I don’t want the same thing for lunch every day or for dinner two nights in a row, but for some reason, breakfast is different. Winter or summer, busy weekday or leisurely weekend, I make myself a bowl of oatmeal.

I have it down to a science. I can make oatmeal as I pack a brown-bag lunch or as I dash in and out of the bathroom to apply my makeup. The ingredients are always the same: A cup of skim milk (in a 4-cup glass measuring cup), half a cup of McCann’s quick-cooking Irish oatmeal and about a tablespoon of dried cherries, blueberries and strawberries, one of the dried fruit blends sold at Trader Joe’s. I zap it for a minute, then for another minute, then stir in about a tablespoon of chopped walnuts and zap for one minute more.

Then I stir in a bit more skim milk to cool it down and about a tablespoon of real maple syrup for sweetness and flavor.

I started this routine about a year and a half ago after getting the results of a cholesterol test, but kept it up because it tastes so good and keeps me full into lunch. Why I never crave eggs or pancakes or even cold cereal, I can’t say.

My husband is the same way about breakfast, but he always reaches for the box of Shredded Wheat and Bran.

What about you? Do you eat the same breakfast every day, or do you mix it up? What are some of your favorite breakfast foods/recipes?