Our instructions will make more sense after you quickly read through our thermos cooking basics.

Basic Recipe

Ratio: 1 part oat groats to 3 parts water
Salt: To taste – try 1/2 teaspoon per cup of oats to start (put the salt in after the oatmeal is cooked)
Cooking Time: overnight

Directions

1. Boil enough water to fill up your thermos. I like to use an electric kettle, but use the stove or whatever else you have.
2. While it’s heating, get your ingredients ready.
3. Once your water boils, fill up your thermos, close the lid, and set aside.
4. Measure out your water, keeping a 1:3 ratio. But make sure to leave room in the thermos for the oats to expand. For my 5 cup thermos I was using 1.5 cups oats and 3 cups water and it was too much. Leave at least a cup of expansion room.
5. Boil your measured water.
6. When your water is about ready to boil, pour the water out of the thermos.
7. Put the oats in the thermos and pour the boiling water over them, close it up, give in a few shakes, and lay it down on the counter.

Because the oats are in whole form they need to cook overnight. But what could be more convenient than getting breakfast ready the night before!

Tips

• Don’t add the salt until the oatmeal is cooked. This produces a creamier oatmeal because an element within the oat – pentosan – can combine with the water and make a creamier texture. Using salt during cooking will keep the water from interacting with the pentosan. Just sprinkle the salt on the oats in your bowl or into the thermos.
• Make a lot! There’s no reason to make a cup or two of oatmeal. Make as much as your thermos can hold and leave the rest in the thermos for someone else to discover or put it in a container in the fridge and eat it tomorrow. It heats up great in the microwave.

Learn about the nutritional value of oats.

Extras

Watch this excellent show from Alton Brown’s “Good Eats” about why you hold the salt until the oats are cooked. Alton Brown is my personal hero.

Basic Recipe

Ratio: 2-3 servings of pasta to enough water to fill your thermos
Salt: a pinch
Cooking Time: 10 minutes (approx.)

Directions

1. Boil enough water to fill up your thermos. I like to use an electric kettle, but use the stove or whatever else you have.
2. While it’s heating, get your ingredients ready.
3. Fill up your thermos with boiling water, close the lid, and set aside.
4. Boil 3-4 cups of water to cook the pasta.
5. Measure out your pasta.
6. When your measured liquid is about ready to boil, pour out the water from the thermos.
7. Dump the pasta into the thermos.
8. Pour  the boiling water into the thermos until it is an inch or so from the top, add a pinch of salt, close it up, give in a few shakes, and lay it down on the counter.

Timing depends on what kind of pasta you are cooking. The pasta needs the same amount of time to cook in the thermos as it does on the stove. The nice thing about doing it in the thermos though, is that you don’t have to watch it or stir it. Just set the timer and continue with dinner prep or go relax for a few minutes.

You can cook any kind of pasta in the thermos. You can cook larger quantities of smaller pastas and you may have to break long pasta in half to fit in the thermos. Cooking pasta in the thermos saves energy and gives you a bit of a break – how great is that?!

Basic Recipe

Ratio: 1 part cracked wheat to 3 parts water
Salt: To taste – try 1/2 teaspoon per cup of wheat to start
Cooking Time: 40 minutes (approx.)

Directions

1. Boil enough water to fill up your thermos. I like to use an electric kettle, but use the stove or whatever else you have.
2. While it’s heating, get your ingredients ready.
3. Once your water boils, fill up your thermos, close the lid, and set aside.
4. Measure out your water, keeping a 1:3 ratio.
5. Boil your measured water.
6. When your water is about ready to boil, pour the water out of the thermos.
7. Put the cracked wheat and salt in the thermos and pour the boiling water over them, close it up, give in a few shakes, and lay it down on the counter.

Timing (40 minutes) is approximate. It partly depends on what kind of cracked wheat consistency you’re after. Just give the thermos a shake every once in a while. It will slosh around at first, then it will slowly thicken.

You can always open the top and check inside once or twice until you get a feel for it. Remember that you can’t overcook cracked wheat in a thermos, so don’t worry about watching the thermos or emptying it when it’s done. Just leave it on the counter and eat it when you’re ready. You can even put it out the night before – convenient, isn’t it?

Tips

• Make a lot! There’s no reason to make a cup or two of cracked wheat.  Make as much as your thermos can hold and leave the rest in the thermos for someone else to discover or put it in a container in the fridge and eat it tomorrow. It heats up great in the microwave.
• Make it the night before. What would be better than waking up and having a nice thermos full of hot cracked wheat waiting for you. Just prepare it the night before and leave it on the counter. It’ll be hot and delicious whenever you’re ready for it.

Our instructions will make more sense after you quickly read through our thermos cooking basics.

Basic Recipe

Ratio: 1 part steel cut oats to 3.5 parts water
Salt: To taste – try 1/2 teaspoon per cup of oats to start (put the salt in after the oatmeal is cooked)
Cooking Time: 40 minutes (approx.)

