A Quick and Easy Instant Pot Dish

 Last night I was not sleeping.  I had promised myself to do no knitting for at least twenty-four hours to see if I could get my body back to a happy place.  SO...I was rummaging through Facebook.  There was a post from Esther Loveridge, a woman that I really admire and respect.

This is the recipe she had posted:

Immediately after seeing that she put the beans and rice going at night and left it on warm overnight, I decided to do it myself.  That would be a very quick and easy breakfast.  Yes, I do like beans and rice and all sorts of savory non-breakfast-y foods for breakfast.  Dear One is not such a fan but he does partake from time to time.

Since I discovered all the rice I had was still in un-opened bags, and since I had a small amount of steel cut oats in a jar on the counter, I used them in place of the rice.  This morning I found this deliciousness:

It really was good.  The taco seasoning I used was homemade, I think from our daughter, but I made it some time ago and you know how long things remain at the top of one's mind....If not, I can tell you--not so long!

Next time I make the beans and rice/steel cut oats, I will use 3 Tablespoons of the taco seasoning.  It was a little mild.

Food Friday: Steel Cut Oats in Mason Jars in Instant Pot

Yesterday morning I wanted some steel cut oats for breakfast.  I wondered if I could cook them in individual servings in the Instant Pot.  Someone on the net must have had the same idea.  I did find the idea had already been done.  Sorry to say, even though it was only yesterday, I have lost the site. I will try to find it before pressing "Publish" on this post. Probably this one.

What I did:

Went to our storage closet on the balcony...yes, that is where it is...and got out the box of one-cup mason wide mouth mason jars.  One-cup because I don't want more than that much food at a time.

Added:
2 Tablespoons steel cut oats
1 Tablespoon raisins, Craisins, and sunflower seeds
1 teaspoon chia seeds
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Tiny pinch coarse Kosher salt

Put on the lid and shook well.

Filled the jar with water up to the threads on the jar top.

Put on the lid and shook very well.

Loosened the lids to just barely closed.

Set jars on the trivet in the Instant Pot stainless steel insert.  Added 3 cups of water.  Set on HIGH pressure for 20 minutes.

The timer dinged just before we had to leave for the office so I left it to cool down naturally. (Right, no breakfast for me, thought Dear One found his Cheerios!)  When we got home I put the jars in the refrigerator.  This morning we had steel cut oats for breakfast right out of the refrigerator.


 Well, Dear One had his. I was eating my broccoli first and did not have room nor time for the oats. I have them in the office and will eat them for a snack at 10:00 or 11:00.  Never mind that last!

 I just opened the jar, stirred it, and had a couple bites.  It is pretty good!  And it was sealed!!!

Changes for next time:

Use pint jar instead of half pint jar. 

As you can see, there is no water left in the jar, though the oats are perfectly cooked and not dry.

Add more water.  Maybe add more raisins.  Since I don't like sweet cereals, in fact, I think they are an abomination created by food companies to get our little children addicted to sugar which wrecks their health forever (small rant there...),  so I might not add any more dried fruit.  These are perfectly sweet enough.  The person whose website I saw added lots of maple syrup.  Not necessary

Munchie Monday: Great Steel Cut Oats in the Instant Pot

Having a quick and easy breakfast is important to me.  Eating oatmeal every day is supposed to be great at lowering cholesterol.   Somewhere I saw a comment on someone's blog that in three months her cholesterol went from awful to normal in three months with eating oatmeal every day.  Of course, she did not say what else she was doing, but hey,  oatmeal is easy so why not give it a try.  My next doctor appointment is in three months and it will include fasting blood work, so why not?!

Today I pulled the Instant Pot inner liner out of the Instant Pot and put it on the counter.  This helps keep ingredients for getting places I don't want them!

In the bottom of the pot I put 1 cup of steel cut oats, 3 cups of water, 1/4 cup sunflower seeds,  and 1 teaspoon cinnamon then stirred them well.  Next I sprinkled on top 1/4 cup raisins, almost 1/4 cup dried cranberries, and one large apple grated.  I did NOT stir them in at this point. I just installed the cover, selected HIGH pressure and 8 minutes then went about my business.

When I got back to the pot the oats had been on the warming cycle for 15 minutes.  I took off the cover,  stirred them up, put 1/2 cup into each of two bowls and sprinkled on some chopped pecans...maybe 2 Tablespoons on each bowl.

We ate them with pleasure.  This was at around 8:30.  After the very green smoothie and the oatmeal we did not eat ago until 4:30.  Around 2:30 my stomach began to growl but I was not unpleasantly hungry.  That was very nice.

There was nearly one quart of oats left in the pot which is now waiting for tomorrow. And the rest of the week.  Pretty good deal.

Munchie Monday: Instant Pot Steel Cut Oats!

We have had overnight steel cut oats before and really liked them.  There may actually be a post sometime in the past year about them.

It seemed like a good idea to try making hot steel cut oats, so I looked for a recipe and found one for a starting place.

This is what I did:

Placed 3 cups unsweetened plain almond milk in the liner bowl of the Instant Pot.  Added 1 cup steel cut oats. Stirred will then put on the cover and pressed the "Porridge" button and let it go.  When it was done, I let it cool down naturally which took about 15 minutes.  Cool down is rather a misnomer because it is only the pressure that cools down, not the contents of the bowl!

When I took off the cover I stirred the contents well and let it sit a few minutes while I diced up a banana and got a cup of frozen blueberries out of the freezer.  After stirring the fruit into the oats, I measured out a cup of the fruit-y oats into each of two bowls.  There was another half cup or more left over but one cup was enough for us to eat.

With the banana in the bowl there was no need for sugar and the milk was already absorbed into the oats.  It was pretty good.  I would not walk across town for it, but still, it was good enough, and rather quick, for a cold morning.  Actually, it wasn't a cold morning, just an experiment, but Dear One did not complain, so it is something we will have again when it really is cold. I hear that it can get down to 30 degrees F. here in the Portland area...

Munchie Monday: Quick and Easy Overnight Steel Cut Oats with Blueberries

At the Weight and Wellness Center the dietitian mentioned overnight steel cut oats. I decided to try it.  I think I already posted about it but could not find it so here we go again.

We are in Maine for the week.  We have a full kitchen in the unit so we brought a few supplies for cooking.

Quick and Easy Overnight Steel Cut Oats with Blueberries

In a quart glass canning jar (I like glass containers whenever possible)  place 2/3 cups steel cut oats.  Add 3 Tablespoons chia seeds.  Stir well.  Add 1 1/2 cups coconut almond milk and put on the cover.  Shake well. 

Remove cover and add 1-1 1/2 cups frozen blueberries.  Cover again and shake very well.  Store in refrigerator overnight.

In the morning enjoy a big dish of very healthy no-sugar-added-no-added-fat cereal.  It taste surprisingly yummy.

This should be 2-3 servings, depending on your appetite.