Intuitive Cooking : The Creamiest Apple Pie Oatmeal

this post is sponsored by nuts.com. thank you for supporting the partnerships that allow brewing happiness to grow and exist. xoxo.

Here’s something I’ve never done before. It’s no secret that I try to eat intuitively. But you may not know that when I’m not precisely measuring out recipes for this site – I also cook intuitively.

What does cooking intuitively mean?

Basically it means I listen to what my body asks for, and I make it. Usually without measurements or a recipe. I let the food guide me. This sounds very hippy-dippy, but I promise you can ask almost anyone who is comfortable in their kitchen and they’d probably cook the same way.

I’ve spent many years of my life intuitively making and perfecting simple recipes. They’ve become my go-to. And this oatmeal, well it might just be my pride and joy. I get requests to make this for breakfast OFTEN. It’s suuuuper creamy without using dairy, and topped with all the good Nuts.com goodies like shredded coconut, chopped pecans, and chopped walnuts. It just takes one pot and some patience to make. You’re gonna love it. You get *perfect* oatmeal every time. I promise.

If this “intuitive” measurement part freaks you out ’cause you’re type A and just want a freaking recipe, I’ll have you know that I’m type A too. But this truly is the best and easiest way to make flawless oatmeal every time. So you just have to give in and enjoy the ride. Your kitchen is not that scary. (Plus there’s a GIF that basically shows you every step.) And I’ll walk you through it.

Never fear. You can and will be an oatmeal champion.

More breakfast recipes like this : Creamy Sweet Grits with Strawberry-Chia Jam + Blueberry Almond Overnight Oats + Winter Superfood Oats + Nut and Seed Overnight Porridge 

Print

The Creamiest Apple Pie Oatmeal

Learn how to make the creamiest apple pie oatmeal without using measurements! You'll make the best oatmeal of your life, by learning to cook intuitively. 

Course Breakfast, Mornin' Eats

Cuisine American

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Total Time 25 minutes

Servings 1 -2

Author Brewing Happiness

Ingredients

• 1 fuji apple, cubed
• 1 handful Nuts.com rolled oats
• non dairy milk
• 1 small spoonful Nuts.com ground cinnamon
• 1 small spoonful vanilla extract
• 1 large spoonful honey

Top With:

• Nuts.com shredded coconut
• Nuts.com chopped walnuts
• Nuts.com chopped pecans
• 1 large spoonful nut butter (I used cashew)
• honey, drizzled (optional)

Instructions

1. Cube your apple and add it to the bottom of a pot. If you want less fruit, feel free to use 1/2 of an apple. Or if you want more fruit, use a large apple. 

2. Sprinkle Nuts.com rolled oats over the apples, just enough to create a thin layer. If I were to guesstimate a measurement, it would be about 1/3 - 1/2 cup. (The trick to creamy oats is way more liquid than oats.) 

3. Pour non dairy milk into the pot, until it nearly covers the apples and oats. You want them to be almost fully submerged. 

4. Add in your cinnamon, vanilla extract (sometimes I use the cap of the bottle to measure this), and honey. 

5. Turn on stove to high heat, stir, and bring everything to a boil (like, an aggressive boil.)

6. Reduce heat to low, stir, and cover. Cook like this for 10-20 minutes, depending on your oat to liquid ratio. Stir occasionally. 

7. Once your oatmeal has reached your desired level of creaminess/thickness, turn off the heat and pour into 1 or 2 bowls (depending on how hungry you are). 

8. Top with a large spoonful of nut butter, Nuts.com shredded coconut, chopped pecans, chopped walnuts, and a drizzle of honey.

9. EAT UP. 

The freedom and ability to intuit in the kitchen is not an easy skill. That’s why I wanted to start with a simple recipe. I want this method of cooking to not feel accomplishable instead of abstract. So here are a few tips on how to become a master of recipeless cooking…

1. TASTE EVERYTHING. That spice that you don’t know what it should be used for – smell it. Taste it. Try it. Every step of your “recipe” – taste it. If it tastes good at every step, you are doing something right.
2. GOOGLE IT. Still don’t know what that specific kitchen item would be good with/for? Google it! You have the internet at your fingertips, don’t pretend you’re a caveman who can’t research. Ask dumb questions. (You won’t be the only one.)
3. EXPERIMENT. You smelled ginger and you think it might be good in your oatmeal? DO IT. Try and try again. It is the only way we truly learn anything. Add a pinch of this with a dash of that and see if you like the combo. Is it a weird combo? IDK. Try it, and if all else fails, Google it.
4. If you have an inclination, TRUST IT. This is the way we learn to trust or modify our instincts in the kitchen. We as humans are nothing without trust. And we will never become comfortable in the kitchen if we don’t start listening to our instincts – right or wrong.
5. Start with the basics. Oatmeal, salads, roasted vegetables, etc. Start by going recipeless on the simple stuff and build up to the bigger stuff. That’s how you’ll feel confident.
6. Leave baking alone. Baking is a science. Don’t try to intuitively make cookies and then give up on your kitchen, because they don’t work. Baking is a category all to itself.
7. STUDY. That’s right. Look at other people’s recipes. Study them. Try to understand them proportionally. Then adapt it. Make it your own. Soon you won’t need other people’s work, and you can create from the rolodex in your brain.

Intuitive cooking is a skill made for the synthesis of your right and left brain. It’s not easy. It takes a lot of knowledge and understanding of measurements and cooking and spices and reactions. But it also takes some fearlessness and creativity and intuition and risk. That’s what makes it so hard. It’s not one or the other, it’s both – at the same time.

There is nothing wrong with making a bad meal in the name of intuitive cooking. It is going to happen. It needs to happen. When you fail you learn. So next time you’ll try something new. You get better (and so does your food.)

Hopefully this oatmeal gives you the ego boost you need to know that you can make a successful dish even without a full-on recipe. You can learn how to make delicious food all by yourself. (Look Ma, NO RECIPE!)  You can decide just how many oats go in your oatmeal and how much honey you like to sweeten it. It’s your kitchen. There are no rules.

Go forth and oatmeal. xo.