Love My Oats

I eat a bowl of oatmeal with a piece of toast every weekday for breakfast.  It’s a pretty simple combination of quick oats microwaved and then sprinkled with ground flaxseed, cinnamon and drizzled with honey.

If I don’t have my oats in the morning, I’m starving by 8:30 AM.  On the weekends though, I eat random breakfasts from a piece of toast to full board eggs, french toast and bacon.  But if I ever crave oats on the weekend, I reach for my jar of steel cut oats.  They take a lot longer to cook than rolled oats, so it’s never practical to eat during the week when I only have a few minutes to fix breakfast.

This morning I reached for my steel cut oats, only to realize a few minutes later I was actually cooking quinoa.  Whoops.

Mason jars are a great storage solution for dry goods as they seal well and look pretty cute too. Though I guess sometimes, the original packaging can be helpful in preventing these kind of blonde moments.

I continued to cook the quinoa, as I figured I’d just make lunch with it and then reached for the real steel cut oats.

I’m sure the fluffy quinoa probably would have made a tasty breakfast, but I was really looking forward to the hearty, chewiness of these oats.

They didn’t disappoint.

Steel Cut Oats with Apples & Pecans

1 T butter

1 C steel cut oats

2 C water

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/4 C buttermilk (or any kind of milk)

1 apple, chopped

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 T brown sugar

1 T water

1 tsp + 3 tsp maple syrup

Handful of chopped pecans

In saucepan melt butter and then add oats and lightly brown.  Add water, bringing oats to a boil and then reduce heat to low and simmer around 15 minutes until liquid is absorbed and oats are cooked.  Remove from heat and stir in vanilla and milk for creaminess.

While oats are cooking,  add apples, cinnamon, brown sugar, 1 T water and 1 tsp maple syrup to small saucepan.  Cook over medium heat until, apples are cooked tender.

Spoon oats into bowl and drizzle with remaining maple syrup and top with apple mixture and chopped pecans.

I portioned out a smaller dish for my breakfast today.  The rest will get eaten for a couple of mornings this next week.

Love my oats.

What’s your breakfast routine?