Porridge a day, keeps the cold away?!

Rumour has it that Monday was World Porridge Day, now by some weird coincidence I have fully been embracing porridge breakfasts in the last couple of weeks.  Ok, so it's not coincidence at all, it's the fact that the weather has dropped about 10 degrees which means I always just want something warm and satisfying in the morning.  Fruit and yoghurt just doesn't cut the mustard.

Once you've started having porridge for breakfast more than once a week it's time to admit that Autumn is officially here, well that and thick black tights, ankle boots and contemplating whether the weather is quite at the hat and scarf level of coldness yet.  For the record, it's not, but it can't come quick enough because I LOVE bringing out the beanies.
Anyway, as it was world porridge day, and as I've been consuming so much of the stuff, I thought I'd share with you some of my recent oaty creations! As a kid, porridge was a boring, lumpy mush, usually a weird grey colour (I'm thinking Oliver Twist style gruel) that I refused to eat.  However in recent years people seem to have gone crazy for creating amazing Instagram worthy bowls with exciting toppings and unique flavours, and we all now how I love to jump on a trend bandwagon.  
Now I'm certainly no connoisseur (check out Sallytangle to see some proper taste combos) and if you follow me on Instagram you'll know I tend to keep thing pretty simple, but in my opinion simple is sometimes just best, so here's my current top porridge toppings (try saying that 5 times quickly):

First up, the classic.  Oats and milk (standard), half a banana mashed and mixed through while cooking, then topped with the other half, a handful of raisins and a drizzle of maple syrup.  Maple Syrup and porridge go together like eggs and bacon, so I suggest if you haven't yet tried a maple syrup drizzle, then now is the time.

Frozen berries and coconut.  I always have frozen berries in the freezer but never seem to remember to get them out to defrost.  But I have discovered if you pop them in the microwave for about a 1 minute, they defrost enough so they're no longer frozen but still stay fairly chilled, which actually works really well alongside the warm porridge.  This combo includes oats and alpro coconut milk, topped with frozen/not frozen berries, a sprinkling of dessicated coconut and a spoonful of Bounty spread, so good!

Granola - this one was a recent discovery, we didn't have much in the way of toppings in the house, so I figured why not top oats, with more oats, but it works!  So sticking with the usual oat and milk combo, I added a handful (or two!) of granola, banana (always), maple syrup and extra raisins, the granola adds a nice crunch and gives that little something something.

Last but not least, this my friends, is a porridge game changer.  A simple spoonful of biscoff spread, oh my! I never thought I could get so excited about porridge, but knowing I've got a jar of this in cupboard actually helps get me out of bed in the morning (easily pleased!) but seriously, I urge you all go right now, buy a jar and try putting a spoonful in with your morning bowl of oats, it is incredible! 
And of course, I couldn't give a little mention to my old favourite banana and Nutella, you just can't go wrong with that combination, but despite the fact I eat this on an almost weekly basis, I didn't have a photo so instead here's a picture of what also usually happens on a weekly basis.  My name is Caroline and I have a Nutella addiction.

My Instagram feed is filled with nut butter topped porridge, I can't stand any of the nut butters, so I'm on a mission to make lotus biscoff the new trend, let me know if you try it!