Steel-cut Oats

(Originally posted by Anita)

Okay, even though I’m not taking part in the Queen of May contest, I love trying new recipes. I recently purchase a new cookbook, Not Your Mother’s Slow Cooker Cookbookby Beth Hensperger and Julie Kaufmann. I love Beth Hensperger’s bread cookbooks, so I figured this one can’t be all bad. The best thing to do with new cookbooks is check them out from the library and try them out before buying. But sometimes I just don’t want to wait that long.

Any kind of oatmeal was not one of my favorite food as a kid. But it’s been growing on me as I’ve become older. Must be the “old lady” in me coming out. *snort* This cookbook has a whole chapter on oatmeal, porridge, rice pudding, etc. Here’s the one we tried (in hopes of consuming more whole grains in our diet). And it’s not bad. A little too liquid-like. And I haven’t experimented much with what might be added for flavor. But it was fun to try.

Creamy Oatmeal with Dried Fruit

1 cup steel-cut oats
1 cup raisins
4 1/2 cups water
1/2 cup half-and-half or evaporated milk (I’m sure you could use non-fat evaporated milk)

1. Combine all the ingredients in the slow cooker. Cover and cook on low for 8 to 9 hours, or overnight, until tender.

2. Serve the oatmeal straight from the pot with no embellishment but a light sprinkling of sea salt, a pat of butter, and milk.

The recipe’s dried fruit list included: 2/3 cup tart cherries or sweetened dried cranberries, 1/3 cup dried figs, and 1/3 cup chopped dried apricots. But my husband is not a big dried fruit fan, so we just added raisins. It’s definitely not as sweet as the instant stuff you buy in a package, but I imagine it is a lot healthier. Personally, I think I would like all the dried fruit and not just raisins.