Steel-cut oatmeal

The idea of oatmeal has always appealed to me. It's supposed to be healthy and filling, the perfect breakfast. But apparently instant oatmeal is like the white bread of oats. It's been processed so much and contains additives/sugars that it's not as healthy as I thought. Disappointing to say the least. But I kept hearing about these magical steel-cut oats. They're basically whole oat kernels that have been cut into three pieces. That's it. They take a whole lot longer to cook but they're supposed to be way healthy, full of fiber and have more texture (another problem I had with instant oatmeal, too mushy and paste-like). So I gave them a go one day. Great stuff, they've become a staple breakfast. I thought I'd share my basic recipe and then some flavor combinations I've used.


Steel-cut oatmeal (very basic preparation)
4 servings

1 cup steel-cut oats
4 cups water
Pinch of salt

1. Bring water to a boil. Add oats and cook on medium-low heat for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
2. Add salt and continue cooking for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Let rest for 5 minutes.

That's it. Since it takes at least 30 minutes to cook and I don't want to do that every morning, I cook a batch the night before and portion it out into 4 microwave-safe containers. Then come morning, I pop one in the microwave for about 2 1/2 minutes on half power and I'm set. Easy cheesy.

Notes:
1. In the breakfast cereal/oatmeal isle you'll probably find a container of oats by Quaker or some other company. This will work fine (make sure it says steel-cut on it) but kind of pricey (around 5 bucks or more). I go to the bulk section of the grocery store and can usually find them there for dirt cheap. And when I say dirt cheap, I mean my monthly supply of oats costs me about 2 dollars or less. Crazy.

2. For richer oatmeal, reduce water to 3 cups and add 1 cup milk. Never done it myself but I'm sure it's good. Also, you can toast the oats in a little bit of butter before adding them. Tried this but couldn't tell the difference so I usually don't do this step.

3. You can go pretty crazy adding stuff to make things interesting. My favorite is sliced bananas, pecans and a bit of maple syrup. Another standard I'll also do is pecans and some cinnamon. Britta's pumpkin butter post inspired me to make my own pumpkin mash (canned pumpkin, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and some brown sugar heated to get rid of the raw pumpkin taste) that I'll try out. A lot of people like to add raisins or dried cranberries. You could do some chopped apples and cinnamon, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, etc. If I'm feeling crazy, I'll do some peanut butter and chocolate chips. The possibilities are endless.

Come on, that looks delicious.