Crockpot Oatmeal

It was so wonderful to wake up on this crisp September morning and know that my healthy breakfast was waiting for me warm in the crock pot! I grabbed a bowl and my cup of coffee and sat down to scroll through facebook before the children were up and the day became chaotic! As promised I wanted to share with you another one of my favorite breakfasts today, steel cut oats in the crock pot. You cannot use regular oats for this recipe because they just don't hold up in the crock pot overnight. You must use what is called steel cut oats or Irish oatmeal.

The ones I used last night came in this can but I just bought more in the bulk section for only $2.49 a pound at the store today. I have tried several brands and it hasn't really made any difference so buy what is cheapest or on sale.

Regular oatmeal has been steamed, rolled, re-steamed, and then toasted. When this much processing is involved you lose nutrition. Steel cut oats are whole grain groats which is the inner portion of the oat kernel. They cut it up into small pieces and it looks like this.

This is so easy to do and you will thank yourself in the morning for taking the 3 minutes you need to prepare your breakfast at night. So get out your crock pot!

This is my smaller 3qt. crock pot that I use for this. It just does better in a smaller one but I have used my big one too. You can also just soak steel cut oats in water over night and then cook them on the stove for 5 minutes in the morning if you don't have a crock pot.

You will first want to spray the crock pot with cooking spray. You will still get some oatmeal stuck to the sides but trust me it will be way better than if you skipped this step. Then measure out 1 cup oatmeal and 4 cups water and dump it in the crock pot. If you are only fixing this for one person I would cut that in half for sure. Also if you like your oatmeal really thick I might cut the water down a little.

Then I love to add a couple teaspoons of cinnamon, give it a stir and put the lid on. This is totally optional of course but I am thinking I will now add cinnamon and nutmeg and top it with a little pumpkin next time I make it. Yummy!

I turn the crock pot on low and happily go to bed knowing my breakfast will be waiting for me in the morning. I usually turn my crock pot on around 8:30 at night but if you go to bed later then us early birds around here that would actually be better! I always think  if I started it a little later then not as much would stick to the sides.

Here is what it looks like in the morning. Don't be alarmed when you come to stir it in the morning if it looks all stuck to the sides. Just give it a good stir. I also added some of those yummy raisins I got at Whole Foods.

Scoop yourself out a bowl full and stir in a little Stevia, Agave or honey, add some craisins or raisins, any kind of nut, blueberries, bananas, a scoop of natural peanut or almond butter, or whatever else you like to put in your oatmeal!

Of course for me it was the old stand byes of sliced almonds and agave nectar. Mmmmm....good!

Let me know if you try out this fantastic way to eat oatmeal!