Hello from Swan’s Island, Maine! I’m here with friends, enjoying the ocean views and crunchy leaves and I would never like to leave, thank you very much. We’ve been keeping busy doing as much or as little as we want—hiking, going to the beach, thrifting, watching TikTok, playing with my ring light, crafting…
As usual, I have kind of taken over the kitchen. It’s just what I do, I suppose. I’ve made a couple of blog recipes (Everyday Cassoulet, Oatmeal Blender Pancakes) and still have one planned to make while I’m here. Today’s Easy Pumpkin Oatmeal, however, was improvised. It was thrown together on the fly on a lazy Monday morning with perfect light and a harbor bell ringing in the background–in a perfect world, it’s the way all my breakfasts would materialize.
Easy Pumpkin Oatmeal takes ten whole minutes and is hardly even a recipe. Just toast some oats and then add some water and milk (I used almond). Bring it to a simmer and cook, stirring constantly, for about five minutes or until creamy. Finish it off with some pure pumpkin purée, pumpkin pie spice, brown sugar and butter (the vegan stuff). Easy peasy pumpkin…squeezy?
I dished this up with cinnamon apples, vegan butter and maple syrup. I highly recommend eating it in your pajamas in a living room overlooking a lobstering wharf on a fall morning, but if you’re not currently situated on an island in Maine, any dining table will do.
Heads up that I’m going to take this Friday off of posting so I can enjoy my vacation, but I’m posting all our Maine meals over on Instagram, and I’ll have a full report and new recipes up next week!
Easy Pumpkin Oatmeal
makes 4-6 servings
3 tablespoons butter (regular or vegan), divided
3 cups old-fashioned oats
3 cups water
3 cups milk of choice (I used almond)
1/4-1/2 teaspoon Kosher or sea salt
1 cup pure pumpkin purée
1/3-1/2 cup light or dark brown sugar, packed (depending on preference)
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
For serving (optional):
cinnamon apples (the filling in this, basically)
toasted chopped nuts
maple syrup
cream
butter (regular or vegan)
Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a medium pot over medium heat. Add oats and toast, stirring constantly, until fragrant (1-2 minutes). Add water, milk and salt, and turn heat up to medium-high. Stir frequently until it comes to a simmer, then stir constantly for 5 minutes or until thickened.
Stir in pumpkin purée, pumpkin pie spice, and brown sugar. Cook 1 more minute. Remove from heat and stir in remaining 2 tablespoons butter.
Serve immediately with desired toppings.
But you know what is happy—er, what is making me happy? This Easy Stovetop Peanut Butter Granola. It’s super crisp, crunchy and peanut buttery, and took fifteen whole minutes to make. That’s the magic of stovetop granola. When you skip the oven, it takes 1/3 of the time! Oh, and it only makes a quart. Add this to the list of 
This isn’t my first go-round with 
Combine the wet ingredients. Whisk your oil, brown sugar, maple syrup, natural peanut butter, vanilla, cinnamon and salt together in a measuring cup. This provides the majority of the flavor in your granola and help it get good and crispy.
Toast the dry ingredients. Combine your oats and chopped peanuts in a heavy pan over medium heat. Stir them around for about 10 minutes, until fragrant and a little darker in color. Don’t burn ‘em.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry. Pour your peanut butter/maple/brown sugar/oil mixture into the oats and peanuts.
Cool. Scatter your granola on a rimmed baking sheet on a rack and let it come to room temperature. This is the part where your granola gets real good and crispy while you decide how you want to serve it. I highly recommend yogurt, raspberries and an artful drizzle of peanut butter.
You may notice that Easy Stovetop Peanut Butter Granola isn’t particularly cluster-prone. This doesn’t bother me in the slightest, but if you are a cluster person, you can reduce the oats and peanuts down to three cups total volume and keep everything else the same. Alternatively, swap the maple syrup for a thicker sweetener like honey or brown rice syrup, and maybe bump it up to 5-6 tablespoons. Either of those should work some clustering magic.
e2 bakes brooklyn 