Apple Oatmeal for a "cold" summer morning

In case you don't live around the lovely middle east coast, we had a bit of a heat wave last week. And the week before. My car thermometer broke 100 for the first time in a few years.

So this morning when I woke up and saw this:

I was all, yeeeeaaaaaah, time to make that oatmeal recipe I pinned.

We had the apple all ready for it - the burrito actually picked it out at the orchard market, and it had some nice brown marks from where he repeatedly picked it up and "put it back" in his red basket. Sweet, thanks kid.

This is an Annie recipe, and it's fantastic. I added the parts I changed, either from lack or time or hatred of a certain humiliated fruit.

Steel Cut Oats with Apples
(originally from Annie's Eats)

ingredients: 

3 cups water
1 cup (2% or 1%) milk
1 tbsp. unsalted butter (omitted, as I did not toast the oats beforehand)
1 cup steel-cut oats
¼ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. ground cinnamon
1 apple, peeled, cored and grated
1/3 cup raisins (omitted, as I hate them)
¼ cup maple syrup

directions:

Combine the water and milk in a medium saucepan.  Bring to a simmer.  Meanwhile, melt the butter in a 10- or 12-inch skillet over medium heat.  Add the oats and toast, stirring occasionally, until golden and fragrant, about 2 minutes. I didn't toast the oats because I only had a little time before we had to get to story time.

Stir the toasted oats into the simmering liquid.  Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer gently until the mixture is very thick, about 20 minutes.  Stir in the salt, cinnamon, apple, raisins and maple syrup.  Continue to simmer, stirring occasionally, until all of the liquid has been absorbed and the oatmeal is creamy, about 10 minutes more.  Remove from the heat and let stand 5 minutes before serving.
I diced the apple, because I like it with definitive pieces - they cooked very well, not mushy at all, but not too crunchy - just right!

This recipe turned out perfectly, of course, as it's an Annie recipe; I'm just glad my changes didn't screw it up! The taste of the maple syrup adds that special something. I'm so glad I got the chance to try this one. Definitely adding this to our rotation for cold mornings and fall. 

four teapots!