The Things Kids Say

I have a Sunday ritual. I call it a ritual because I've been doing it for the last 5 or 6 weeks. That counts, right? I make a batch of steel cut oats for the week. (I know, not as bizarre as say... dropping babies... but it's a ritual and it's one I'm willing to do.) One and a half cups of steel cut oats turns nicely into 5 cups of cooked, yummy, filling breakfast food for my 5 days of work.

So yesterday, when I was doing my Sunday ritual on Monday (Memorial Day and all), and trying to figure out who I was going to pawn the extra cup off on (since I wasn't motivated enough to scale the recipe to yield 4 cups), my daughter came into the kitchen. She just turned 3.

I had just finished filling up my 5 little containers when my daughter says "Wow! You got it all in there. Now you gotta take a picture, Mama!" like this is absolutely the most exciting thing ever.

Do you think this food blogging thing is getting out of hand?

I didn't take a picture, but in case anyone is interested:

Weekly Steel Cut Oats
Yields 5 one cup servings

1 1/2 C steel cut oats (I buy these from the gravity bin at Whole Foods... way cheap)
4 1/2 C water
1 1/2 C skim milk (you can definitely make this without milk, I just like it for the extra protein)
pinch of salt

Bring the water and milk to a simmer in a pot. Add the oats in, stir a bit, then let it simmer untouched for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, stir in the pinch of salt and let it simmer another 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally. I'll then turn off the burner and just let it sit for a bit to thicken up.

I like to measure it out evenly into Ziploc containers and store them in the fridge for the week. Then each morning I'll decide what I'm in the mood to add and throw it on top. When I get to work, I'll add a bit of water, mix it all up, and nuke it for 2 minutes.

Stuff I like to add:

• Tablespoon of roasted sunflower seeds and teaspoon of brown sugar (ala Less Is Enough)
• My own dirty version of Gingersnap Oatmeal which includes about a dash (or however much you'd like) of the following: vanilla, cloves, ginger, cinnamon & nutmeg, plus about a teaspoon of brown sugar and about a tablespoon of ground up blanched, slivered almonds.

Anyone else have ideas for oatmeal add-ins? I can't quite bring myself to try that savory version in the post with the Gingersnap Oatmeal... especially for breakfast.