Steel-Cut Oatmeal

As a card-carrying member of the "I eat oatmeal for breakfast every single morning of my life" club, it's safe to say I've toyed around with making it my own. Standard is plain oats with fresh or frozen sliced strawberries, chia seeds and a small sprinkling of Splenda. Sometimes I sub in blueberries. Sometimes it's peaches! And if I'm feeling really saucy, I'll slap a glob of peanut butter in there and mix in some cranberries or raisins. What can I say, I'm a wildcard by nature.


However, until this morning I'd never tried steel-cut oats. I've seen them all around the food-blog world and have been intrigued, but sat on making them myself for quite some time. You see, I need something fast in the morning - popping oats and water in the microwave for 2-3 minutes is pushing it enough, for me. Steel-cut oats require either an overnight soak in the fridge, and then 10 minutes of cooking in the morning, or 40 total minutes all at once in order to make sure they're cooked through.


Some of us don't have time for that. Some of us have morning television to watch.


But this morning I woke up at the ungodly hour of 4:30, just WIDE awake. I've never been more energized in the morning! So, like any completely normal, not-crazy-at-all person would do, I hopped on the bike trainer for a pre-dawn workout and still had plenty of time to spare. Plenty of time, this morning, for steel-cut oats.


So here's how it went down:


I boiled about 2 1/3 cups of water, then added 2/3 cup of oats and turned the heat down to medium-low.

I then proceeded to blow-dry my hair, and remembered to stir the oats about four-five times while cooking for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, I added 1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk and a teaspoon of vanilla extract. 8-10 minutes later, my oats were done! I portioned half of the oats in a bowl, and half went in the fridge for later.

To the oats, I added the usual: sliced strawberries, chia seeds and a sprinkling of Splenda. And the result? Sssoooooo good. I can't stop thinking about this breakfast! The steel-cut oats were had a nutty flavor and an insanely rich, creamy but chewy texture. It reminded me of creamy barley, in a way. I absolutely loved it! Nutritionally, steel-cut oats are pretty much on par with regular rolled oats, but they are in a more natural state - and we all know the less processing in any food, the better!

So my consensus is these steel-cut oats are definitely worth the extra effort they require. I'm planning on making a large batch on Sundays so all I'll have to do in the morning is reheat, soften with a little almond milk and go! 

Leaving me ample time to spend with my delicious, fulling breakfast and my very special morning-time buddies: Matt, Meredith, Ann and Al.

Have you tried steel-cut oats before? What is your favorite go-to breakfast food?