6 Tablespoons of steel cut oats
1 1/2 cup water
A few Tablespoons of coffeemate creamer (any flavor)
small pinch of salt

I put this in my cup in my crock pot at night and then fill the pot with water till it reaches the same level in my cup. Cover and cook on low overnight. When I wake up in the morning I just take out my cup and breakfast is served. When i am done I simply rinse out my cup for the next day and clean up is virtually nil. I am not a big coffee drinker but I do drink alot of tea. I sometimes expirament with my fruity or spiced teas by brewing a cup and replacing the water in my oats with the steeped tea. The spiced ones are my favorite, but there are so many flavors out there it is fun to try new things, another favorite is the vanilla mandarin orange tea mixed in my oats. Great way to kick up the flavor without all the extra calories.

Another way we love to have our Steel cut oats is for dessert or midnight munchies. We make it plain with just water or sometimes replacing some of the water with almond milk, or just regular milk, make it at night, in the morning take it out but put it in the fridge and cover it. Late night we will take it from the fridge and have it cold, sometimes just as plain as adding some honey or maple syrup, sometimes adding fresh fruit, Chopped nuts, cold yogurt, or just a sprinkle of cinnamon. If it has thickened up to much just add alittle milk and stir to make it alittle thinner, but when it is cold creamy and thick like that it reminds me of tapioca pudding but so much tastier. Like rice, it is a blank slate for flavors and you can add anything you want. My favorite flavor of the month for the dessert is making it with coconut milk instead of water and then adding a few tablespoons off canned pineapple tidbits with alittle of the juice to thin it out. SOOOOOOOOoo Yummmy!

By the way, you can save a lot and buy steel-cut oats in bulk from many grocery stores. Even in Alaska we pay about $1.00/lb from Carr’s – a lot cheaper than McCann’s or Bob’s. And I can’t taste the difference.

When working out of town, we cook this stuff in a microwave oven. Yes, it can be done. Yes, it tastes the same. Here are 2 methods that I know work:

I drown 1/3 cup of steel-cut oats in a cereal bowl with 2/3 cup hot water out of a coffee maker, and then nuke it on high until it starts to boil + a few seconds. The oats rest for about 10 minutes while I’m setting up my work day. Then I add another 1/3 cup of water and nuke it again until it boils. It rests again until I need to stretch my legs. Then I add the last of the water – about another 1/3 cup – and nuke it until it boils. If it’s too runny, I let it sit and then nuke it; then it’s good to eat. You can do this with cold water instead of hot; just nuke for a few seconds past boil. The total prep time is probably 15-25 minutes, including 1 min x 3 times for cooking and the remainder being soak time. Note that you can make a mess with this if you don’t watch the oats as they boil.

If you don’t need an excuse to get up and tend the microwave, throw 1/3 cup of cut oats and 1-1/3 cups water in a large bowl (say, 4x that volume). Set the power level on the microwave down to about 60% and nuke it until it’s the consistency you like and chewy but not crunchy. I think my friend cooks his for about 12 minutes. THIS WILL BE A DISASTER IN A SMALL BOWL.

YUM.