Seriously Spectacular Steel Cut Oats

Raw steel cut oats.

I don't know how I have gone on so long without eating steel cut oats. Now that I have finally eaten them I doubt I will ever eat rolled oats again. I had been eating rolled oats most of my adult life. It's a quick, easy, healthful breakfast but it can get boring. And then I discovered steel cut oats! Now, I find myself eating them for breakfast, lunch and sometimes even dinner.

The texture of steel cut oats is so wonderful. They have 4 grams of fiber, 6 grams of protein and are fairly low fat.

Costco has been carrying 4 lb. 8 oz. bags of organic steel cut oats so it's a bargain. This may seem like a rather large bag to consume but you can use steel cut oats for other recipes too. There is a reicpe on the bag for steel cut oat scones that I plan making.

The secret to quick, tasty steel cut oats is to make them ahead of time in a small slow cooker. I find the oats cook more thoroughly and I enjoy the texture more when the oats are reheated. (I have made them on the stove – they take about 20 minutes but it never seems quite done.) I set the cooker to high, add a bit of dried fruit and cook for a couple hours. When it's almost done, I like to add some maple syrup and let it cook another half hour or so. When most of the liquid has cooked away, I put the oats in the refrigerator in a tightly covered container. To serve, scoop spoonfuls into bowl, add some water and reheat, breaking up the clumps. I like to serve with about 1/4 cup of soy milk. Enjoy!

Ingredients
1 cup steel cut oats
3 cups water
dash of salt
sprinkle in some craisins and golden raisins
1/4 cup maple syrup

Directions
Combine ingredients in small slow cooker (mine is one of those mini cookers with several settings: keep warm, low, high and off) and set to high. Cook for 2-3 hours until most of the liquid is gone. Add maple syrup to taste and cook a bit longer until all liquid is gone.

You can easily change the amount of steel cut oats you make. Just make it 1 part oats, 3 parts liquid.

A small pot of awesome deliciousness!

Slow Cooker Black Bean Soup with Kale & Rice

More "stuff" from the CSA box to use up. I'm embarrassed to say I've had a bunch of kale sitting in my fridge for several weeks now... waiting, just waiting to be cooked. The most interesting use of kale I found was from my cookbook Vegan on the Cheap by Robin Robertson. This is adapted from that recipe with quantities greatly reduced. I almost cooked it on the stove and I'm glad I didn't because the flavors really came together after cooking for about 6 hours in the crockpot.

Ingredients
1 Tb olive oil
1/2 small onion, chopped
2 medium carrots, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup short grain brown rice
1 15-ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 15-ounce can diced tomatoes
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/4 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
3 cups chopped kale, stems removed and chopped too
3 cups vegetable stock (I used "unchicken stock" and it was great)

Directions
Heat the crockpot to high and add oil, onion, carrots, and cloves. Stir around for about 10 minutes. Add rest of ingredients, lower heat, and cook until rice and kale are done, about 6 hours. Garnish with vegan parmesan cheese.