Overnight Steel-cut Oatmeal

I'm back!  I finished my first semester of graduate school and now can think again about things like posting new recipes.  This fall I've been trying out a few, but I just didn't have the time or energy to post them.  It didn't help that I couldn't find the battery charger for my camera for a while.  But now that I'm not writing papers or looking for my charger, I can resume my recipe posting.  This recipe is one that I've been making a lot this fall.  I can start it the night before, and then it just takes 15 minutes in the morning to finish making breakfast.  Since sleep is a precious commodity, I've been trying to get up as late as I can and still get the girls fed before Sabrina has to catch the bus at 7:20 am.

I have three variations of our steel-cut oatmeal:  blueberry with maple syrup, raspberry with brown sugar, and chocolate raspberry.  The picture above is of the chocolate raspberry version, which is the girls' favorite.  Big surprise, eh?

Overnight Steel-cut Oatmeal
serves 2 adults or 1 adult and 2 small children

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup gluten-free steel-cut oats.  I use Bob's Red Mill brand.
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1/8 tsp. sea salt
• for the blueberry version:  1 cup frozen wild blueberries, 1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon, 1 tsp. lemon juice, 2 Tbsp. maple syrup
• for the raspberry version:  1 cup frozen raspberries, 1/8 tsp. ground cinnamon,  2 to 3 Tbsp. brown sugar
• for the chocolate raspberry version:  1 cup frozen raspberries, 1/4 cup dairy-free chocolate chips (I like Trader Joe's semi-sweet or Ghirardelli semi-sweet brands), and 2 Tbsp. brown sugar 

Instructions:

The night before, add the the steel-cut oats, water, and salt to a small pot and stir.  Bring the water to a boil over high heat.  Immediately remove the pot from the heat and cover with a lid.  Leave the pot on the stove top overnight.

The next morning add the berries to the pot, stir, and bring the oatmeal to a simmer over medium-high heat.  Reduce the heat to medium, or so the liquid is simmering gently.  Cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.  (If you are using raspberries, occasionally mash them with the back of your spoon so that they dissolve into the oatmeal.)  Then remove the pot from the heat, stir in the other ingredients, and serve.