This review will be so much more effective (and dramatic) if you understand my relationship with oatmeal. It can be summed up in exactly 3 words…I HATE OATMEAL! There is just no way around it. I.HATE.OATMEAL…everything about it is completely repulsive and disgusting to me. I would venture to say that not only do I hate it…I LOATHE it. Just the thought of eating it makes me dry heave just a little. And, I really wish that this was just me being overly dramatic (okay, I be exaggerating A LITTLE, but honestly, not much).
Growing up, my family didn't have a lot of money. There are 7 kids in our family, and my dad was a potato farmer. My mom did everything she could to scrimp and save which meant we ate A LOT of potatoes and almost every breakfast was…you guessed it…OATMEAL…soggy, gooey, sticky, pasty, revolting, nasty oatmeal. The goal every morning was to see who could successfully dispose of their bowl (in the toilet..in the garbage…buried outside in the garden, wherever) without having to eat even one bite. The irony of the situation was…my mom's reason for feeding us oatmeal as opposed to cold cereal or some other edible alternative was because oatmeal "sticks to your bones and keeps you full longer." The obvious problem with that logic that we have since explained to our mom was…cold cereal would have "stuck to our bones" longer than…NOTHING. Unfortunately, I was usually not bold enough (or clever enough) to get rid of mine which means that I generally ended up eating it. We were allowed to add honey, cinnamon and raisins to our hearts content. We quickly learned though, that adding to the goo just increased the amount of paste you had to choke down before being allowed to leave the table. So, I mostly just plugged my nose and gagged it down…(seriously, just thinking about it now is making me a little queasy!)
As I've gotten older and (a little) wiser, I understand the health benefits of oatmeal and have tried NUMEROUS times to make myself like it…sadly, it has NEVER worked. I still hate it. I hate old fashioned oats, quick oats and even those gross little packets of flavored oatmeal. I've tried it with fruit, sugar, butter, jam, syrup, raisins, almonds, EVERYTHING…it still makes me gag every…single…time!
In my recent efforts to improve my eating habits, I decided to revisit the subject of oatmeal ONE LAST TIME in the form of STEEL CUT OATS before giving up on it entirely. I've heard that they are much better than the rolled kind and healthier for you as well. So, when I saw this recipe on Pinterest, I knew it was "the one"…
Apple Pie Breakfast...click here for recipe
I ended up making this one morning after I had sent the kids off to school and my hubby was at work…so unfortunately for you, I was the only one available to decide the overall tastiness of the recipe. And the verdict is…wait for it...
I actually REALLY liked it! In fact, I liked it enough, that it is on the schedule to try out next week with the whole fam damily! I think the big difference was the texture. Steel cut oats are way less sticky and pasty. They look different too. I thought they would look like regular rolled oats, but they are round and look like an actual whole grain (weird, right?, since they ARE an actual whole grain)!! And the apples and cinnamon were delicious. It did kind of remind me of eating warm apple pie. The apples were not too mushy and the apple juice and cinnamon gave the oatmeal great flavor.
I did add a little milk to my bowl to cut down on the stickiness as well as a tiny bit of butter and brown sugar (it just sounded yummier that way) And, I didn't make it in the crockpot. I dumped all the ingredients in my rice cooker and let it do all the work while I enjoyed the delicious smell of baking apples!!
I would whole heartedly recommend this recipe! It's very yummy and hearty…and really "stuck to my bones!" (wink wink)!!
Feel free to comment below if you have a good steel cut oats recipe I could try!