Oatmeal is my repentance food. Eating it for dinner makes me feel better about eating left-over pumpkin cake for lunch. I mix in a bit of salt, top with a good splash of milk, and revel in how virtuous an eater I am–until I reach for brownies come dessert.

I prefer savory oatmeal to sweet and thus thought my mix-in options were close to nil–no honey, molasses, or cinnamon-sugar for me! And apart from some guy in line ahead of me at Chase bank once who told me he prefers melted butter in his oatmeal, I had no inkling that anyone else was embracing sweet-free oats, too.

Well, that is until I spotted a recipe on Healthy Green Kitchen for oatmeal adorned with pine nuts and feta. That’s right, feta. And black pepper, too. It sounds delicious, even with the sweet addition of figs. I’m so taken with this dish I’m now looking for all sorts of ways to jazz up my oatmeal. I see a lot more lunchtime pumpkin cake in my future…

If you have any great savory oatmeal ideas, please share!