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.

Names for Change

UMD logo from their website.

Urban Ministries of Durham is a nonprofit organization that cares for Durham's homeless and impoverished neighbors by serving as a comprehensive service provider of food, shelter, clothing and supportive services for over 6,000 men, women and children annually. They welcome guests with mental illnesses, active addictions, and those seeking outside employment.

An article in today's News and Observer featured  a very unusual fund-raising program UMD has going.  McKinney, a Durham advertising agency, created SPENT an online game based on surviving poverty. 

For those who don't have millions to donate to some worthwhile cause and have their name attached, SPENT allows anyone for a small donation to attach their name to everyday items needed by folks served by UMD. 

So I decided to play the game today, and I donated an amount that allowed me to have my name attached to a Teddy bear.  This is the text that accompanied this option:

"Being homeless can be troubling, scary and flat out traumatic for anyone, especially a kid. Unfortunately, some of the children we serve don’t have a plush companion to comfort them in times of trouble. There aren’t a lot of constants for a kid living on the edge, but lend your name to this teddy bear and make sure a child in need has a cuddly friend they can always count on."

My name added to this Teddy bear. 

Then I decided to make a donation to honor Dan and put his name on an item at the UMD. Since Dan is so fond of oatmeal himself I thought I would put his name on a donated box of oatmeal.  Here is the text that accompanied the oatmeal:

"Let’s be honest. Even the most interesting of oatmeal is still oatmeal. But when food is scarce in your home and you get to bring home a box of oatmeal, make it for your family and for once act like a “normal” family on a “normal” morning, dull ol’ oatmeal becomes something pretty special. Want to help this boring oatmeal fulfill its bold potential? Give it your name."

Dan's name added to this oatmeal.

If you would like to make a donation to this worthy cause and get your name attached to something that is extremely important to those less fortunate, go to this website:
https://www.namesforchange.org
or view this video:

Freezer Diving (Cherry Crisp for Dessert)

Cherry Crisp from frozen cherries.

If you are like me, food accumulates in your freezer, and every now and then it is necessary to go "freezer diving" and see what's there.  This week I am going to try to use items from my freezer and avoid buying very much from the grocery store.  I'll use what we have on hand that needs to be used.  This morning on my first "freezer dive" I found a bag of frozen sweet cherries.

I probably had these on hand this summer to include in a smoothie but never got around to using them. So with this I will have my dessert prepared for the weekend and no grocery shopping was necessary.  I had all I needed on hand. 

Here's the recipe.

1 16 oz bag frozen dark sweet pitted cherries (unsweetened)
1 tablespoon cornstarch
juice of one lemon (I always have lemons on hand---I buy them by the bag at Costco.)
2 teaspoons water
freshly ground nutmeg about 1/8 teaspoon
1/2 cup quick cook oats, uncooked (I always keep oats on hand.)
1/4 brown sugar
2 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon almond extract (almond flavoring always complements cherries).

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Place the frozen cherries in a shallow 1 quart baking dish sprayed with nonstick spray.

Place frozen cherries in baking dish.

Mix the cornstarch, lemon juice, water, almond extract and nutmeg in a small bowl and stir well.

Mix cornstarch, lemon juice, water, almond extract and nutmeg.

Pour this mixture over the cherries, stirring to coat.  Combine the oats, brown sugar and flour in a small bowl.  Cut in the butter until mixture resembles a coarse meal (I use my fingers to do this).

Topping of oatmeal, brown sugar, flour and butter.

Sprinkle topping over the cherries.  Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes, or until top is lightly browned and the fruit is bubbly.
Makes six servings.

Out of the oven.

Ready to eat.

Now I'll have to dive into the freezer and see what I can find for a main dish.  I'll keep you posted. 

Maple Glazed Walnuts

Walnuts glazed with maple syrup.

We frequently eat oatmeal for breakfast, and we like to garnish our oatmeal with maple syrup glazed walnuts which are quickly prepared.  Here's how:

Sprinkle 1/2 teaspoon salt in heavy saucepan (I use cast iron pan.)

Sprinkle salt in pan.

Heat pan on medium heat and add 2 cups of walnut halves.

Two cups of walnuts halves.

Heat until you can smell the aroma of the toasted walnuts.

Add 1/4 cup of pure maple syrup.

Add 1/4 cup of pure maple syrup.

Cook until the walnuts are glazed and the syrup has caramelized.

Heat until walnuts are glazed and syrup has caramelized.

And here you have it, two cups of maple glazed walnuts.

Walnuts glazed with maple syrup.

These are great sprinkled over oatmeal or they are good for simple snacking.