I have had all the oats; rolled, instant, steel-cut, and Scottish, and I have found a true winner. In terms of consistency, time cooked, and taste, Scottish oatmeal blows the competition away. It is true oatmeal, what I mean by this is that this is the true form of oatmeal or porridge (original name) many years ago there were not machines to break down or roll oatmeal, so it was grinded into a meal. Therefore making it the least processed and healthiest along with steel cut oatmeal. I jumped on the steel-cut bandwagon because it was the least processed and healthier than rolled or instant oats. It just took SO long to cook and after all that cooking, it was still hard or just not as soft as I would like my oatmeal to be. But because I needed it for cleansing and my mantra of eating less processed foods I continued to buy it. Until one day I was browsing a specialty market and there it was, Scottish oatmeal. I had never heard of it, but it was a whole grain and wasn’t rolled, so it has the same benefits as steel-cut oatmeal, and it cooked in half the time, so I figured I should try it. Because Scottish oatmeal is not rolled or cut, but ground up into a meal it makes for much better consistency, and cooking time is around 8-10 minutes. For further explanation on the difference between these different types of oatmeal check out this article from Bob’s Redmill (rolled, instant, steel-cut, Scottish?)
So I loaded up on the Scottish oatmeal for the cleanse and made up a batch on Sunday morning. I love putting whole spices right into my oatmeal for maximum flavor. I had allspice, nutmeg, and a cinnamon stick. I wanted something with citrus so I thought of an orange, but I didn’t have any, I did however have clementine and figured it would do the trick. If I don’t have an exact ingredient I always find an alternative from something I already have, in the end it always works out. I added some flax seeds for that extra crunch (and amazing health benefits). The combination was a breakfast home run. All the flavors came together in a subtle yet refreshing way with nothing over powering the other. In the words of our favorite little fairytale theif, it was “just right”, Goldilocks herself would have jumped all over this porridge, seriously it is that good. The piping hot oatmeal filled my kitchen with smells of warm spices and citrus it reminded me of apple pie baking in a hot oven. Each bite got better and better, and I was sad when my bowl was empty. I have never been this excited about oatmeal before, this was just that amazingly delicious.
Bob’s Redmill products has never failed me and everything is whole and minimally processed.
Boil your water with salt, whole allspice, freshly grated nutmeg, cinnamon stick and a couple slices of orange or clementine peel.
Now add your oats and milk (almond, soy, cow, goat)
And a drizzle of honey or raw sugar
Let cook for about 10 minutes. The result; soft, creamy, sweet oatmeal = Breakfast heaven
Scottish Oatmeal with Flaxseed, Clementine peel, Nutmeg, Allspice, Cinnamon and Honey
1 cup of Scottish Oatmeal
3 cups of water
3 TBS of whole flaxseed
1/2 milk (I used almond)
5 all spice berries
1 cinnamon stick
2-3 slices of clementine or orange peel
1 teaspoon of freshly grated nutmeg
A drizzle or two of honey (1-2 teaspoons) or raw sugar
Opt: few dashes of vanilla or almond extract
1. Add water to a small saucepot and let boil along with a pinch of salt, whole spices and grated nutmeg. NOTE: You can do this a couple different ways. I like to add my spices to the pot and let it cook with my oatmeal and I don’t mind picking everything out at the end (lazy method). Another way is to steep your spices in the milk first, heat your milk, then let the spices sit in the milk for about 15 minutes, drain your milk with fine mesh strainer, and you can now add flavored milk to the oatmeal pot (chef-y method). You can also wrap your spices in cheese cloth and stick that in the pot with the boiling water and can stay in the pouch until the end of cooking (smart cook method). Your choice!
2. Once the water is boiling, add the oatmeal and whisk vigorously to avoid lumps. Turn heat down to medium/low and let cook for about 10 minutes.
3. Drizzle honey, stir and serve
Personal Dish 