Normally you wouldn’t think that kiwi, banana, and pumpkin go well together, but they do! I had a left over kiwi that needed to be used up, and well… I am always looking for new oatmeal combinations, so I decided to add it to my morning bowl. I like lots of different textures in my oatmeal, so I also added a small handful of shredded oat cereal for crunch, some flax, and sunflower seeds and butter. It turned out awesome... and the spices made it like pumpkin pie!

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup (40g) steel cut oats
• 1/2 cup water
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 medium banana (I added 1/4 while the oats were cooking, and 1/4 as a topping, sliced into thin pieces)
• 1/4 cup canned pumpkin
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp stevia
• 1/4 tsp pumpkin spice
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
• 1 tsp flaxseed meal
• 1/2 small kiwi, peeled and sliced
• 1/2 tbsp (8g) sunflower seed butter
• pinch of sunflower seeds
• handful of shredded oats or your favorite crunchy whole grain cereal

Directions

The night before you plan to eat the oatmeal: In a medium size pan, heat the oats, water, and salt over medium-high heat, with a lid on. Once the mixture reaches a boil, turn the burner off. Make sure to keep a close watch, because a boil over can happen very quickly (speaking from experience). You do not want to lose half of your oats all over the stovetop! DO NOT REMOVE LID. This is very important. This keeps the moisture inside, which is going to continue to cook the oats. Leave the covered pot on the stovetop overnight. In the morning, turn the burner on to medium heat. Once the mixture begins to simmer, approximately 5-6 minutes, stir in a 1/4 of the sliced banana. Continue to stir often, almost whipping, until the banana breaks down and the mixture thickens. Once the oats have thickened to your desired consistency, turn the burner off and add the pumpkin, vanilla, stevia, pumpkin spice, cinnamon, and grated nutmeg while continuing to stir. Pour into a serving bowl and top with flaxseed meal, the rest of the sliced banana, sliced kiwi, shredded oats, sunflower seeds, and sunflower seed butter. Serve and enjoy! Check out more recipes from my 30-Day Oatmeal Challenge.