Steel Cut Oats with Cinnamon and Vanilla

On the weekends, I like to make steel cut oats because they are so much better for you than your typical rolled oats or instant oats.  Why are they better? Below you will find a description of each type of oats that I grabbed from The Cancer Dietitian that explains their differences:

• Steel-cut oats are the whole oat kernel, which is cut into two or three pieces using steel discs. They are a better source of fiber than rolled oats, but take longer to cook.
• Rolled oats have the bran mostly removed and are rolled flat to make them easier to cook. With the bran removed, they have less fiber than steel-cut oats.
• Quick-cooking and instant oats are rolled oats that have been cut into smaller pieces and rolled thinner, thus cook quickly. They are an easy source for preparing many oatmeal dishes.

The steel cut oats have a higher nutritional value, but they take about 30 minutes to cook, which is why I only cook them on the weekends. I must admit that during the week, I eat the instant oatmeal packages. Who has the time to cook breakfast for 30 minutes before going to work?

When I saw that Jill Nussinow aka "The Veggie Queen" came out with a new e-book called The New Fast Food™: The Veggie Queen™ Pressure Cooks Whole Food Meals in Less than 30 Minutes, I knew I had to try some of the recipes. My new pressure cooker hasn't been used much!  The first recipe I tried was her steel cut oats recipe, which turned out great!  It actually tasted like bread pudding and I ended up eating some of it for dessert that same night after dinner!

Steel Cut Oats with Cinnamon and Vanilla
Ingredients

• 2 cups water
• 1 cup unsweetened soy milk
• Pinch of salt
• 1 cup steel cut oats
• 1/2 vanilla bean
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1/4 cup raisins
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 cup walnuts
• 1-2 tsp agave syrup

Instructions
The recipe is pretty simple. Just add the water, milk, salt, oats, vanilla bean, cinnamon stick and raisins to the pressure cooker.

Bring the cooker to high pressure over high heat, then lower the heat and cook under pressure for 3 minutes. The cooking time starts once the pressure is up. Then, remove it from the heat and allow the pressure to come down naturally. During this time, the oats will continue to cook.

Then, carefully remove the lid and check to see if the oats are cooked enough. Mine were not at this point. If not, remove the pot from the heat, lock on the lid, and let them sit for another 10 minutes.  They will continue cooking during this time.

Remove the lid. Then remove the vanilla bean and cinnamon stick and set aside. Stir in the cinnamon, walnuts, and agave syrup to taste.

As I mentioned, this is a very sweet-tasting breakfast which doubles as a great dessert. Enjoy it either way!