me lucky oats

I will admit that sometimes I judge things by their cover. Sometimes you can’t help it though!

For years I longed to buy a can of McCann’s Irish Oats in the metal tin. It looked so retro and cool! And it’s from Ireland! OMG!!!!1! (Don’t you love how illogical the consumer’s brain is?) But I didn’t know anything about Irish oats and the texture of oatmeal is one of the few things I’m incredibly picky about. After years of pointlessly lust, I finally bought a can.

Well, crap. Now I had to do something with them.

Thankfully, Irish oatmeal (steel cut) is amazing. The difference between it and the oatmeal we’re more familiar with is that Irish oatmeal is just the cut oats. The oatmeal more common in the States has been rolled to make it flat, which causes it to have a chewier consistency and to cook differently.*

Being a household that has had a long tradition of eating quick-cooking or instant oatmeal, the 30 minute stove top cook time of Irish oats didn’t really work for us. But it’s so high in fiber and protein and has such a great texture, what’s a girl to do? Bust out the slow cooker right before bed, of course.

So enjoy the luck o’ the Irish tomorrow morning and make yourself some tasty Irish oats. Simply measure the desired amounts into the slow cooker and set it on low right before bed. Wake up to warm, creamy oats, waiting for you to chow down. I used to make a big crock of these for a monthly morning meeting at work and set them out with brown sugar, nuts and dried fruit so folks could dish up their own oatmeal and it was always a huge hit. My personal favorite is maple syrup, dried cherries and almonds. Super hearty yum.

*As a sidenote, never substitute Irish oats in a US baking recipe that refers to oatmeal, unless for some crazy reason it says to use “steel cut oats”.