Steel Cut Oats.

Today's adventure is all about steel cut oats. "Adventure?!" you might say. "ADFRICK'NVENTURE!!!" I would retort. For me, stepping into the kitchen is a miraculous and awe-inspiring thing. For the longest time, I've either been too tired, to sick, or too recovering-from-surgery to attempt anything other than a microwave dinner.

Luckily I have very high self esteem and don't let my inability to feed my family affect my woman-hood-ness. Damnit. With much rejoicing, though, I now have increasingly more periods of energy and have been toeing my way into that linoleum wonderland.

This morning I tried steel cut oats. First I had to spend 20 minutes searching the internet and reading about the difference between steel cut & rolled oats. I learned that they're basically the same thing except that the steel cut is less processed: the steel cut are just chopped up while the rolled are steam rolled for faster cooking time. Since my friend Elle had graciously donated a container to our home, I decided to try the steel cut.

I don't know about you, but it freaks me out when I cook anything that creates a film or light, airy, floaty bit that waives at me from the stove. That's what happened when I got to the 30 minutes of simmering. I tried to remove the excess layer, but it would stick to the side of the pot or evaporate or disappear into another dimension... I don't know. It just made me very uncomfortable. At this point I was thinking how in the world does cooking oatmeal rock me to the core?! Oh gahd... ooooh gaaahhd...

Anyhoosies, I assembled the ingredients that are all the rage when making steel cut oats: "milk", raisins, almonds, flaxseed, cinnamon, sugar. Typically I only have some stevia and soy/almondmilk, but this time I figured I'd go all out. I was, after all, a new chef... creating... exploring...

Exhibit A.

I added the ingredients with fervor. I sprinkled bits of goodness to and fro. I felt an inner sense of accomplishment that, YES I TOO CAN DO THIS! I'm not gonna lie, the cinnamon did fight with me. But as you can see here (Exhibit A), I splashed its guts all over the bowl CSI style. SCREW YOU CINNAMON!

Overall it was a great accomplishment. It was tasty, but a bit sweet. I think next time I'll take out the raisins and sugar and add just a scoach of honey.

The most interesting thing that I learned from this experience has nothing to do with oatmeal. It turns out that I have been duped by the advertising. "Sugar in the Raw" is just plain ole crappy-for-you sugar that has been sprayed with molasses.

And "raw " sugar is no better, Nonas added. "People are very susceptible to marketing. And just because something is natural doesn't mean it's particularly healthy for you," she said.
Raw sugar isn't even really raw. It's just slightly less refined, so it retains some of the molasses. But there's no real health real benefit from it. "There's no more nutritional value in raw sugar than there is in white sugar or brown sugar," Nonas said. 

The Raw Facts on Sugar, ABC News 

Sonofabitch. *sigh*

And another thing, Weight Watchers (and every other diet guru) always says that oatmeal makes you feel fuller longer and that it's supposed to hold you over forever and ever and ever. I find that that's not the case with me. I'm frick'n hungry right now. I think I may have to go back to my eggs, cheese, and Ezekiel bread slice.