Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Bowls Of Morning Goodness

We have three containers of oatmeal on the bottom shelf of the pantry:
  • Quick oats, which cook in one minute,. If I want a hot breakfast this is usually what I turn to, but I mainly use them for baking.
  • Old fashioned oatmeal that takes five minutes to prepare.  In our house, though, its usually not eaten in a bowl, but toasted as the main ingredient in granola.
  • Steel cut oats, which have to simmer for 30 minutes before they're ready to eat.  Because they take so long they're a rare treat.
Recently I was intrigued to learn there's a way to make steel cut oatmeal overnight. I've been in a breakfast rut, settling for quick menu items, and this sounded like a good and easy way to expand my morning meal repertoire.  It was.
EASY OVERNIGHT STEEL CUT OATS (makes 4 servings)
Pour 4 cups water into a medium saucepan. Put the pan on the stove, turn the heat to high, and bring the water to a rapid boil. When the water boils stir in 1 cup steel cut oats and a pinch of salt. Let the oats cook for 1 minute. Turn off the heat, cover, and let the pot sit overnight.

In the morning reheat the oats. Stir in your favorite toppings, then eat. 
 Hubby Tony and I were eating at different times, so we nuked our individual servings in the microwave, which worked well.  The first day I topped mine with brown sugar and raisins, and the second day mashed a ripe banana into the bowl.

Five years ago today: New Thing #167--Quilt It

11 comments:

  1. I have made the steel cut oats in a mini-sized crockpot overnight. I used oats, water, a tiny bit of salt, cinnamon, and a cut-up granny smith apple. It was really really good, but a pain to clean up. Those crock-pot liners would work, except that they seem to be sized for the big 5-6 quart ones not the mini 1-quart that I tried. I may have to try the trick of pre-cooking the night before.

    We eat a lot of oatmeal in our house, so we buy the super-giant boxes of 1-minute oats from Sams Club. They toast fine for granola :)

    Also, when baking with oatmeal (for muffins or pancakes usually), I mix the oats with the milk/liquid ingredients first and give it an extra couple of minutes to soak. Then when you bake, the oats have less of a noticeable texture. Unless, of course, you are aiming for oat texture (then, toast the oats first before cooking) :)

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    1. I do NOT like cleaning up oatmeal pans, but this one wasn't bad at all :-)

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  2. interesting recipe Kathy, will have to try that sometime.

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    1. If I remember correctly, you didn't care for my savory oatmeal recipe. Hope this one is more to your liking ;-)

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  3. At most of the B&Bs we stayed at in Scotland, they made their oats the overnight way. And overnight or cooked in the morning, they were always steel cut. Anything else was blasphemy.

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    1. Those Scots know their way around a kitchen, don't they?

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  4. Sounds yummy! The best part about oatmeal is how versatile the additions can be!

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  5. Wow! I had not thought of doing steel cut oats that way. Great! :) I like sugar and cinnamon on mine! Yummmm...however, in 100+ degree heat, my oatmeal has been back burnered. :)

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    1. For some reason I don't mind eating hot cereal in the summer. (Maybe it's because it goes so well with my mug of hot coffee.)

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  6. We always eat the Old Fashioned oatmeal. We tried the steel cut but thought they were too tough. I see now that soaking them longer could help. Thank you.

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