Steel Cut Oatmeal by Guest Blogger, Mary

Our neighbor and friend, Mary, is the guest blogger today. Thanks, Mary!

I have a confession to make. I have two wonderful cats, but one is a milkaholic. She, Mittens, has me trained first thing in the morning, to give her a little milk in a bowl. I give her just a tablespoon. All she has to do is stand by the refrigerator, look cute, and meow. And she has me at meow.....and she does complete me.

After this ritual, Mittens sits on the counter and watches me prepare breakfast and pack Patrick's lunch. Lately I have been interested in anything-and-everything that Oprah's Dr. Oz says. I heard him on XM radio last week talking about what he eats for breakfast, i.e., a bowl of steel-cut oatmeal with flax seed oil. It sounded interesting, so I thought that I would try these steel cut oats. Wegman's has a wonderful natural foods department, and a fellow named Charlie helped me to find a tin of John McCann's Oatmeal and a bottle of organic flaxseed oil.

Steel cut oats are the inner part of the oat grain and they are wonderfully chewy and nutritious.....more B vitamins, protein, calcium, and fiber than other oats. And don't we all love fiber these days????? Flaxseed oil is a good source of Omega 3 fatty acid.

Cooking steel cut oats takes longer than regular oatmeal. But I made the regular recipe last night (four servings) and then put it into the fridge. This morning I scooped out a portion, added about a tsp. of flaxseed oil, and warmed it in the microwave. I will say, I thought that these steel cut oats were delicious!!!!!! A nutty flavor, chewy, filling. Yum, yum, yum.

Below is the very simple recipe. See what you think!

How to Cook Steel Cut Oats
Bring 4 cups of water to a boil in a saucepan. Slowly stir in 1 cup of oats and heat on high until the oatmeal begins to thicken (about 4-6 minutes). Then reduce the hear, cover the pan with a lid, and simmer for about half an hour. Serve with flaxseed oil or fresh fruit (blueberries, rasberries), or add a little milk, honey or brown sugar. Heaven!

There is a way to reduce the preparation time for busy mornings. The night before, boil 4 cups of water in the saucepan and then turn off the heat. Stir in a cup of oats, cover the pan, and let sit overnight. In the morning, you'll just need to cook the oatmeal over low heat for 10 mintues or so.

So voila! Onto getting out of my jammies and seizing the day!
Mary