Cooking | Easy Steel Cut Oatmeal

by , posted on January 3rd, 2013 in Cooking



Getting the kids up, ready and out the door for school each morning is a feat. There are lunches to be packed, backpacks to be checked, hair to be tamed. I find myself channeling my inner drill sergeant, “Go! Go! Go! Deploy! Deploy! Deploy!”

It’s a lot. And in there somewhere, is breakfast. Typically, my kids do the American-kid thing: cold cereal. But on mornings like this morning, when temperatures are in the 20s, I try to get a hot meal in them before they head out the door.

The problem with hot meals is that they take a while and our morning time is limited. Take steel cut oatmeal. It’s a 45 minute commitment. We don’t have that sort of time. But a few years ago, I stumbled across something that rocked my school-week-breakfast world: 10 minute steel cut oatmeal. It’s so simple and easy. You have to give it a try.

Easy Steel Cut Oatmeal

4 cups water
1 cup steel cut oats

The night before, boil 4 cups water in a pot. Add oats and boil for 1 minute. Turn off the heat, put a lid on the pot. Let it sit overnight. The next morning, turn on the heat and boil the oatmeal for 10 minutes.

Ladle into a bowl and top with any combination you’d like: milk, brown sugar, maple syrup or fruit. You’re done!

Fantastic, right?


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Comments

9 Responses to “Cooking | Easy Steel Cut Oatmeal”

  1. Tami - Teacher Goes Back To School Says:

    January 3rd, 2013 at 9:30 pm

    Brilliant! I am doing it tonight.

    [Reply]

  2. Laura C Says:

    January 3rd, 2013 at 11:57 pm

    I was with you on the chocolate chip pie (which I made for Christmas and was as amazing as promised). But you’ll have to sell me on this one. Why steel-cut as opposed to the regular ole-fashioned kind? or the instant ones, for that matter?

    [Reply]

    Jennifer Cooper Reply:
    January 4th, 2013 at 3:25 pm

    There’s more fiber in the steel cut variety. But honestly, I think I just prefer the flavor/texture over the rolled oats. They’re heartier, more wintry.

    Also, I’m hoping to wean the kids off dinosaur oatmeal (you know the one chock full of sugar with dinosaur shaped candy in it). I’m like, “kids, breakfast should not include candy. Unless you’re Willy Wonka’s kid. Bummer for you, you were born to me.”

    [Reply]

    Laura C Reply:
    January 5th, 2013 at 8:41 am

    You are so funny… Ok- I’m warming to the idea. I don’t think my kids have ever even tried oatmeal, not even the candy kind. Must expand breakfast horizons. :-)

    [Reply]

  3. Cindy H Says:

    January 4th, 2013 at 3:04 pm

    Everything old is new again… :) My mother wrote this about growing up on Cape Cod “All winter only two rooms were heated. The kitchen had an electric Hotpoint range and on one side, an oil burner. In winter Mom would fill the double boiler with oatmeal and water and set it on the oil burner top. The oatmeal would be cooked and ready to serve for breakfast next morning. The living room had a big square oil burner stove. So we lived in those two rooms all winter. We slept in cold bedrooms.”

    [Reply]

    Jennifer Cooper Reply:
    January 4th, 2013 at 4:20 pm

    So true! Was your mom published or did she keep a journal?

    [Reply]

  4. Cindy H Says:

    January 4th, 2013 at 3:06 pm

    According to http://cancerdietitian.com/2008/11/quick-oats-steel-cut-oats-or-regular-oats-whats-the-difference.html:

    “•Steel-cut oats are the whole oat kernel, which is cut into two or three pieces using steel discs. They are a better source of fiber than rolled oats, but take longer to cook.
    •Rolled oats have the bran mostly removed and are rolled flat to make them easier to cook. With the bran removed, they have less fiber than steel-cut oats.
    •Quick-cooking and instant oats are rolled oats that have been cut into smaller pieces and rolled thinner, thus cook quickly. They are an easy source for preparing many oatmeal dishes.”
    There’s a crockpot receipe for them on that site too…

    [Reply]

  5. Cindy H Says:

    January 4th, 2013 at 5:55 pm

    She has written family stories for us for years, and also writes for the local paper. Her mother was a newspaperwoman (among many other things).

    [Reply]

    Jennifer Cooper Reply:
    January 4th, 2013 at 6:44 pm

    And the line of awesomeness continued with you and your girls.

    [Reply]

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