Add Wholegrains to Your Breakfast Routine: Easy Overnight Oatmeal in the Slowcooker

Easy Overnight Crock-Pot Oatmeal

My oldest caught his first fish this week. While for many kids this wouldn't be a big deal, for him it's huge. He has never been a child that has excelled at sports. Over the years he has tried t-ball, tennis and swimming. They all ended quickly when he realized that he was not going to be a sports star. I was so ecstatic when my mother-in-law called and informed me that he had caught a ten inch bass, by himself. Of course now he has made my in-laws buy him a new fishing pole and buy fishing licenses. I'm just happy that he has actually found something that he enjoys and is good at. Since my oldest is at my in-laws fishing up a storm, my youngest and I have been left to ourselves for meals. During the week I am a big fan of healthy breakfasts that I can get on the table quickly. This week I tried a new recipe for Overnight Oatmeal from the Food Network.

This recipe has 5 ingredients. It takes a total time of 9 hours 10 minutes, 10 minutes of which is active and makes 4 servings. I did make significant changes to the original recipe. I ended up making the recipe twice, once as written and once with large changes. The first batch of oatmeal was too strong on the fruit, it almost tasted like a warmed fruit dish instead of steel cut oats. For the second batch I left out the dried food completely. Instead, I used 1/4 cup of pure maple syrup and 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract. I followed the same amounts of half-and-half, water and steel cut oats as the original recipe. After I portioned the servings into bowls I added additional non-fat half-and-half. My oldest and I are fans of thinner oatmeal so this step allowed for the desired texture.

Putting the ingredients in the crock-pot the night before made for a very easy breakfast. The original recipe was too heavy on the fruit, but with my changes the oatmeal was perfect. If you aren't a fan of sweet oatmeal, you could try almonds, pecans or walnuts. Cinnamon or nutmeg would also work for flavor.

For the recipe go Overnight Oatmeal.

Overnight Hot Oat, Dried Cranberry and Quinoa Cereal

My meal plan got thrown-out the window this week. With a Monday holiday and very cold weather, dinners haven't gone as planned. I utilized a lot of leftovers and baked a little more than usual. My youngest somehow ate an entire batch of brownies by himself. Luckily for me I was able to eat one before the rest went into his hollow stomach. Breakfast is still a struggle with my youngest son. He would rather eat anything, except something healthy. Oatmeal is the one breakfast food that I can almost always convince him to eat, he loves it. The only problem I have is that the steel cut oats that he loves take a long time to prep when he is hungry in the morning. Therefore I have been trying a variety of overnight oat recipes. Last week I made a new recipe from Bon Appetit magazine for Overnight Hot Oat, Dried Cranberry and Quinoa Cereal.

This recipe has 8 ingredients. It takes 10 minutes of prep, an overnight soak and then 5 minutes in the morning and makes 4 servings. I decided to double the recipe in order to have enough for everyone in my family. For the dried fruit I used dried cranberries. For the toppings I added pumpkin seeds, a small amount of vanilla and maple syrup. I have never been able to find cardamom at my local stores so I left it out. Make sure to rinse your quinoa very well. If you have never used quinoa before rinsing is a very important step. The rinsing gets rid of the bitter taste and without the rinse the quinoa will have a distinct bitter taste, that is not appetizing. Even if the brand that you buy claims that it is pre-rinsed, still rinse the quinoa again. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

My youngest son and I both liked the idea behind this recipe. However, it needs a few changes. The taste of the quinoa was very strong. My husband wasn't a fan of the quinoa taste at all, so this recipe as written would have to be for somehow that really likes quinoa. I would suggest decreasing the amount of quinoa to 1/4 cup and increasing the steel cut oats to 3/4 cup. Adding additional fruit for sweetness might also help. The recipe suggests using barley instead of quinoa, which if you can eat gluten would be a great change and I think make the dish even better.

For the recipe go to Hot Oat and Quinoa Cereal.

Crock-Pot Oatmeal Banana Maple Parfaits

Breakfast has always been my biggest food struggle. I am great about eating balanced lunch and dinners, but breakfast is another story. If you have read my blog for a while you know that I have made a number of food changes in the last 6 months. One of the major changes I have made has been to eat a healthy breakfast each and every morning. Some mornings it can be a major struggle, but I still make the effort. One way that I have found to save a lot of time at breakfast is to prep the ingredients or whole meal the night before. As you all know I love my crockpot and it can be a great breakfast tool. Most people think of their slow-cooker as a dinner helper, but it is also perfect for breakfast. Last week I tried a new recipe for Oatmeal Banana Maple Parfaits from the September issue of Family Circle, which looked like a perfect healthy breakfast option.

This recipe has 7 ingredients. It takes a total of 8 hours of cook time and 15 minutes of prep and makes 6 servings. All the ingredients were easy to find at my local grocery store and I made no ingredient modifications. Make sure to use pure maple syrup, the imitation syrup pales in comparison. I actually only used the pumpkin pie spice as a topping on my serving. My two boys tried the oatmeal with the pumpkin pie spice and did not like it at all, so I took it off their servings. I chose to serve the parfaits in milkshake glasses. I thought it made for a great presentation and worked well to eat. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

I really liked these parfaits. It took my two kids longer to warm up to them. When I first made them with the pumpkin pie spice, they weren't fans, but when I served them the leftovers and left off the spice they loved them. I like that they use the crockpot, it saves a lot of time and the results were delicious. I would definitely make this recipe again.

For the recipe go to Oatmeal Banana Maple Parfaits.