Fruity-Nutty Oatmeal (Take Two)

A while ago I made a recipe for oatmeal that contained apples, cranberries and raisins. It was tasty, but my husband wasn’t overly impressed and I thought that we could improve upon the base recipe.

Since my husband prefers steel-cut oats (or irish oats) to rolled oats, my first step was to change the types of oats in the cereal. We used Coach’s Oats, a type of steel-cut oats that is chopped a little for faster cooking, but hasn’t been chopped, flattened and demolished the same way rolled oats have. I would imagine you could use one of the quick varieties of irish oats in this recipe too. If you used the traditional steel-cut oats, I wouldn’t add the fruit until closer to the end of the cooking time because it would probably end up mush. (Or you could do a pre-soak method or food processor chop method of preparation.)

Another change was to add some spice to the dish, the original didn’t include any. Just a simple addition of a little cinnamon really goes a long way to enhance the overall flavor profile.

The Ingredients:
1 cup water
1 1/2 cups fat-free milk, divided (I actually used light soy milk)
1 1/4 c quick-cooking steel cut oats
Pinch of salt (optional)
1 medium Granny Smith apple, cored and cut into 1/4″ pieces
1/2 cup dried sweetened cranberries
1/4 cup golden raisins
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
2 teaspoons brown sugar

The Instructions:
1. Bring water and milk to a boil in a large, heavy saucepan over high heat. Stir in oats and salt (if using). Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer 2 minutes, stirring often, until oats start to soften.

2. Stir in apple, cranberries, raisins and cinnamon. Cover and simmer about 2-3 minutes more or until the apple is tender but still a bit crisp.

3. Divide evenly among 4 warm bowls. Sprinkle each with 1/2 teaspoon of brown sugar and 2 tablespoons of the walnuts. Top each bowl with extra milk if desired.