Sweetly Comforting Almond-Pear Oatmeal

I love, love, love everything about fall, from the color scheme to the fashion to the blessed relief from boiling hot air.  (I mean boiling.  In the sense that something needs to be liquid to boil.  Georgia air is like wading through hot mud, some days.)  I also love the recipes that come with fall, and eatingbirdfood posted an amazing oatmeal recipe the other day.  But then the boyfriend's mother took us to Publix and insisted on buying us over $100 of groceries (because she is spectacular), so I found myself with all kinds of amazing produce--and, first and foremost, Bartlett pears.

Now, I love pears, raw, in salads, marinated, in pies, and poached.  But I've never had them in oatmeal, and haven't always been the biggest fan of bananas, which is what this original recipe used.  So I tinkered around a bit, and this is what I came up with:

Sweetly Comforting Almond-Pear Oatmeal
Serves 1-2

Ingredients

• 1 cup plain almond milk
• Pinch of salt
• 1/2 vanilla bean
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 cup oats
• 1 pear, chopped into cubes (preferably a reddish one, because the colors are pretty!  I realized this after I'd taken pictures of the recipe made with a yellow Bartlett pear.  Silly me.)
• Sliced raw almonds to garnish
• Drizzle of agave nectar

Directions
On the stove, bring almond milk, salt, cinnamon, and vanilla bean seeds to a boil.  Add in the oats, stir, cook for one minute, then cover, turn the heat off, and let sit for 3-4 minutes.  Stir in the chopped pear, spoon into bowls, and top with sliced almonds, a little more cinnamon, and a drizzle of agave.  Enjoy!

Note:  I've been experimenting with this since I ran out of pears and vanilla beans, and have found that adding a teaspoon of amaretto or a little almond extract instead of the vanilla is a fabulous treat, and apples are a much crisper alternative to pears.  I intend to try kiwi next!

What are your favorite oatmeal recipes?