We Love Our Crock Pot Oatmeal

We store our oatmeal in this vintage canister.

McCann's Steel Cut Oats

Dan and I are both very fond of oatmeal for breakfast.  We prefer the steel-cut oats because of their nutty texture, and they are the healthiest because of their high fiber content.  It takes 30 to 45 minutes to cook these on the stove top, but cooking them in the crock pot over night has breakfast ready when we get up.

I bought a small crock  pot (1 ½ quart) that I use just for cooking oatmeal.  I butter the inside of the crock pot with a tablespoon of butter to keep the oatmeal from sticking.   Place  4 cups of water and 1 cup of steel-cut oats in the crock pot.  We prefer McCann’s Irish Steel Cut brand, but use whatever we can find.

1 cup of steel cut oats.

1/2 cup of diced apples.

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Often I will add ½ cup of diced apple in which case I decrease the water to 3 ½ cups. 

Cook over night on low setting.

Cook this overnight in the crock pot on the low setting or for about 8 hours.  This makes 4 servings.


In the morning, breakfast is ready.  We top our oatmeal with raisins,  brown sugar, walnuts or pecans, if we have them, and half and half .  Or at least we use whole milk. This is one dish where we don’t use skim milk.  We love our slow-cooked oatmeal for breakfast!

Breakfast is ready!

I posted this back in 2011, but on this snowy day when we are happy to have oatmeal again, I will repost this.

National Peanut Butter Day

One of our favorite brands of peanut butter.

Today is National Peanut Butter Day and I would like to celebrate by making my favorite peanut butter cookies, but I can't do that today.  I will share the recipe with you though.  If you go to Dorie's page in her cookbook you can find the recipe.

I will have a peanut butter and banana sandwich though to celebrate.  I like to make an open face sandwich using pecan raisin bread from Harris Teeter's. 

Three simple ingredients for my sandwich.

Spread the peanut butter generously on bread.

Top with sliced banana.  Ready to enjoy.

I told Bea that today was National Peanut Butter Day and she said "Every day is peanut butter day for me."  Dan and I feel that way too.

Grocery Shopping Online

With me recuperating from knee surgery it was going to be more convenient for me to order groceries online and just have Dan drive by and pick them up.  I had been wanting to try Harris Teeter's Express Lane at Cameron Village so this was a perfect opportunity. 

It was not possible for me to go to the grocery and fill up a grocery cart, and I thought ordering online would be easier than sending Dan with a list. 

So I sat down at the computer and went to the Harris Teeter online ordering site and filled out my grocery order.  That was on Friday night and I scheduled a pickup between 11:00 and 11:30 on Saturday.  As it turned out, Laura and Anthony arrived for a visit just in time for Anthony to take Dan down to Harris Teeter's where they drove in the Express Lane, pushed a button, gave them the name on the order and presto the groceries were delivered out to the car. 

The order was exactly has I had indicated.  Just as if I had done the shopping in the store myself.  Since this was our first order online the $4.95 fee was waived.  But I won't hesitate again to use this service.  I would probably save $4.95 by not putting something in the basket that I really didn't need when I shop in person.  Of course sometimes I see something that isn't on the list that we really need, but if I'm careful with my list for ordering this should work out fine.  I will probably try this again while I am more or less home bound. 

My New Knee

My new left knee. I know this is gross, but it's not as painful as it may look.

I've missed blogging for the last two weeks, because I had total left knee replacement on January 2.  Dr. David Stanley at Duke did the surgery.  He is a former student of Dan's as an undergraduate at Duke, and he had repaired a torn meniscus for me in that knee years ago and had repaired Dan's knees when he fell in the mountains some ten years ago.  So I was determined to have Dr. Stanley for this.  It looks as if he has done a great job.  He's wonderful!!!!

I'm home now and mobile with my walker.  I go tomorrow to get the stitches removed.  The problem is I'm not allowed to drive for six weeks and that is more painful than the knee. Right now I am not allowed to leave the house except for doctor's appointment.  So I can't even get to a ballgame. I don't think this will last long though.

Dan and I did see the Porsche Exhibit at the Museum here in Raleigh just a few days before my surgery and I plan to blog about that.  I could blog about my two "hellish" days in a Rehab Center, but I might get sued for slander.  My friend, Helen, a nurse "sprang" me from there home after just two days.  And was I happy to get home.  I have wonderful physical therapy aides who come to the house and a nurse as well, so I'm well cared for.  They, Dan, the kids, the grands and friends have seen me through this.

I can't wait to go dancing with my new knee! 

Happy New Year 2014

Happy, Happy New Year!!!!!   May 2014 be a great year for all.