Carrot cake oatmeal

A variation on my steel-cut oats, with shredded carrots and cream cheese added in. For the fruit, I added golden raisins (which are optional). You could add walnuts or pecans if you wanted, and more maple syrup.

Make a batch of steel-cut oats. You can do it in your slow cooker, or on the stovetop, like this:

4 cups water
1/2 cup cream
1 cup steel-cut oats
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 tablespoon each cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, salt
Some kind of dried fruit

Put the water and cream together in a big pan and bring almost to a boil. Add the rest, turn the heat down to low, and simmer for about 20-30 minutes or until thick and gloppy. Let cool a few more minutes before serving.

That's the basic recipe. To make this, about five minutes before the oats are done, stir in two shredded carrots.

In a cup, mix about a quarter of a box of cream cheese, at room temperature, with a long drizzle of maple syrup (you can adjust the proportions, depending on how rich/sweet you want it).

Serve with a spoonful of cream cheese mix on top, and stir before eating.