As I mentioned in my previous post, I'm a big oatmeal eater in the cold winter months. I usually go for the rolled, old-fashioned style oats that I can whip up quickly in the microwave in the morning. But I recently gave steel-cut oats a try (pictured here), and they're great!
They take longer to cook -- about 20 minutes if you do it on the stovetop -- but I've found that Alton Brown has come through for me again. I found a mention of his method for overnight steel-cut oatmeal on a blog, tried it, and it's awfully handy! Dump the ingredients in a crock pot before bed, turn it on low, and voila! Breakfast is hot and ready when you get up in the morning. Love it.
I actually haven't made the recipe exactly as written; I've left out the dried cranberries and dried figs, opting for a plain oatmeal that I can then add to later. I'm generally able to get four servings out of this batch of oatmeal. I like to divide the leftovers into individual containers, refrigerate them, then pull one out for breakfast during the week. The reheating method mentioned in this post at The Kitchn is exactly what I do.
Are you a fan of oatmeal? I'm always looking for a great new mix of flavors to try. What are your favorite things to mix in it?
Camera: Canon 40D with 60mm macro lens and 430EX Speedlite, 1/125s, f/4 at ISO 640
This is too much. When you announced the theme I literally thought to myself - "I wonder if she will have oats since she mentioned she eats them" - and then I thought "i will have to tell her to try steel cut..."
ReplyDeleteApparently you are way ahead of me - per usual!
For the record Steel Cut oats are absolutely one of my favorite things.
Hey also Trader Joes has microwaveable steel cut, I use them when I am at Starbucks. They are not as good as pan/slow cooker but are still good.
My favorite toppings are:
soy milk or slivered almonds or bananas or mangos or pure maple syrup or cinnamon
I don't tend to like the tried fruits as much with the steel cut because I like the 'bite' of the steel cut and the chewy fruit, in my opinion, diminishes that.
How fun that we're on the same wavelength! I bought a big bulk bag of steel-cut oats through Amazon recently, so I think I have enough now to at least get me through this winter. ;)
ReplyDeleteI don't think I've tried bananas or mango on my oatmeal, but those both sound wonderful. Have you tried the savory route? Here's a microwave recipe for using frozen veggies (I've done broccoli), an egg, and some nuts... and it's good! If you normally eat your oatmeal sweet (like me), it takes a bit to get your mind around it, but the trick is to just think of oats as any other grain.