Overnight Oatmeal

Image

I remember being a kid and waking up to the house full of breakfast smells.  When I moved out and went to college, I had two guy friends who came over to the house we were renting, while we were asleep.  They cooked us up a fabulous breakfast!  I remember waking up to the smells and thinking that it was heaven.  I nestled down in my covers for a few minutes, breathing in heavily the delicious scents of pancakes, maple syrup, biscuits and gravy, ham and eggs, hash browns, and orange juice.  It was a breakfast fit for royalty.  And that is exactly how they made us feel.  Like royalty.

Since getting married, that hasn't happened so much.  I am looked to for breakfast.  Which is as it should be. The only problem is, my kids always wake up before I am.  They are not greeted by the magical scents of a wonderful new day complete with hot breakfast.  More often then not, they suffer with cold cereal.  And in my mind, cold cereal is just that.  Cold.  No sign of love in that bowl.  No promise of a wonderful day, just quick and cold.

I decided that needed to change.  And quick!

Which is where the genius of overnight oatmeal comes in.

You put it in the crock pot, and when you wake up in the morning, your house smells delicious, and your breakfast is ready.  Slide your feet into some slippers, pull that bathrobe around you, and indulge in sweet cinnamony oatmeal.  Perfect, right?

And it is easy, too!

What you need:

1 cup steel cut or regular oats (NOT Quick Oats!) 

4 cups water

1/2 cup milk

1/4 cup brown sugar

1  TBS butter

1/2  tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp cinnamon

What to do:

Combine all in crockpot and cook on low for 8hrs.  Serve with milk & cinnamon sugar.

Variations:

Add up to 1 C raisins/dried fruit before cooking.Add 1 chopped fresh apple before cooking.Top with fresh fruit (in season) or canned fruit (drained).Add a pat of butter or a dollop of jam/preserves.

Drizzle with honey.

***If wanted, you can probably substitute the steel cut oats for some hard red wheat kernels.  I haven't tried this yet, but I am absolutely going to.   I love wheat mush!  I will let you know how it goes when I do try it.***

You and your kids will love it.  You can thank me later.

Buen Provecho!