Breakfast is by far my favorite meal of the day. If I am feeling lazy about cooking dinner or nothing sounds good to me at that moment, then I inevitably choose to have BFD, aka Breakfast For Dinner. I have also been known to have BFD 3-4 nights per week when Donny is out of town. I just love breakfast foods! I crave them more than any other food.
I can easily saute a random group of vegetables together (whatever is in the fridge), throw a fried egg on top and call it dinner. What is wrong with that? Nothing, in my opinion!
I also find it quite enjoyable to develop breakfast recipes….for example: Banana Pancakes, Single Serving Blueberry-Peach French Toast, Fried Eggs on Avocado Toast, “Almond Joy” Oatmeal, Apple Pie Oats …. you get the point. In fact, the breakfast category under the Eat tab has the most recipe posts. I apologize if you do not enjoy breakfast but, have you tried it for dinner?!?!?
I can honestly (and without embarrassment) say that at night I think about what I might make for breakfast the next morning. Part of that comes from the joy I find consuming food in general, but the other part comes from my joy of breakfast food items.
Now, have you tried making oatmeal savory before? I was honestly skeptical of the idea at first. I had seen recipes where the ingredients to made the oatmeal savory, but I was not buying in to that for breakfast. Dinner, maybe. Breakfast, no.
I was wrong.
Don’t tell Donny I said that.
I was wrong about savory oatmeal. It is fantastic! Throw an egg on it and it is a game-changer!
This recipe was so simple and so delicious. I was reading in Food & Wine magazine (an old issue from 2013) that Cameron Diaz make oat cakes. I was intrigued by that idea so I decided to try them. I made some quick oats in the microwave, mixed in salt & pepper, made a “patty” out of it and then put it in the refrigerator.
The first time I tried this I let the oats sit in the fridge for about 90 minutes. I made the oatmeal right when I got home from work, let it cool in the fridge, and ate this dish for dinner later that night. I loved it so much I made it again the following night.
The next time I made the oats in the morning before work, formed the patty, and let it refrigerate all day. It worked both ways, but if you plan ahead for this then it is worth it.
I prefer my eggs running so I (almost) always cook them over-easy. If you don’t do running yolks then cook them however you would like! You could even melt some cheese on top if you felt crazy…. honestly, it doesn’t need cheese but you could give it a whirl if you wanted.
I prefer foods spicy so I added extra red pepper flakes (more than the recipe states). If it is not spicy enough for you then you can always sprinkle more on top or top with hot sauce (I used Cholula).
Feel free to season the oat cake with whatever spices you prefer and have on hand. Add the green onions if you can. I think they add great flavor to the dish.
- 1/2 cup quick cooking oats, dry
- 1 cup water
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 tsp coconut oil
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 - 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
- Green onion, chopped
- Cook the oats according to package directions.
- Stir in salt and red pepper flakes.
- Pour onto a flat plate and form into an oat cake about 1/2" thick . Refrigerate overnight or at least 90 minutes.
- In a medium saute pan, heat coconut oil over medium heat. Once the coconut oil is melted, add the oat cake. Cook, turning once, until browned, about 3-4 minutes per side.
- While the oats are cooking, fry the egg to your liking. Cook time will vary depending on how you like your egg.
- Serve the oat cake warm. Top with egg and chopped green onions. Add more salt and pepper if desired.
- Both quick oats and rolled oats will work for the recipe. Use quick oats if using the microwave or rolled oats if using the stove top cooking method.
- Works best if oat cake is refrigerated overnight, but should be refrigerated at least 90 minutes before cooking.
