Oatmeal with Stewed Fruit

Ahh, heart oatmeal, a great quick breakfast during the week or one to enjoy over the weekend.  I cannot live without oats in my cupboard.  I love to bake with rolled oats and of course to have a nice bowl of porridge.  I suppose being Irish and all it's a trademark, either that or growing up with it I love it.
Now I'm not taking about those instant packages that you get which I wouldn't even call oatmeal.  They have been so processed and broken down that you loose most of the benefits so why bother?  Because it's easy, they are convenient???  Well so is a pot of old-fashioned oats.  You can have a bowl in 90 seconds or if you don't like microwaves then 10 minutes.
By making your own oatmeal you know exactly what is in it, how much salt was added and how much sugar.  Then we come to the flavours, endless varieties that you can create yourself, plus a whole lot better using the real stuff rather than artificial flavour.  And of course buying your own oats over those packages is cheaper!!!!  Yep, you get more for your dollar...and I kinda like that, don't you?

But let's be honest plain oatmeal boring!!!!!  You gotta mixed it up here and make it interesting.  Aside from drizzling a half litre of real maple syrup I love to add fruit, best of all you don't need to add the extra sugar.  Try sliced bananas, apples and cinnamon, fresh or frozen blueberries, strawberries, whatever you like. 
Or better yet open your cupboard and find some dried fruit and make stewed fruit, don't these photos look yummy!  It's the easiest thing to do, and takes no time at all. 

Stewed fruit simply put is chopped up fruit, spices perhaps and some liquid, put it in a pot and cooked down. This morning I chopped up some apple, dried apricots, figs, threw in a handful of raisins, added cinnamon and topped it up with coffee and orange juice. Any liquid will do, even water, in this case though I had a pot of coffee beside me and some orange juice.  Put that on medium heat and let cook to soften the fruits and until the liquid is absorbed, done!  This will keep in the fridge for a good week or longer.