Alice Mae's Old-Fashioned Oatmeal Recipe - Philly Jay Cooking (2024)

I can’t explain how much I love HOT CEREAL aka PORRIDGE!!! My Nana would always cook Oatmeal for my cousins and I on weekday mornings before school. It’s a classic American breakfast that my Nana perfected and put a nice soulful spin on it. It’s sweet, creamy, hearty, and made with sugar, cinnamon, butter & milk. It’s the perfect breakfast for cold winter mornings because it’ll fill and warm you up from head to toe! Give the recipe a shot!!! It’s a MUST TRY and a keeper if you love Oatmeal like myself!

Memories of Nana’s oatmeal

Ok so this is my Nana’s famous Oatmeal recipe I’m sharing with you guys and no words can explain how good this recipe is. My nana’s name is Alice Mae Gibbs and she recently crossed over to be with the Lord this past March. Those of you who are subscribed to my blog know that my three nana’s inspired me to cook and are all responsible for the cook I am today. When I was about 5, my Nana Alice would cook oatmeal for my myself, my younger sister, and cousins before we left out for school.

She’d always make Oatmeal or Cream Of Wheat for breakfast during cold winter months. And she would make it while we were upstairs getting dressed and preparing for school! Now I loved it… but my cousins on the other hand weren’t too fond of it because they thought it looked like throw^^!! That was fine by me tho because I had no problem eating theirs for them. Those extra bowls of porridge would always leave me bloated and stuffed. Lol! Our school was just a few blocks away so I’d just walk it off.

What made her Oatmeal so good and different from others I’ve taste was the ingredients she used. She would use lots of BUTTA… that’s right, BUTTA! Lmbo! That’s how we pronounced it in the hood! She’d also use brown sugar [I prefer white] and Carnation evaporated milk. Evaporated milk is what takes the recipe to another level. She used Cinnamon of course and always added a pinch of salt believe it or not. She always thought outside the box when it came to cooking and it’s that thinking outside the box that made her food so good.

Ingredients

• OLD FASHIONED OATMEAL
• EVAPORATED MILK
• BUTTER
• SALT
• SUGAR
• CINNAMON

Old-fashioned vs instant Oatmeal

Now, let me address some things about the Oatmeal itself. My nana used the old-fashioned Quaker Oatmeal that comes in a tall circular box. You may see it in the cereal aisle of your local supermarket. When she cooked Oatmeal, she would let it simmer for a lil while because old-fashioned Oatmeal (unlike that instant crap) takes a while to soften.

And the reason I like old-fashioned Oatmeal better than instant Oatmeal is because of the texture. Old-fashioned Oatmeal has a “bite” to it and isn’t soft and mushy like the instant kind. And let’s make something clear, I hate loose runny Oatmeal. I like my Oatmeal with a thick consistency and not cooked to the point where the oats lose their texture. So in this recipe, you’ll find that I cook it long enough to thicken and fully cook it!

About the milk & butta

• BUTTER: Speaking of butter, butter adds flavor as well… it just won’t taste the same without it. All the ingredients together are what makes this recipe so good. They’re all so important because, without 1, the recipe isn’t nearly as good. But that’s usually the case when you’re making something with a handful of ingredients, every ingredient matters more.
• EVAPORATED MILK: The kind of evaporated milk I use is the Carnation brand. I recommend you do the same for best results and to make the Oatmeal nice and rich. Some brands of evaporated milk aren’t potent at all and taste so much like regular milk you wouldn’t notice the difference. You know when you’re using a good brand of evaporated milk because it’ll be darker in color and there will be a major difference in taste. The evaporated milk is the most important ingredient here. It makes the oatmeal nice and creamy and what gives it that special taste.

What Can Evaporated Milk Be Replaced By?

I also have a CREAM OF WHEAT recipe that was inspired by my nana Alice that I tweaked and modified. On that post, I spoke about EVAPORATED MILK and how it takes Cream Of Wheat to another level. I will not, I repeat, “WILL NOT” cook Oatmeal or Cream of Wheat without Evaporated Milk – I just love the flavor it gives hot cereal. Now don’t get me wrong, if all you have on hand is whole milk feel free to use it.

Whole milk is probably the best alternative for evaporated milk, although there’s nothing that can replace the taste and flavor of evaporated milk. But I have used whole milk before and the oatmeal still came out pretty good. It’s just something about that evaporated milk that gives it something special and it’s all my taste buds will accept at this point! Lol!

