May I be completely honest? I am burned out with the same old, same old breakfast items and due to the fact that I own a plethora of whole grains I might as well move beyond baked goods and stretch the proverbial wings. So here is my creativity for 2 breakfast options for the busy and not so busy “Urban Homemaker” come the wee hours of a work/school day… Let me back up and provide a bit of background: I have 2 big boys and 1 big girl, all age 8, and all three grow so fast I am shocked at the difference from a few months ago to now. I also feel motivated as I was when they were born to put into them the good things in life and leave out the bad as much as I can. In doing so, I happen to enjoy the pay off and the cost savings with living “granola like” and making my own. Also, I find myself a worker-bee right about dinner time through bedtime and can prep these breakfasts the night before and then place the welcomed postie note on the coffee pot so my dear Mr. Urban Homemaker can preheat the oven on occasion! The other night my croc pot was on making the house smell WONDERFUL.. I simply got motivated by a friend’s FB request for croc pot recipes:
Slow Cooker/Croc Pot Apple Spice Steel Cut Oats
2 cups diced apple 2 Cups Steel Cut Oats
1 cup dried cranberries 1/4 cup almond meal 1/3 cup finely chopped pecans 3 cups water (Filter it! Multi-Pure water filter) 1 cup milk 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice 2 teaspoons butter Directions
- Combine the oats, apple, cranberries, almond meal, pecans, water, milk, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, and butter in a slow cooker. Stir it up good, and then lid on-don’t touch till morning! Cook on Low overnight for 8 hours.
- I start this at 11pm for an 8am eat…. adjust if you have to be out of the house!
Another FAVORITE: Banana Baked Oatmeal
I got the original recipe from Sonrise Mountain Ranch in Cimarron, CO. I have tweaked it some to fit our preferences! But they get all the credit. Spray a 9×13, preheat to 350 degrees In Mixer, place the following: 1 C Coconut oil (sub. Olive or your choice) 4 Eggs 1 1/2 C Sugar 1 tsp Cinnamon 6 C 7 Grain flaked (can sub Oatmeal) 1T +1tsp Baking Powder 2 C Milk 1 C Mashed bananas ( about 2 medium) 1/2-3/4 C Chopped nuts * Mix all ingredients together, bake for 45 min at 350 degrees F. ** Kid-friendly version: mix all, but the nuts, together, put into pan, sprinkle chopped nuts on half, bake for 45 min *** Can make this the night before storing in the fridge. ****Toppings: Syrup is always good, but Vanilla yogurt +/- berries are fabulous! I mainly serve it with yogurt. This baked oatmeal is a favorite year around, at potlucks, made into muffins and frozen and used for an on the go breakfast! We love it for lunch and a midafternoon snack! Leftovers are fought over. So there you have it.. Two options for everyday or a special day, using the healthy whole grains your body needs to fuel it till lunch! May they soon become a family favorite and a tradition that brings the family together!
How much oats do you use in the first recipe?
Oops–you left out the amount of oats in the apple spice oats recipe. I’ll try this one–it sounds yummy.
OOPS 2 Cups STEEL CUT OATS! Thank you.. I will update it.. Kathy
These look delicious! Thanks for posting them… and I’m looking forward to the print versions! 🙂
Would this recipe work with rolled oats?
Amy the bannana recipe does used rolled oats, but not the first one. I am sure you could cook up rolled oats and add the ingredients, but I would not croc pot rolled outs.
Can you use whole grain oat groats by adjusting the time somehow or soaking them? just curious…I’m not too familiar with all the different uses of oats in a crock pot. THANKS SO MUCH!!!! 🙂
I think you could try!! and if at all concerned, maybe crack them a bit- as steel cuts are? Give it a go.. but the 8 hrs of soaking and cooking should be fine. I need to ask more ladies on the water- BUT I would go for it!
I was wondering if you could use porridge oats.
You can try any grain you would like, BUT porridge oats are cut more than regular steel cut oats and will probably require less cook time and perhaps a scant less water. It certainly would not hurt to try!
Wow–is that a whole cup of coconut/other oil in the banana oatmeal?
It seems really high. I might try reducing this by up to half.
Then again, our favorite 9×13 brownie recipe uses 3/4 cup of butter plus the chocolate squares balanced against only a cup of flour vs. the 6 cups of flaked grain in this recipe.
Thanks for sharing these!
Yes, shocking , but true.. I have kept the oil, but have diminished the sugar to about 1 C. It fits better with our tastes.
This looks so good! Is there something I could substitute the almond meal for? Would that be quite a bit different from almond butter? .
Thank you!
Leave it out.. It is optional. For us.. I use almond meal (( or chopped almonds to a fine texture) to HIDE it from my “little” who think nuts are not good. It is my hiding technique. You can leave the almonds as big as you’d like!
So the first recipe doesn’t have any sweetener? Just the apples? And the second has bananas & sugar? Seems like the first wouldn’t be sweet.
The first recipe has any sweetener added after it is cooked. So, dish it up- top with sweetener, cream, yogurt and enjoy!.. I use maybe 2 tsp of brown sugar on a bowl full. The second recipe which has bananas and sugar is sweet. Over time we have decreased that sugar to around 1 C.. and we add no further sweetener. We like to top that with vanilla yogurt! (which is sweet too!) Hope this helps, Kathy
what is Steel Cut Oats. Is Steel Cut the name brand or what is it exactly? I have never heard of it but the recipe sounds delicious.
Here is the definition: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steel-cut_oats You can find them in the grocery under Quaker’s label or McCann’s. Or you can buy them in bulk from us.. We are currently out of stock and will be stocked back up in about 5 weeks. Hope this helps! Kathy
Thanks for the recipe. Definitely going to try this tomorrow! Hope you keep posting crockpot meals and such. I’m also looking for different meals to serve for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I home school and we are always home and always eating here and looking for new wholesome things to serve my family.
For recipes like the first one I coarsely grind brown rice, barley, quinoa, etc. and mix them half and half with steel cut oats (half oats, half mixture of other stuff.) I love the variety of textures in the cereal. And my kids love to eat it too! 🙂 I even add ground lentils sometimes for a higher protein content. You don’t taste them at all, so it still tastes like breakfast.