CB Cooks: Overnight steel cut oatmeal

That's right, I do more than just fish in my free time. Cooking was really my first non-musical hobby. And if you notice the subtitle of this blog, it's "...and cooks, and makes music, and stuff"

I've seen similar recipes posted all of the internet, but hey, I'll add my voice to the mix. Also, I haven't read any recipes that utilize a dutch oven. Cooking with cast iron in any form is pretty awesome in my book.

Steel Cut Oatmeal (thanks Meijer)

What you definitely need:
- Steel cut oatmeal (it will actually say "steel cut"- avoid "quick cooking" oatmeal at all costs)
- Water
- Dutch oven (or some other pan, whatever, but I think the dutch oven is a good choice- it stays warm for a very long time)

Other good stuff to have:
- Canela (the REAL cinnamon, this stuff isn't hard and is easily ground)
- Vanilla (real or fake, the real stuff is super expensive)
- Brown sugar
- Fruit
- Nuts
- Salt (I usually add to taste after it's already cooked)
- Milk (if you like that sort of thing on your oatmeal)

Canela (aka Mexican Cinnamon aka Ceylon Cinnamon aka tasty tasty!)

How you make it:

1) Put oatmeal and water in dutch oven; I like 1 part oatmeal to 3 parts water, which makes a not-too-creamy oatmeal. I also add canela that's been ground up in a molcajete (mexican mortar and pestle) and vanilla at this point. Makes the house smell like christmas! I don't mind little chunks of canela in my oatmeal, but if you do, make sure to grind the canela finer than I did.

2) Bring to a boil. Watch out for boil-overs! Oatmeal likes to cover your stove in oatmeal juice.

3) Turn off heat, cover, and let sit overnight (or ~7 hours..?)

the oatmeal in the morning

4) In the morning, reheat, and top with your oatmeal toppings - My favorite so far is frozen blackberries (thawed in microwave), pecans, and brown sugar. (Sometime soon I'm going to try topping it with pecans, cantelope, and prickly pear fruit ala horchata oaxacan-style)

5) Mmmmmmmm!

And just like beans, my favorite food, oatmeal is super good for you, especially the lower parts of you. This is a great breakfast before a fishing trip- it sticks with you for a long time.