Carrot Cake Oatmeal

Discussion in 'Food & Drinks' started by Pat Baker, Feb 22, 2015.

  1. Pat Baker

    Pat Baker Supreme Member
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    See this on pinterest, hope you like it.

    4 cups water

    1 cup steel-cut oats
    1 apple - peeled, cored and chopped
    d c1/2 cup shredded carrot
    1/2 cup raisins
    1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
    1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
    1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
    1 pinch salt
    1 tablespoon butter
    3/4 cup chopped pecans
    1 tablespoon brown sugar
    1/2 cup plain yogurt

    PREP

    15 mins

    · COOK

    40 mins

    · READY IN

    55 mins

    Directions
    1. Bring water to a boil in a heavy, large saucepan, and stir in the oats. Reduce heat to a simmer, and cook oats until they begin to thicken, about 10 minutes; mix in the apple, carrot, raisins, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and salt. Let the oats simmer until tender, about 20 more minutes.
    2. While the oats are simmering, melt butter in a skillet over medium-low heat, and stir in the pecans. Toast the nuts until fragrant and lightly browned, 2 to 5 minutes, then sprinkle with brown sugar and stir until sugar has melted and coated the pecans.
     
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  2. Yvonne Smith

    Yvonne Smith Senior Staff
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    I have made a similar breakfast from oatmeal, and I put in a chopped up apple and raisins; but I never thought about adding carrots to the mixture. That sounds even better, healthier,and almot like having a carrot cake.
    I will definitely have to try that when I have hot cereal. It is longer than I usually cook my oatmeal; but it would take a while before the apples and carrots got cooked, I imagine.
    What did you think about it when you made it for breakfast, Pat ? Does it taste as good as it sounds ?
     
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  3. Richard Paradon

    Richard Paradon Supreme Member
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    Sounds like an interesting dish, Pat, but my question is what is a steel cut oat? I don't like cereal very much but I can find Quaker Oats here.
     
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  4. Yvonne Smith

    Yvonne Smith Senior Staff
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    This is an old thread, but I just discovered steel-cut oats, and ordered some from Amazon to try. We have normally just used regular oatmeal, and when I was looking on Sam’s Club, I noticed that they also carried what they called “steel cut pinhead oats”. So, naturally I looked it up to see what in the world a pinhead oat was.
    It turns out that it is whole oats that have been partially chopped in a steel burr grinder, but not rolled like oatmeal is.
    It is called pinhead because that is about the size of the oat pieces after cutting them.
    It takes longer to cook, but can be soaked overnight and then cooked, which shortens the cooking time. It makes a crunchier breakfast cereal. I think that I will try the carrot cake recipe (above) once my oats arrive.

    I have been making those no-sugar/flour oatmeal cookies, and part of the oatmeal is ground up in the blender to make it into oatmeal flour; so I am thinking that the steel cut oats might also work for that , and there are probably even more good ways to use them. Maybe once they are cooked, they could be added to bread , like some of the bread has wheat berries in it ?

    Supposed to arrive this weekend, so I will update once I have tried this !

    8E29576B-4897-4284-9045-204A92EA9104.jpeg
     
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  5. Yvonne Smith

    Yvonne Smith Senior Staff
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    Update on the steel cut oats.
    I really, really love these , and I have been having them almost every day for breakfast. I have never been a big oatmeal person, it is just too soft and mushy ; but the steel cut oats are more flavorful, and they have an almost nutty taste and some crunch.
    I expected to get tired of them once summer arrived, but now I look forward to eating them.

    I haven’t tried the carrot cake oatmeal yet, but I do add the apples and raisins and cinnamon to mine, and after it has cooked I add some flax and chia seeds for the health benefits.
    Sam’s Club has steel cut oats by the 20 lbs bag, and since I now know that I would eventually use that much, I am considering that, once I need to order more, I will get the large quantity.
    My 4-pack of the Bob’s Red Mill steel cut oats is 6 lbs, and it was almost $20. For a little over $30, I can have 20 lbs, and since it is a dry grain, it will store.
    I just have to get airtight and bug proof containers to store it in once I open the bag.

    Anyway, if someone is looking for a very healthy breakfast, and more flavor than plain oatmeal, I definitely recommend the steel cut oats. They can also be used in place of rice, but I have not tried that yet. It takes longer for these to cook than regular oatmeal, but way less time than cooking brown rice; so at least worth testing out.
     
