Hearty Breakfast on a Diet

After watching the "oatmeal" episode of Good Eats, I decided to give the steel cut oats a try in an attempt to rescue oatmeal as a breakfast for me. I've always loved the taste of oats, but the texture of instant oatmeal and even standard rolled oats has always made it hard for me to finish a bowl. However, knowing how filling they can be, how good the fiber and vitamins are for your heart and the rest of you, I really wanted to see if ther was a way for me to start eating them again.

With the Alton Brown recipe in hand as well as the one from America's Test Kitchen's The New Best Recipe, I gave "real" oatmeal a shot this weekend. My first batch, while I accidentally overtoasted the oats, was quite good. However, I'd gone the "safe" route of brown sugar and cinnamon and using the full recipe (including faking whole milk with 1% and heavy cream). While the results were good, the extra calories just weren't a good setup for my weight loss goals. To make this a regular part of my diet, I'd have to cut the calories in each bowl.

The huge lunch I had today led me to seek a light dinner, and that made trying to figure out a lighter version of the oatmeal out. I'm pretty pleased with the results and it serves as a pretty filling, light on the calories meal. It's creamy, but still has some tooth and chew to it without becoming gluey. Recipe below:

LetterJ's Light Oatmeal
Makes enough to fill me up pretty much completely in one sitting

1/2 cup of steel cut oats (not the rolled oats, i.e. Quaker)
1 1/2 cups water
1/2 cup milk (I used 1%, but I think skim would be OK)
2-4 packets of Splenda sweetener
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp vanilla
cinnamon to taste

Calories:
Without using butter to toast oats: 330
Using butter to toast: 440

Procedure:
Toast cut oats in non-stick skillet over medium heat until golden brown and smells nutty, then pull off heat. I used cast iron the first time, but since the pan held on to the heat, they overcooked while I messed with the other stuff. The lighter aluminum skillet stopped cooking them when I pulled them off of the heat. Tastes best if you use a tablespoon of butter with the oats, but also adds 11o or so calories to the dish.

Put the milk and water into a saucepan (my smallest is just about perfect) and bring to a simmer.

Put the toasted oats into the simmering liquid.

Simmer for 15-20 minutes until it's as thick as gravy. Any stirring should be with the handle of a wooden spoon. Using the main end of the spoon will make it overly mushy.

To the gravy consistancy, add the salt, the Splenda and vanilla. I also added the cinnamon, but it would make just as much sense to add it at the end.

Simmer it again until it's thick. As it reaches the end, you will have to stir to avoid it sticking to the bottom. Let it sit for a couple of minutes when it's done and add the cinnamon if you haven't already.

Dump into a bowl and enjoy.