Gingerbread Steel Cut Oats

I discovered steel cut oats several months ago when I was going through Jillian Michael's "Master Your Metabolism" cookbook. While her recipe is still the standard (and eventually I'll link to it here), I love to experiment too. This recipe was the "happy accident" of a new blogger I accidentally found, Beth at Budget Bytes.

Gingerbread Steel Cut Oats

by Beth at Budget Bytes, with my adjustments.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup uncooked steel-cut oats
• 3 cups water
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• 1/8 cup dark molasses
• 1/2 cup raisins

Instructions:

1. In a medium pot, bring 3 cups of water to a rolling boil. (Beth uses 4, but I like my oats a bit thicker. I also use part almond milk, part water). Once it reaches a boil pour in the uncooked steel-cut oats. Stir with a spoon and reduce the heat to low.
2. As the oats simmer on low, stir in the salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves. Let the oats simmer until it is to your desired thickness, about 20-30 minutes.
3. Once the oats have thickened sufficiently, turn off the heat and stir in the molasses and raisins. (Beth used 1/3 cup, but that way too strong for me).
4. Makes four one-cup servings.

As I continue to reduce the amount of processed foods we eat at home, I've been looking for more breakfast items to make in advance. This is great because I can enjoy one serving, and put the other three away for the rest of the week.