Before I started my healthy living journey, trying new (to me) foods was intimidating.  I can honestly say that just two short years ago, I had never tried agave syrup, steel-cut oats, quinoa, green monster smoothies, greek yogurt or almond milk and now I consider these items to be staples in my healthy eating diet. 

Not only did trying new foods intimidate me, but I did not know how to cook them either.  Steel-cut oats fall into this "How Do I Cook This?" category.  Thanks to years of living off instant oatmeal or quick oats, it just seemed so foreign to me to cook oatmeal longer than one minute.   

"Steel-cut oats are whole grain groats (the inner portion of the oat kernel) which have been cut into pieces". - Source: Wikipedia

Quick oats no longer occupy a space on the shelf in our pantry.  I started buying rolled oats and steel-cut oats in the bulk bins at the grocery store because they are such a bargain.  Now on Sunday evenings,while I am cooking my Supper Sundays, I usually put a pot of steel-cut oats on the stove and cook several servings to last us the first few days of the week. Well, unless one of the kids decides they want oatmeal for supper, then I might have to make another batch by Tuesday.  Not that I mind because cooking steel-cut oats is actually very simple, they just require a longer cooking time than rolled oats or quick oats.  On average, I would say it takes about 40 minutes to cook 4 servings of steel-cut oats compared to 5-10 minutes for rolled oats. 

Serves 2*

*I like to double this amount and make 4 servings at a time.  You can refrigerate the extra servings for later.  

Cook time: Approximately 40 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup steel-cut oats
• 2 cups water
• 2 teaspoons brown sugar, agave or other natural sweetener of your choice

 Directions:

1. Pour the water into a medium saucepan and place on the stove over medium high heat.  Bring water to a boil. 
2. Stir in oats and allow the water to return to a boil.  
3. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally so that the oatmeal does not stick to the bottom of the pan. 
4. Continue to cook oatmeal for 5-10 more minutes until oatmeal reaches desired thickness. Turn off heat and allow the oatmeal to cool for 5 minutes, then stir in desired sweetener.
5. Spoon oatmeal into a bowl and add toppings.