, honey or maple syrup, and heavy cream with which to top your bowl of oatmeal and make you SMILE.
Instructions
- Bring 3 cups of water, one cup of milk and a pinch of salt to a rolling boil over high heat. Toss in the oats, stir well, drop the heat to medium-low, and cook, stirring occasionally until the oats are creamy and cooked through, about 20-30 minutes. Just before they are done, spoon the peanut butter in and stir to incorporate.
- While the oats are cooking, gather the rest of your ingredients.
- Spoon the hot oats into a bowl and top with banana slices , Craisins, chopped nuts, sweet drizzle of your choice and some cream.