You’ve probably noticed that oatmeal is one of my favorite things – so easy to prepare, minimal ingredients required and infinite flavor combinations. This week strawberries were on sale, so (after buying 4 cartons!) I was determined to come up with something more exciting than just slicing strawberries into plain oatmeal and calling it a day!

Strawberry-banana is a flavor combination I’ve always loved, ever since I used to get smoothies at the mall back in middle school. The two fruits go SO well together – such a nice balance of tartness, with creamy and sweet! As you’ll see with this recipe, by mashing/pureeing the fruit into the oatmeal you get SO much more flavor than just slicing and adding. It’s about 2 minutes extra work but absolutely worth it, I promise!

Here’s how you make it (2 large servings):

1. Mash 1 ripe banana – set aside
2. Add 2 cups fresh strawberries to a food processor and process until it’s a chunky mash consistency, but not yet a puree. Add to banana mash
3. Add 1 cup porridge oats, 2 cups unsweetened almond milk, 2 tsp cinnamon and dash vanilla to a pan and bring to a boil
4. Once boiling, reduce to a simmer and cook for 5 more minutes
5. While simmering, add in the mashed banana, strawberry mash and 2 tbsp chia seeds
6. Take off the heat, stir in 1 tbsp maple syrup and divide into 2 bowls. Serve immediately!

With most of my oatmeal recipes, I put a dollop of cashew butter on top. Totally optional, but tastes amazing. Greek yogurt would  be a great topping too – would make it more of a strawberries ‘n’ cream consistency, which sounds delicious!

Ingredients:

• 1 ripe banana
• 2 cups fresh strawberries (if using frozen, throw them in the microwave before putting in the food processor)
• 1 cup porridge oats
• 2 cups unsweetened almond milk
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• dash vanilla
• 2 tbsp chia seeds
• 1 tbsp maple syrup
• cashew butter/greek yogurt (optional toppings)

I hope you try this one soon – I can only imagine how good it would be with fresh strawberries this summer. Yum!!

Cheers!

CHH