Overnight Steel-Cut Oats

I know a lot of folks out there like oatmeal. I am not one of them. For me, it's totally a texture issue. I like other things with oats in them, but oatmeal not-so-much. That is...until I started eating steel-cut oats. What a difference! The taste is still there, but they're a bit chewier and nuttier than rolled oats. It's not the same as the other mushy oatmeal that I don't like. I still can't eat it every single day, but I do like to have it on occasion, especially when it gets colder outside and we all want a nice warm breakfast in the morning. And the boys really like it!

The only thing is, steel cut oats can take a while. Half an hour or so. I know I certainly don't have that kind of cooking time in the morning! For a while I would just cook it at night and then put it in the fridge to reheat in the morning, but then I learned about making *overnight* steel-cut oats. It's the best of both worlds...you get the good kind of oatmeal (in my opinion) and it doesn't take forever to make. Plus...steel-cut oats are actually better for you than regular oats. They are much less processed and have more dietary fiber. (And if you eat gluten-free, you can just use gluten-free oats.)

This recipe makes quite a bit, which we happen to like because we can all eat it for breakfast one weekend morning and then use leftovers for some of us for breakfast during the week. You can easily halve it or change the amounts to make the amount you want.

Pumpkin Pie Yogurt

I just posted on how we make our own homemade yogurt, and since it's almost fall, we've been making some "Pumpkin Pie" Yogurt that the boys are in love with... I made some for my 12-year-old the other morning at breakfast. He literally licked the bowl clean. Then, the second he got home from school, he asked me to make more for his snack. And I caught him using his fingers to get every single last bit out of that bowl, too! The other day at lunchtime, I gave some to the little girl I watch, and I even saw her eat it all and then bring the bowl to her mouth to try to pour any that was left into her mouth. So, yeah, it's a bit of a hit over here...

I tried to measure everything the other day so I could actually say how much I used because I was just dumping stuff in before that. This is great with regular yogurt, but it's even better with greek yogurt because it's a bit thicker, especially with the added ingredients. If you want to try it, here it is...