Salt & Spices

• SALT: The salt is important. Have you ever seen a cake recipe where salt is listed in the ingredients? Well, experienced cooks and chefs understand the importance of and the role a pinch of salt plays in some sweet dishes. If you’re baking a chocolate cake for example… adding a pinch of salt will strengthen the taste and overall flavor of the cake. Well, it serves the same purpose here. Don’t use MUCH, just a pinch and I mean a PINCH!
• SUGAR: Now my nana likes to use brown sugar which is definitely an option if you don’t have any white sugar on hand. The brown sugar will add a little more of a molasses flavor and definitely darken the oatmeal but it doesn’t really matter which one you use. It won’t drastically change the taste… I prefer using white sugar it’s just a preference thing. Just make sure you use sugar to sweeten the oatmeal. Lol!
• CINNAMON: The cinnamon gives the oatmeal it a good aroma, an amazing flavor, and COLOR!! Cinnamon goes with oatmeal like peanut butter and jelly. Now ONE THING MY NANA DIDN’T LIKE and would NOT TOLERATE UNDER ANY CIRc*msTANCE, is PALE looking OATMEAL. LMBBO!!! She’d turn over in her grave if I ever made a pot of light grayish-looking Oatmeal that ain’t have no color to it. Everything she made had color to it and she believed color equaled flavor and she’s KINDA right. You can sort of tell if a pot of oatmeal is good by the color of it. Lol! Your Oatmeal should be filled with brown pecs of cinnamon and yellow buttery milk spread throughout. That’s when you know it’s good!

Add-ins & Variations

Ok so you in the mood for something different because you’ve already made my recipe a thousand times because it’s so good… here are some add-in options, things you can add to the oatmeal to spice it up.

• BANANA’S: Listen, I think we’ve all seen a bowl of oatmeal with bananas before, whether it be someone else eating it or on Google images lol! That’s because it’s good! Now I haven’t eaten it this way in a while because my grandma put bananas in my oatmeal so much as a kid I’m over the taste, but it is a combo people seem to love, especially children so try it out. I combine bananas and oatmeal to make my smoothies so I know this combo will work.
• STRAWBERRIES: You can grind the strawberries with milk and water then add it to the oatmeal while it’s cooking. I know it’s good because I used to always eat strawberry oatmeal that came in packets from the instant oatmeal box which had different flavors. If you choose to do this or use bananas I’d probably omit the cinnamon unless you think you’ll like cinnamon with bananas or strawberries.
• BLUEBERRIES: Just look at the recipe photos! Lol! I would say these 3 are the most common fruits added to oatmeal but raisins, and apples & cinnamon are a popular add-in as well. Just do you and don’t be afraid to try what your taste buds desire.

What to serve with Oatmeal:

• BACON: Come on it’s bacon, I prefer pork bacon because it’s super crispy, fatty, and salty, along with this sweet buttery hot cereal? Man, you can call that a match made in heaven. Besides, bacon tastes good with errrrythang!
• MAPLE PORK SAUSAGE: The amazing flavor from all the spices in a savory pork sausage will go great with a sweet hearty porridge like this oatmeal here. That savory sweet combo never fails!
• HOT SAUSAGE: Yall listen, this is probably my favorite thing to make when I cook me up a bowl of oatmeal. Talking about savory/sweet, and salty/sweet combos… nothing tops a sweet&spicy combo and that’s what you’ll get with a nice fried hot sausage and a bowl of sweet buttery oatmeal. I like to have a hot sausage on the side when I’m eating Oatmeal, Cream of wheat, or grits.
• SCRAMBLED EGGS: You can never go wrong with eggs, some nice juicy well well-seasoned eggs on the side go great with oatmeal.
• OMELETE: You can even spice it up and serve it with a nice omelet with some onions, peppers, your favorite meat and cheese.
• MILK: Now if you’re not thinking meat or starch and just want it alone with something light on the side, get you a cold cup of milk yo! That’s all you need… something to flush it down with. A hot bowl of sweet buttery oatmeal tastes good with a nice cold cup of milk on the side.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Ok, PBJ’s… I’m not gonna talk your heads off any further. I just want to make sure you know everything you need to know to perfect this dish. Give it a shot… it’s “OFF THE CHAIN”, it’s “THE BIZ-ZA-DEE BOMB-BOMB”, it’s the “TRUTH”! Trust me, you’re not gonna find too many Oatmeal recipes as good as this one here! So go ahead and try my nana Alice Mae’s Easy Old-Fashioned Oatmeal recipe and leave a comment below letting us know how you like it.

Enjoy, later!

PBJ~

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