Good morning! Happy Monday!
Steel cut oats and I have a love-hate relationship. After eating and loving the steel cut oats at La Pain Quotidien, I went out and bought some to make at home. It’s been about a month since I bought the canister of steel cut oats, but I still haven’t made them. The main reason: they’re a lot of work to cook!
The recommended preparation for steel cut oats is boiling water (or milk) in a saucepan, adding the oats, and letting them simmer for 25-30 minutes until all of the liquid is absorbed and the oats are tender. In the past, I’ve made steel cut oats this way, and they usually turn out great, but I don’t always want to wait that long for my breakfast to cook. I’m all about convenience, especially when I’m starving in the morning!
I know there are other methods of cooking steel cut oats, so I tried the microwave preparation on the back of the Whole Foods 365 Organic Steel Cut Oats canister:
Mix 1/2 cup of steel cut oats with 2 cups of water in a microwave safe 8 cup bowl (the size of the bowl is important as it must be large enough to allow the oats to bubble up without spilling over). Cover and microwave at full power for 5 minutes. Stir and finish cooking for another 5 minutes (as microwaves vary in size and power, cooking times may need to be adjusted).
It sounded easy enough and only required 10 minutes of my time, so I gave it a try this morning. I had a large Pyrex bowl with a lid that I thought would be perfect for cooking steel cut oats, so I added them and popped the whole thing in the microwave for 5 minutes.
GAH! Explosion! Apparently, my bowl wasn’t big enough.
I cleaned up the mess, added some canned pumpkin, and microwaved the oats for another 5 minutes. I didn’t think it would bubble over again since so much of the liquid was absorbed/lost in the explosion, so I didn’t try a bigger bowl. Unfortunately, the oats exploded again, but they turned out really well (tender and chewy), so I guess the mess was worth it in the end.
There are also soaking overnight and crockpot methods, so I’m going to attempt those next””unless I can find a bigger bowl to cook my steel cut oats in the microwave. The microwave method did seem really easy. I guess I just need to get it right.
Breakfast
My breakfast this morning was steel cut oats with pumpkin, chia seeds, and a big scoop of peanut butter. I also had a glass of iced coffee with eggnog.
Mmmmm! So good. They’re a lot of work, but steel cut oats are so delicious. I love how chewy and tender they get.
Dinner
Last night’s dinner was courtesy of the Whole Foods salad and hot bars. Mal and I needed to go grocery shopping for the week, so Whole Foods made perfect sense. Two birds, one stone.
Plus, after feeling crappy all day, I wanted something healthy and delicious for dinner.
Just what I wanted!
While shopping at Whole Foods, Mal and I stumbled upon some White Chocolate & Peppermint Pretzel Crisps. Holy yum.
We only planned to eat a few of them to satisfy our sweet tooth.
Pug creeper.
But we ended up finishing the bag! Holy crap, they are awesome.
Weekly Workouts
Mal and I are heading out to Oregon on Thursday afternoon, so my workouts are frontloaded this week.
- Sunday: Off
- Monday: 4 miles + Crossfit (!!!)
- Tuesday: 2-mile walk + CrossFit
- Wednesday: 3 miles + 15 min. elliptical
- Thursday: Off
- Friday: Off
- Saturday: Off
Question of the Day
What food(s) do you have a love-hate relationship with?
Along with steel cut oats, I’d also add granola to my love-hate list”” for a different reason, of course. I love it becaus it’s delicious, but I hate it because I eat it ALL when it’s around!
P.S. Here’s an adorable pic for the pug lovers!