Monday, November 15, 2010

Soaked Oatmeal

We eat soaked oatmeal almost every morning for breakfast. It's fantastic! We change what we top it with and that keeps it interesting each morning.
Soaked oatmeal is super easy to make plus by soaking it, you are releasing the vitamins and minerals to be absorbed by your body rather than blocked!
Sally Fallon, the author of Nourishing Traditions, said in her book, "Phosphorus in the bran of whole grains is tied up in a substance called phytic acid. Phytic acid combines with iron, calcium, magnesium, copper and zinc in the intestinal tract, clocking their absorption. Whole grains also contain enzyme inhibitors that can interfere with digestion. Traditional societies usually soak or ferment their grains before eating them, processes that neutralize phytates and enzyme inhibitors and in effect, predigest grains so that all their nutrients are more available. Sprouting, overnight soaking, and old-fashioned sour leavening can accomplish this important predigestive process in our own kitchens. Many people who are allergic to grains will tolerate them well when they are prepared according to these procedures."
Soaking grains isn't difficult either. All you need is some water and a neutralizer. In the case of Soaked Oatmeal I use our well water and yogurt. The recipe below feeds both my husband and I, and all of our children each morning (a 13yr old, 3yr old, 2yr old and 1 yr old) If you have more or less people in your family then you can adjust the quantity as needed.
Soaked Oatmeal
2 c water
2 c organic oats
4 Tb whole milk yogurt
1 1/2c water (for cooking the next day)
The night before, place oats in a glass or ceramic bowl and pour in water and yogurt. Stir until well combined.
Grains should be soaked for at least 12 hours so I usually make mine up while I'm preparing dinner.
Cover your bowl with a cotton dishcloth and allow it to remain on your counter until the next morning.
When you're ready to cook it, place the oats into a saucepan with the 1 1/2c water and cook on medium heat until water is absorbed (about 8 minutes.) I stir mine often because otherwise it tends to stick to the bottom of the pan.
I then portion out our oatmeal into bowls, add organic butter, maple syrup and cinnamon. We then top it with what we have on hand. This morning it was canned peaches and sliced banana. Add some organic whole milk (raw preferably) and enjoy!

12 comments:

StitchinByTheLake said...

I buy steel cut oats at The Amish Market and cook them all night in the crockpot. I've never tried putting yogurt in them but I love having them ready when I get up. Last night I added a little cinnamon sugar when I put them on and it was delicious! blessings, marlene

Jo @ life in lists said...

Oh, that sounds really interesting! We're big porridge eaters in this house, and that sounds like another (cheap and healthy) alternative we can try. Thanks for the rundown.

Unknown said...

Soaked oatmeal is just delicious! I like to mix half rolled oats with half steel cut oats.

Unknown said...

I love NT cookbook. It is so more than a cookbook. And isn't it amazing how you can actually cook up such a nutritious breakfast in such a short time just by soaking it overnight! My kids love to add cream to it. I've also taken some of our leftover oatmeal and added it to waffle and pancake batter.

Farmgirl Cyn said...

I love soaking the steel cut oats the night before and having them cook nice and tender in just a few minutes. The soaking really cuts down the cooking time, which used to take nearly 1/2 an hour! I've tried soaking regular oats, and they are just too slimey for me. Maybe I am doing something wrong?

Mrs. Laura Lane said...

You are as good as your word. Thanks for sharing the recipe so quickly. I'll get some yogurt and give it a try.

Laura

Treasures from a shoebox said...

Yogurt sitting out all night concerns me just a bit, but I will trust you, double the recipe (for our family of 11) and give it a try. I think this would also be good in a baked oatmeal recipe (bake it the next morning). Thanks for sharing!

Mountain Home Quilts said...

Treasures- Since yogurt is cultured there is no problem with it sitting out. Now, if you left it out for a month, you may want to avoid it ;) but overnight is just fine.

Susan said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Susan said...

Just discovered your blog--so much great information! I'm really looking forward to reading through it. One question about the soaked oats recipe. It seems like all the commenters used rolled oats or steel cut oats. When the recipe calls for "oats", is that what you mean? I have whole oats (they look like wheat berries, only different) and we in the winter we put them in a thermos with hot water the night before. By morning, they turn into the most wonderful oatmeal. Have you ever tried that?

Mountain Home Quilts said...

Susan,
It sounds like you're talking about steel cut oats. I haven't used them yet- at this point I'm just using regular, organic rolled oats.
Thanks for coming by, I'm glad you're enjoying it here! :)

teekaroo said...

I thought I had been following you for a while now, but apparently not. I'll have to give this a try.

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