Easy Crockpot Oatmeal

On my search for filling, fast and frugal foods for breakfast I came across a recipe heading in an old cookbook at my mom's house this weekend. "Overnight Fruited Oatmeal" Unfortunately, I brought home the wrong book! Don't get me wrong though, the one I did bring has lots of good recipes too, and I'll be posting a few of them as I make them. Off to the internet I went to see if something similar looking could be found.

Crockpots are these wonderful little kitchen helpers. You put stuff in and 6 hours later, you eat it. All nice and hot, and you didn't have to stand there! Some genius figured out that you can put oatmeal in the crockpot and wake up to breakfast. Sweet! I looked through several recipes and came up with what seems to be the general formula.

-However much oatmeal you need

-Double the liquid

-a little salt

-a little butter

So if you want to feed 4 people~

1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats (not the quick cooking kind)

2 cups water or milk

1/2 tsp salt (just toss a little in there...)

1 tsp butter

Grease the inside of your crockpot, cooking spray works well. Mix the oatmeal, water, salt and butter in it.

Here's the fun part-

Throw in whatever you want! Raisins... almonds...walnuts....pecans....cinnamon....apricots....brown sugar... dried blueberries.....

The world is your oyster! Go mad crazy!

Ahem..... Sorry about that... To continue, plug in your magnificent machine, turn it to low, put the lid on, and go to bed. Sleep restfully knowing that breakfast is cooking. Wake up at 6:00 because daddy made the 2-year old fall asleep at 7:00 the night before and now the kid's awake. Be very glad that you don't have to crack your eyes open too far to feed him, because it's all ready!

The long cooking time and the low heat makes this oatmeal very creamy. I added raisins, chopped walnuts, and almonds. Along with some cinnamon and brown sugar. I like mine with milk poured over it, and it didn't get all drippy! Ladle some into your bowl and let it stand and cool off for a couple minutes to thicken. You can make extra and refrigerated it. When you want more, stir in a little milk or water and microwave!