Directions

1. Boil enough water to fill up your thermos. I like to use an electric kettle, but use the stove or whatever else you have.
2. While it’s heating, get your ingredients ready.
3. Once your water boils, fill up your thermos, close the lid, and set aside.
4. Measure out your water, keeping a 1:3.5 ratio. You can use between 3 and 4 cups water for each cup of oats, but I think 3 1/2 cups is perfect.
5. Boil your measured water.
6. When your water is about ready to boil, pour the water out of the thermos.
7. Put the oats in the thermos and pour the boiling water over them, close it up, give in a few shakes, and lay it down on the counter.

Timing (40 minutes) is approximate. It partly depends on what kind of oatmeal consistency you’re after. Just give the thermos a shake every once in a while. It will slosh around at first, then it will slowly thicken.

You can always open the top and check inside once or twice until you get a feel for it. Remember that you can’t overcook oatmeal in a thermos, so don’t worry about watching the thermos or emptying it when it’s done. Just leave it on the counter and eat it when you’re ready. You can even put it out the night before – convenient, isn’t it?

Tips

• Don’t add the salt until the oatmeal is cooked. This produces a creamier oatmeal because an element within the oat – pentosan – can combine with the water and make a creamier texture. Using salt during cooking will keep the water from interacting with the pentosan. Just sprinkle the salt on the oats in your bowl or into the thermos.
• Toast the oats before cooking. While you’re waiting for the water to boil you can toast the oats in a pan with a bit of butter or oil (I use a bit of olive oil). Toasting produces a nice flavor (subtly sweeter and caramelized). Try it out.
• Make a lot! There’s no reason to make a cup or two of oatmeal. Make as much as your thermos can hold and leave the rest in the thermos for someone else to discover or put it in a container in the fridge and eat it tomorrow. It heats up great in the microwave.
• Make it the night before. What would be better than waking up and having a nice thermos full of hot oatmeal waiting for you. Just prepare it the night before and leave it on the counter. It’ll be hot and delicious whenever you’re ready for it.

Learn about the nutritional value of oats.

Extras

Watch this excellent show from Alton Brown’s “Good Eats” about why you hold the salt until the oats are cooked. Alton Brown is my personal hero.

of Sciences as one of the best sources of protein – it’s one of the few plant proteins that contains all eight essential amino acids. Quinoa is also gluten free and has a low glycemic index.

I like quinoa because you can fix it for breakfast (hot quinoa with raisins, cinnamon, and milk), lunch (a plate of quinoa with black beans, salsa and cheese) or dinner (okay, haven’t eaten it much for dinner yet). I prepare a big batch in my larger thermos, eat some immediately, and put the rest in the fridge for later.

Our instructions will make more sense after you quickly read through our thermos cooking basics.

Basic Recipe

Ratio: 1 part quinoa to 2 parts liquid
Salt: To taste – try 1/3 teaspoon per cup of quinoa to start
Cooking Time: 45 minutes (approx.)

Directions

1. Boil enough water to fill up your thermos. I like to use an electric kettle, but use the stove or whatever else you have.
2. While it’s heating, get your ingredients ready.
3. Fill up your thermos with boiling water, close the lid, and set aside.
4. Measure out your water (or broth), keeping a 1:2 ratio. For example, if you want 3 cups of cooked quinoa, measure 1 cup of quinoa and 2 cups of liquid.
5. Boil your measured water (or broth).
6. Place the quinoa in a strainer. Most quinoa has had the saponin coating removed, but a last rinse doesn’t hurt.
7. When your measured liquid is about ready to boil, pour the water from the thermos over the quinoa in the strainer.
8. Dump the quinoa and salt into the thermos. I use a canning funnel to try to make this easier.
9. Pour the boiling water into the thermos, close it up, give in a few shakes, and lay it down on the counter.

Timing (45 minutes) is approximate. It partly depends on how you like your quinoa cooked. Just give the thermos a shake every once in a while. It will slosh around at first, then it will slowly thicken until it barely moves at all. When this happens, it’s done.

You can always open the top and check inside once or twice until you get a feel for it. Remember that you can’t overcook it, so you don’t have worry about watching the thermos or emptying it when it’s done. Just leave it on the counter and eat it when you’re ready. You can even put it out the night before – convenient, isn’t it?

Learn about the nutritional value of quinoa.

I’ve Cooked Quinoa. Now What Do I Do with It?

The nice thing about quinoa is that it doesn’t have much of it’s own flavor so it will take on the flavor of what you cook it with. Here are a few more ideas of what to do with your cooked quinoa.

Breakfast:

• Hot quinoa with cinnamon, raisins and some milk
• Top hot quinoa with rolled oats, blueberries, pumpkins seeds and sliced almonds then add a little milk and honey.

Lunch/Salads

• A bed of quinoa topped with black beans, salsa and cheese served warm
• Replace couscous with quinoa in salads.
• Use quinoa instead of bulgar wheat in tabouli to make a wheat-free version of the Middle Eastern dish.
• Combine cooked, chilled quinoa, pinto beans, pumpkin seeds, scallions and coriander. Season to taste for a south-of-the-border salad.

Dinner:

• Use chicken stock when cooking the quinoa and then serve as a side dish instead of rice.
• Add to your favorite vegetable soup.