Pumpkin Butter Oatmeal

Have you ever tried making pumpkin butter oatmeal? I assure you, it's delicious.

I first learned the bitter truth about sugar last year. Since then I've tried to reduce my added/processed sugar intake. Oatmeal is one of the things I hadn't managed to give up sweetening. I added about two tablespoons of brown sugar to one and a half cups of rolled oats. I would also pour fat free milk on top of the oatmeal after it was done cooking in the microwave. I love the feeling of contrast of cool milk and hot cooked oats. But milk also makes me cough a little because causes tissues to product mucus. And when I'm sick, like I am right now with some sort of sinus/chest infection, I don't need any additional stimuli for coughing.

So this morning I tried something different. I added about half a cup of pumpkin (canned pure pumpkin) to the oats along with cinnamon, allspice, and a good shaking of salt (I often make pumpkin oatmeal but I used to add sugar and just a tad of salt). Then I stirred in some water and microwaved it for six minutes (our microwave is a weakling; it might take yours three minutes). Once it was hot and ready, I put a pat of butter (< 1 Tbsp) on top of the oatmeal and let it melt. I stirred in the butter and tried it. Heavenly! Creamy and a little salty. I'm not sure if I'd like it every day, and I'm not sure what to do if I don't put pumpkin in it (perhaps a banana?), but I'm certainly adding pumpkin butter oatmeal to my breakfast repertoire.