PB&J Oatmeal with Apples (Happy St. Patrick's Day!)

For months, I've been dreaming of this day. I imagined cooking up some elaborate Irish meal and drinking cider, Jameson, or some other Irish-related beverage with my besties. And oh yes, there would be soda bread.

As the day approached, however, I lost my motivation to do any serious baking. I could definitely make some soda bread, but beyond that, no way. For that reason, I was thrilled to see a Facebook post by a local cafe announcing that they were serving potato and leek soup with soda bread. Count me in!

That salad was wowza! Spinach, mandarin oranges, chickpeas, baby mozzarella, and a vinaigrette 

I've never had soda bread made with white flour before. It was tasty, but I found it too "light" and "cake-like." I guess some people would think those are positive attributes, but those people have never had soda bread before. ;) I like my soda bread dense and hearty. The only thing "sweet" about it should be the jam you slop on top. :)

We decided when we were finished that we were still a little bit hungry, so we walked down the block to our favorite bar/eatery to split one of their ah-may-zing cupcakes. Much to my delight, their flavor of the day was Irish Car Bomb!

The frosting was the star of the show for the most part, but in the last few bites, I finally tasted the cake itself. Wow. Absolutely incredible. I might have even liked to eat it plain, without the frosting. 

Anyway, I have another oatmeal recipe for you. It's basically the combination of several of my favorite oatmeal recipes. I woke up Monday morning craving peanut butter, but I needed to use up half an apple I had in the fridge, so I just kind of threw it all together. Naturally, it was delightful (I think I've made less than three "bad" bowls of oatmeal in my life. It's hard to screw up!).

PB&J Oatmeal with Apples

Prepare my Apple-Cinnamon Oatmeal. Top with swirls of your favorite jelly/jam/preserves and globs of your favorite nut butter. I used banana butter. Enjoy!

**You can check out my other oatmeal recipes here, or by clicking the oatmeal tag. You can also find dozens of other oatmeal recipes on my Pinterest board (along with tons of other meatless recipes!). Thanks!