Caramelized bananas add glamour to breakfast grain bowl

This sumptuous breakfast bowl is what happens when frumpy regular oatmeal gets a modern, stylish makeover. It doesn't take much effort, and the before-and-after results are astounding. Recipe included with this story: Breakfast Grain Bowls With Caramelized...

Caramelized bananas add glamour to breakfast grain bowl

This sumptuous breakfast bowl is what happens when frumpy regular oatmeal gets a modern, stylish makeover.

It doesn't take much effort, and the before-and-after results are astounding.

Recipe included with this story: Breakfast Grain Bowls With Caramelized Bananas

First, the foundation: Using chewy, nutty steel-cut oats makes the most of the cereal's natural flavor assets; cooking them with red quinoa and stirring in a pop of chia seeds adds compelling texture, color and nutrition; and adding milk to the mix makes it luxuriously creamy.

Then the culinary bling: a topping of warm, sweet, cinnamon-scented caramelized bananas and an optional crunch of toasted walnuts immediately lure you to the table. The bananas look and feel ultra-indulgent, but it takes only a dab of butter, a small amount of brown sugar and three minutes in a skillet to make them so.

This glammed-up oatmeal is ideal for weekends when you have a little more time and want something special, but it is doable on weekdays, too, and could be just what you need, especially when it's cold outside, to coax you out of bed in the morning.

- Ellie Krieger, Special to The Washington Post 

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