Oct 10, 2012

Slow Cooker Apple Pie Oatmeal


Waking up each morning to hungry children can sometimes put a damper on my Oh what a beautiful morning! mood. I've learned that preparing ahead by menu planning and utilizing tools like my slow cooker, we can all better enjoy our weekday mornings. I am so very excited to share this week's recipe Slow Cooker Apple Pie Oatmeal because it has been such a huge hit with our family! It is easy to prepare, cooks overnight, is ready in the morning when we get up, and the clean up is a breeze!


 

Before we delve into the recipe, I want to share the method. For this recipe I used my 7-qt oval slow cooker and a 1 1/2-qt oval baking dish. I basically steamed the oatmeal overnight and was left with considerably less clean-up than had I cooked the oatmeal directly in the crock of the slow cooker. If you do plan to cook the oatmeal directly in the slow cooker, be sure to oil the inside of the crock well. This method will just require a bit more cleaning afterward, otherwise, taste-wise the results are the same!

Slow Cooker Apple Pie Oatmeal
  • 1 c. Gluten free steel cut oats
  • 1/4 c. Pure maple syrup
  • 1/4 t. Real salt
  • 1 T. Ground cinnamon
  • 2 Small apples, cored and diced (I leave the peels on. I have used Gala and Johnathon apples.)
  • 3 c. Water
Place a 1 1/2-qt oval baking dish inside a 7-qt slow cooker. Evenly pour in the oats. Pour in the maple syrup. Sprinkle in the salt and cinnamon. Once your apples are cored and diced (I've even used a food processor to chop them but it makes less dirty dishes to just chop them by hand!), carefully and evenly distribute them on top the oat mixture. Carefully pour in the three cups of water over the apples (the dish will be full to almost the brim - if you have only large apples consider using only 1 to 1 1/2). I used the hose next to the faucet on my sink to carefully fill the crock of the slow cooker with water up to almost the edge of the baking dish. Be careful not to go past the edge of the baking dish. This water is what allows the oatmeal to steam cook overnight. Place the lid securely on the slow cooker. Set on LOW for 7-8 hours or overnight.



I turned mine on at 10:40pm and switched it over to the warm option as soon as I got up the next morning (just turn it off and leave the lid on if your cooker doesn't have this option). When I was ready to serve breakfast, I used one oven mitt and my bare hand to remove the baking dish from the slow cooker. I don't recommend this method as it was pretty warm to the touch! As an alternative to trying to remove the baking dish while it is so full, perhaps try ladeling some of the oatmeal out and then remove the dish. As the baking dish was quite full, I poured the oatmeal into a serving bowl and then mixed it well. I did not add any other ingredients before serving. However, you may wish to add cream or almond milk or more sweetener. We really enjoyed it as-is!

I hope you'll give this creamy oatmeal a try!

♥Shari
More breakfast recipes:

Pumpkin Donuts
Baked Oatmeal
Chocolate Zucchini Muffins

This recipe was featured here:
I Was Featured On...









Shared at:

Granny's Vital Vittles
Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways

Beautiful ThursdaysFeminine Adventures
day2day joys
Homemakers Challenge

 
BlogfestThe Chicken Chick

12 comments:

  1. I came to your blog from the Beautiful Thursdays blog link up and I'm glad I did :)

    I've been looking for crock pot recipes and better breakfasts. Morning is crazy here and most days it's cereal or pop tarts (bad I know! But easy lol) so this is really great! Thanks for posting :)

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    1. Thanks for visiting! I hope you enjoy this oatmeal! We were just where you are with cereal most days and I just decided to stop buying it and the overnight oatmeal has been sooo helpful as a replacement when I don't want to fry eggs everyday, LOL!

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  2. Ooh, that sounds interesting! Last winter I used the microwave for porridge, but I no longer use it and was dreading the pan clean up as it sets like concrete!
    I shall try this idea, thank you!
    Janie x

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  3. Hi Shari, I’m Anne from Life on the Funny Farm, and I’m visiting from the Clever Chicks blog hop.

    Oooooh, this looks so yummy. Perfect for my six hungry kids on a cool fall morning! Can't wait to give it a try...

    Anyway, it’s nice to “meet” you! Hope you can pop by my blog sometime to say hi…

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    Replies
    1. I hope your family likes it! I was so excited that I personally enjoyed this oatmeal because I've always been a fan of regular brown sugar on my oatmeal and I'm trying to pull away from eating refined sugars. I'll be glad to check out your blog!

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  4. Yum this looks great! And thank you so much for linking up with Healthy 2day Wednesdays as always! Hope you have a blessed week and hope you’ll be linking up this week!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for visiting Rachel and I'll be glad to keep coming back to link-up!

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  5. I featured ya today!

    http://passionateandcreativehomemaking.blogspot.com/2012/10/beautiful-thursdays-linkup_18.html

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  6. Yummy! Sounds delicious....

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  7. If that breakfast doesn't scream AUTUMN, I don't know what does! Sounds delish. Thanks for sharing with the Clever Chicks Blog Hop this week and I hope you'll join us again!

    Cheers,
    Kathy Shea Mormino
    The Chicken Chick

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