- No Comment » »
- « « RANT!
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Tasty Tuesday: Breakfast (Irish Oatmeal)
So for various reasons, I am relatively careful about what I eat. Partially because of health issues in older members of my family, but more because what I eat tends to affect my mental health. So meals at regular times, try not to skip meals, and try to eat healthy meals that won’t spike my blood sugar. And as we’ve all been told a million times, breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Even if you’re the kind of person who doesn’t want to take the time in the morning.
Last year a discovered a recipe that’s pretty near perfect–as long as I remember to prepare it the night before. Irish oatmeal requires a relatively long cooking time–unless you soak it in milk. So some time between dinner and bed we put everything together, when we get up we put the tea kettle and the oatmeal on low, and by the time we’re dressed and together, breakfast is ready.
Irish Oatmeal – makes 2 servings
1/4 cup Irish/steel cut oats
1 tbsp wheat germ
1 tbsp chopped walnuts/pecans
1 tbsp chopped dates (when I can find them)
ground flax seed
dash kosher salt
ground cinnamon
1 1/8 to 1 1/4 cup milk (I used 1%)
Put everything into a small pot and place into fridge.
In the morning, place pot (uncovered) on stove on lowest setting. Stir every time you walk by. After 15-20 minutes, it should be thickened. If not, turn the heat up, stirring more frequently, and after at boils for a minute or two, should be done.
Serve with a spoonful of brown sugar and/or maple syrup.
So what about all the other stuff besides the oats?
Wheat germ – Vitamin E and Folic Acid
Flax seed – Omega 3 fatty acids
Dates – Calcium, iron and potassium, and vitamin A, B and C + yummy
Cinnamon – Good for blood sugar levels + yummy
Walnuts – Omega 3 fatty acids + yummy
December 2nd, 2008 at 8:25 am
Now that is something that I could make right now….stick to your ribs kind of meal. Thanks for sharing this…
December 2nd, 2008 at 5:27 pm
I love oatmeal. With raisins and brown sugar. yum.
December 2nd, 2008 at 9:34 pm
You could easily make it was raisins (or dried cranberries). But Michael doesn’t like raisins, so… no raisins. :)
It’s definitely well worth trying.
December 2nd, 2008 at 10:17 pm
Mmm… what a coincidence, I bought some steel cut oats to make some scones a while back. So next step, getting everything else. ;)
December 2nd, 2008 at 10:25 pm
The only thing you really need are the oats, salt, and milk. Everything else is just a bonus. :)
December 2nd, 2008 at 11:30 pm
Ah! OK. Maybe I should do that (like I have pecans and brown sugar handy) whilst waiting til my next shopping outing to buy the rest. ;)
December 6th, 2008 at 2:54 am
Pretty much the same as my da used to make – except he always added a shot of whiskey.
December 6th, 2008 at 11:48 am
Me Da put spirits in the oatmeal as well he said would keep us warm on the was to school!!!!!!
December 12th, 2008 at 12:50 am
Ok, this evening I put this together for the second time, the first time with all the extras. I left out the nuts until later, since the first time, I was disappointed the nuts had lost a little of their crunchiness. You didn’t say how much flaxseed!
December 12th, 2008 at 7:21 am
Well, I got a flax seed grinder, so I just add flax seed until my hands are tired. :)
And I don’t mind the chewiness of the nuts over crunchiness.
I hope it turned out well and you liked it! I love having to do next to nothing for breakfast in the morning.
December 13th, 2008 at 5:00 pm
I do almost the same for breakfast, except I often make (old-fashioned) rolled oats and microwave them, or do a batch of steel-cut oats in the rice cooker, my favorite method — less gunky pot to clean (prepping the night before like Michelle) and pack leftovers into individual microwave bowls for 3-4 more mornings, since there’s only me to feed. And I almost always use 1 T dried cherries and 1 T raisins per serving. Golden raisins are nice, dried cranberries are also good. Fresh fruit makes a refreshing change too.
Anne, I also put the nuts in after cooking too, as I’d rather have crunchy. Or sometimes stir in before adding milk and then I heat for 1 min after adding 1 cup of skim milk or low-fat soy milk to my serving, as that cools things off too much for me; the nuts don’t lose the crunch too much with that. And I add my ground flaxseed after cooking also, as my dietitian told me (and I know I’ve read here and there) that it loses its omega-3 properties with extensive cooking or high heat — but when I poked around looking for verification before writing this, I couldn’t find it! So I’m not sure. (Plants don’t have full omega-3 fatty acids anyway, but precursors, so it’s a little muddy, to me, anyway.)