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  6. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
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    I'll have to try this. Regarding differences in oats: quick-cooking oats have been steamed...they are par-cooked before being packaged.

    And I, too, like the idea of adding carrots. They have a natural sweetness.

    If you're gonna start buying bulk like this, Yvonne, it's time to look into a cheap vacuum seal machine (you can buy 1 gallon bags) or sealable mylar bags and oxygen absorbers.
     
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  7. Yvonne Smith

    Yvonne Smith Senior Staff
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    I keep forgetting that I need to grate carrots when I am making my morning oatmeal, so that I can try the carrot cake one. Today , even though my oats were already started cooking, I grated part of a carrot and stirred it into the steel cut oats, and then added the proper seasonings.
    It turned out really DELICIOUS ! !
    Now, I am going to take the food processor and shred up some carrots and apples, so that they will be ready and easy for me to add into the morning steel cut oats.
    If you look online or on youtube, there are probably a zillion recipes for making this delicious breakfast.
    Since I like fast and easy, and didn’t want to add any extra fats, I just made my regular breakfast, but added the carrots to it and the carrot cake spices. I made some fresh cashew-almond milk to pour over it, and it made a great breakfast, and an easy way to get more veggies in my diet.
     
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  8. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
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    I was on Sam's Club website reading the comments on the oats your bought, and one person said she batch-cooks these in a Crock Pot for 6 hours, then divides it up into individual pre-cooked meals for the week.
     
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  9. Yvonne Smith

    Yvonne Smith Senior Staff
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    I have read that people do that. I think that for busy working people who need something quick to eat for breakfast, or to take along to eat later, this method of food preparation would work fine.
    For myself, I am not going anywhere (except probably to the fitness center); so there is no reason for me not to cook it fresh every day. Some days, I don’t feel like oats, so there is that, too. I might just want a potato and ketchup, or maybe stir fry veggies, and then I don’t need to have oats ready made.
    I actually got these on Amazon, and they are from the Bob’s Red Mill brand. It came in a 4-pack, and I thought that was a good way to see if i even liked them or not before I ordered 20 lbs from Sam’s Club.
    Also, I like mine cooked just enough to eat, but are still chewy and have a nutty flavor, and not mushy like regular oatmeal.
     
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  10. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
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    I was taking a look.

    The bulk pak of Bob's Red Mill are 11¢ an ounce while the Sam's Club are 6.7¢ an ounce. The Quaker Oat Squares I eat are about 19¢ an ounce (at 1/4 the fiber and twice the sugars per cup) and the serving size is 4x that of the s.c. oats,so there's even more of a cost savings.

    I eat cereal for breakfast almost every morning. I've just never been a hot cereal eater. I also like to have lots of berries on my cereal due to their anti-carcinogenic benefits, so I'd have to find a way to incorporate those. I'll have to buy a small pak and give it a try. I imagine there are other uses for them.
     
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  11. Yvonne Smith

    Yvonne Smith Senior Staff
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    You can also make baked oatmeal carrot cake, or whatever kind of oatmeal cake you want; so with your berries or bananas or whatever. Here is a really fast video that gives an idea about how this turns out; but there are lots more recipes to be found for baked oatmeal.

    I really like the steel cut oats ! I have never been a cereal eater, usually made a quick sandwich for breakfast; but since it is healthy, I am now having oats with fruit (and now veggies) for the health benefits.

    Also, I can totally see making extra of this ahead of time, and having it either cold or warmed back up.


     
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  12. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
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    For those who may be interested, I just bought a 30 oz. container of steel cut "traditional" oats (cooking time = 30 minutes) at Aldi for $2.35. That's 7.8¢ an ounce in the store.

    [​IMG]

    "Quick Cook" steel cut oats (3 minutes) come in a slightly smaller size for the same package price, works out to 9.4¢ per ounce.

    [​IMG]

    The price for both is higher on their website (making it about the same per-ounce price as Bob's Red Mill from Amazon), and I believe that Aldi's web price includes shipping.
     
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  13. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
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    I made these for the first time this morning.

    I melted some ghee, added cinnamon and nutmeg, toasted the oats in it, then simmered them in milk with a shredded carrot and minced apple. It was pretty good...and it's cheap. The oats only cost about 11¢ per serving.

    This will become my regular breakfast. It's way cheaper and healthier than the Quaker Oat Squares I've been eating. The nutrition profile for 1/4 cup of steel cut oats is about the same as for 1 cup of Oat Squares, and the Oat Squares have salt & sugar.
     
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