Strawberry Oatmeal; A simple breakfast

Today’s breakfast was a simple but delicious affair, no fruit puddings this morning. The star performer for our breakfast meal was oats.

Last evening, I added one cup of steel-cut organic oats into a bowl, I poured in 1.5 cups of water, and let the oats soak overnight. This morning, the oats were soft, fluffy, and ready to be eaten. The only thing I had to do was add fresh fruit and serve. I meant to snap a few photos, but my daughter and I ate it before I even thought about taking a picture.

Strawberry Oatmeal

• 1 cup of steel-cut oats (if you don’t have those buy some old fashioned oatmeal) that have been soaked overnight

The beauty of letting your oats soak overnight, is that you don’t have to cook them the next morning.

• 1/2 freshly pureed or diced strawberries
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• *Add natural sweetener to taste. You could use honey (not vegan), or raw turbinado sugar, sweeten to taste

Directions

1. Split oats into two bowls
2. Add spices
3. Garnish with strawberries
4. Serve & enjoy!

*Makes two servings

My daughter and I are used to the natural sweetness of fresh fruit, so the sweetness from the strawberries was enough for us, however, if you need more why not add a natural sweetener? Another thing, sample the soaked oats before making your cereal, if you think it’s to chewy, by all means cook the oats. The great thing, is since the oats have been soaked they’ll be ready in minutes.

What are steel-cut oats?

Steel-cut oats are the inner part of the oat. Instead of being rolled, like your standard oats, they have only been cut two or three times by steel. This means minimal processing for the oats (good news for a person like myself who prefers whole food cuisine.) This results in a coarser cut oat. Check out the above picture, the oats resemble brown rice. I love steel-cut oats; it has a chewier and nuttier texture. Just remember, if you’re cooking steel-cut oats, the cooking time can be longer. Naturally, if you soak your oats first, that time is diminished.

A few oat benefits;

1. lower glycemic index
2. lower spike in insulin levels when eaten

Being the whole food diva that I am, it’s no surprise that I tend to reach for the steel cut oats instead of the rolled oats.

In other news…

My father turned 72 years old today, happy Birthday Dad! He’s still in phenomenal shape. He runs, lift weights, works around the house. He can still can beat men half his age in races, much to the embarrassment of them, heh. He was part time National Guard, along with his regular job. They still had to compete in PT (physical training test) and it was with great satisfaction that he still left the “younguns” in the dust up until he retired at 65. Nice to see he can still do that too, at 72! I imagine I’ll be similar to him, if I reach his age. I physically active, and love competition too. I’m definitely my father’s daughter.

Decluttering is almost complete, I try not to do work on Sunday’s however I think I might work a bit after church to get the last room (my bedroom) back to normal. Hopefully I’ll have a chance to post the bean burger recipe tomorrow