Sunday, January 24, 2010

Fast food breakfast

Sunday seems to be the busiest morning of the week around here ! Hubby is a church cantor ( soloist and song leader) with one congregation and singer/bass player for a second, so Sunday is another work day in a sense without the amenities that an office job can offer. When you have to start singing at 8 am( not counting warm ups or rehersal) and continue to sing till 1 pm , it's a vocation done out of love. If you are trying to lose weight and said environment only offers your standard coffee and doughnut kind of fellowship gathering fare, you best make sure you are satiated before you enter. So this means a hearty breakfast that can be ready by 6 am. I have tried crocpot oats , flax cereal, cottage cheese and cold cereal, muffins and so on- all of which work well , but have disadvantages. This morning I tried something different, which happens to be something I rank as a champagne of grains- steel cut oats done fast !

First a word about steel cut oats. They are not the same as rolled oats,. When an oat grain is rolled, it becomes a flake. When an oat grain is cut with steel blades, it looks like a broken kernel of rice. It is better for you due to the fact that more of the grain ( germ, bran hull and such) stays attached. A 1/4 cup of dry steel cut oats provides 150 calories, 2 grams of fat, 4 grams of fiber, 4 grams of protein and 0 grams sugar. Great stuff for your body ! 10,000 Scots Irish cannot be wrong - oats gave the ancient Celts the strength to not only battle but run around in nothing but kilts in a cold , damp climate ! Problem is, they take a LONG time to cook on the stove ! Mix oats and water, bring to a bpoil and simmer 30-40 minutes . No go ! They work in a crockpot, but become crusty around the edges. So what is the answer ? Enter overnight steel cut oats !!!!
A bowl of the beauties, waiting for toppings of choice

To make them is an absolute no brainer . In a pot, bring 4 cups of water to a boil. Then turn off the heat, add 1 cup of steel cut oats, cover and let it set overnight. In the morning, simply heat and eat. Creamy, robust, soft but munchy texture- oatmeal bliss ! Add a little brown sugar or chocolate chips or dried fruit or cream or........

So fast . So easy. So hearty. This is definitely a breakfast that will be repeated !

8 comments:

Marisa @Loser for Life said...

I keep trying to make myself love oats! I'm just not that into it unless it is of the "baked and in cookie" variety - LOL!

Anyway, you are convincing me to give it a whirl again!

Jeremy Logsdon said...

Nice idea for how to cook steel cut oats. I'm definitely going to give that a shot next time.

Retta said...

What a great idea for breakfast!!! I think I'll make this some time this week. What do you top yours with? I'm thinking a fruit would be ok for me. Not sure my kids would eat it with out sugar or syrup as a topping (ick). Any way, thanks for the idea!

Di said...

Loretta-Toppings in this house for oatmeal tend to be flax meal, a teaspoon of peanut butter, a tablespoon of dried fruit, coconut, sliced almonds, raisins, yogurt covered raisins, sunflower seeds, walnuts, almond butter, molasses, honey, cinnamon, cottage cheese, whey powder or anything that you would put in a cookie or trail mix that is not nailed down ! The house rule is that you can have anything you want as long as you limit it to a tablespoon. I really like crasins and almonds or just brown sugar and real butter. My son adores oatmeal (now) and his favorite combo is yogurt covered raisins . Sometimes he likes a tablespoon of mini chocolate chips and 5 mini marshmallows with a level teaspoon of peanut butter. It makes for kind of a rocky road sort of bowl. Graham cracker crumbs would work as well !
Marissa- why not make it a cookie oats bowl ? A little brown sugar , cinnamon, walnuts and vanilla would do it- or simply crumble on an oatmeal cookie on top ? There is a lot of wisdom to having our highest calorie intake early in the day , and if such an indulgence lets you eat it as you like and still get in all of your daily allowances while staying in range, why not ? As to liking oatmeal, would you believe as a kid I rarely ever had it ? My mom would serve pancakes, eggs or rice with milk and sugar- oatmeal was a very rare thing. It was not till I got married that I started eating oats and then one day I discovered the steel cut variety and I though I died and went to Heaven !. To me they are just that good.

She-Fit said...

My dad is a pastor, so I can totally relate to you. Growing up we were always surrounded by donuts and sweets on Sunday mornings. It's so important to go into that battle with a full stomach :)

Kristina said...

Great idea! And there is NOTHING like seeing a Scot in his kilt.....cold weather or not! LOL...love it!

Anonymous said...

I know it sounds weird,but mashed avocado(with a fork!) with a little sea salt and pepper on whole grsin toast is very tasty and satisfying at breakf or lunch!
Yummy!!!

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