At Anna’s Kitchen Table

It’s official. I have fallen off the low-carb wagon and not even a week in 😦
I went through two days of miserable ‘induction flu’, feeling light-headed, achy bones and decidedly annoyed with myself that I’d allowed myself to get to a stage where I needed a fast fix and then when it’s going ok, and I’m used to the carb restriction and feel more human, I want porridge!!

Why is it so hard to gain control when I have only put 3-5lbs on?! Why do those few pounds need to be a stone’s worth before I actually get off my ever-plumping fat ass and do something about it?
It’s so difficult isn’t it, deciding what constitutes ‘healthy’ and what does not.
I know for a fact it’s not low-fat.
But I also know that I’m just incapable of sticking to low-carb for a sustained length of time…..

I can see, of course, that a diet consisting of refined flour and sugar is not the way forward and simply moves you further away from your healthy goal. But then, what is life without cake?
Sad, I’d say, heartbreakingly sad.

‘All things in moderation’ seems to be my ‘moving forward’ motto.
Have your cake and eat it, occasionally.
And your butter and full fat yoghurt too.

Life is too short to live it in denial.
It makes me cranky and hideous to live with. 😉

And now we get to the matter of grains…..
wholegrains, while some would say ‘fatten us up’ and contribute to ‘wheat bellies’ also contain valuable minerals, fibre and in the case of oats, beta glucan, which helps to lower cholesterol levels.

All things in moderation remember.

So, I had a brand new packet of steel cut oats to try! And try I must!
Those who know me, also know that I’m getting very adventurous with my oat-eating. A previous porridge hater, Megan Gordon’s ‘Very Best Oatmeal’ literally changed my life and made me LOVE porridge.
You must try it if you haven’t yet. Toasting the oatmeal is the trick, it’s just beautiful.

After seeing a recipe for steel-cut oats in Megan’s book – Wholegrain Mornings, I began the search. Do you think I could get it anywhere? Could I heck as like. I went to supermarkets, health food stores, nowhere to be found.
What could I do but order from Amazon.
I love Amazon!

Steel cut oats are oat groats which have not been processed in any way, but simply ‘chopped’ into little pieces.
Rolled oats are oat groats which have been flattened too.

I came up with this recipe by combining Megan’s recipe, with the recipe on the back of the oat packet.

Steel Cut Oat Vanilla Porridge
Serves 3-4.

1 tbsp butter
1 cup steel cut oats
3 cups boiling water
1 cup warm milk (whatever type you like- I used semi-skimmed)
1 tsp vanilla sugar
Pinch of salt
Honey, maple syrup or other sweetener of choice.

1. Melt the butter in a pot, add the oats and toast over a medium heat, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes. The oats will become beautifully fragrant and golden brown.

2. Add the boiling water, warm milk, salt and vanilla sugar to the toasted oats, turn heat to low, partially cover pan with a lid and cook, stirring often but not constantly, for 25 minutes.
Stirring too vigorously will cause the oats to break down more and become gluey.

3. Turn off the heat and leave for 5-10 minutes, during this time they will continue to thicken up.

4. Serve with a big blob of the best honey in the whole wide world (if you like!)

The world just seems put to rights after a bowl of this. Toothsome, chewy, delicious….
Low-carb? What low-carb? 😉