Herbed Pumpkin & Leek Oatmeal

Now that I’m obsessed with herbs (I even have a tolerance of cilantro now), I have been quite eager to try sage lately. It’s an herb I’m not too familiar with, the exception being that it’s used in sausage.

I noticed that it is commonly paired with fall and winter flavors, such as squash or Thanksgiving stuffing. Thus, I was eager to try this recipe. Although many of my herb posts lately have been “sweet” in nature, this one is decidedly savory, thanks to the inclusion of leeks.

I may not be the world’s biggest fan of most aromatics, like onion and garlic, but I do love me some leeks. First of all, they have a milder flavor, which I appreciate. Second of all, I have positive associations with them. Before going vegan, Allison made me Smitten Kitchen’s leek fritters, and a leek quiche. Those two dishes were enough to make me smitten for leeks (see what I did there?).

Sadly, leeks are a pain to cook with. First of all, storage is bothersome because leeks come as these giant STALKS that hog up my tiny fridge space. And you can never just buy one–it always has to come in groups of three or sometimes more. Second of all, they require rinsing and soaking and blah, blah, blah.

I was stoked to find this bag of frozen, already-sliced-and-rinsed leeks at Trader Joe’s. GAME CHANGER. Since bringing this gem home, I’ve been putting leeks in everything! It also means I never have to worry about having onion around, since I just use leeks instead. 🙂

For hours afterwards, I thought back to this recipe and how delightful it was. Can I put sage in everything? Can I have free access to every fresh herb EVER (that somebody else takes care of because clearly I cannot)? Can I put LEEKS in everything? Can we stop eating pumpkin, squash, sage, and leeks seasonally and just eat them ALL YEAR ROUND?!