Pumpkin Pineapple Cranberry Oatmeal

Oatmeal.... I have a bowl every morning, unless we happen to go out for breakfast. I've tried ordering oatmeal in a restaurant... it's never good, and heaven only knows how long it's been sitting in their kitchen. So for breakfast out, I splurge on an omelet or pancakes, but at home, it's oatmeal.

I've always mixed something into the oatmeal... otherwise, it tastes like soggy cardboard. I used to buy the oatmeal packets that have flavoring added... till I looked at the sugar and calorie count. If I'm going to splurge on that many calories, then I want a piece of chocolate cake or apple pie in front of me, not a bowl of oatmeal.

I started mixing raisins into the oatmeal.... AngelBoy loves raisins and can smell them from the other side of the house. If there are raisins in my bowl of oatmeal, that cat will sit in front of me and I have to take out the raisins and share them with him. Ever see a cat eating a raisin? AngelBoy chews on a raisin like a bunny chews on a carrot. (Totally cute.)

Then I started mixing crushed pineapple into the oatmeal. That was even better than the raisins because the juice from the pineapple goes all through the oatmeal and makes it sweet. (AngelBoy loves pineapple also, by the way. Come to think of it, the only fruits he doesn't like are bananas and apples.)

When I ran out of raisins one morning, I used dried cranberries in the oatmeal. Mmmm.... better than the raisins. Then just a few weeks ago, Oprah was talking about oatmeal on one of her shows. Into her morning oatmeal, she mixes in one tablespoon of pumpkin pie filling. I thought she had lost her mind.

However.... next time I went to the supermarket, I bought a can of pumpkin pie filling. When I made my oatmeal--- after it was cooked, I added one tablespoon of crushed pineapple, one tablespoon of dried cranberries, and then I added Oprah's one tablespoon of pumpkin pie filling. Mixed it all up........ the oatmeal turns the color of the pumpkin pie filling.... I zapped it in the microwave to get it nice and hot again......... and believe it or not, it was the best oatmeal I've ever had.

One thing, though--- don't try and use plain old canned pumpkin instead of pumpkin pie filling. I picked up the wrong can in the store last week and when I tasted that oatmeal with the plain pumpkin mixed in.... it tasted like soggy orange cardboard.