Crock Pot Porridge

Crock Pot Porridge

Whole grains are essential for building strong, lean bodies. What better way to start your day than with a crock pot loaded with the best of the body-building whole grains? Set it up the night before, plug in and wake up to "instant" home-cooked goodness. Jazz up the porridge with fresh berries, flaxseed, wheat germ and bee pollen. Guess who's buff now?

1/2 cup cracked wheat
1-1/2 cups steel cut oats
1/2 cup rye flakes
1/2 cup brown rice
1/4 cup wheat germ
6-1/2 cups water or any combo of liquids including:
     water; rice, soy, almond, or goats milk and/or water to equal 6-1/2 cups
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 chopped dates
1 tbsp best-quality bourbon vanilla
1-1/2 tsp vanilla
Pinch nutmeg

Hint: add any dried fruit you may like to this dish, it is very forgiving.

Place all ingredients in a 3-quart-or-greater crock-pot. Stir well to combine all ingredients. Cover. Set on lowest cooking temperature and cook overnight. If your crock-pot cooking time is set by length of cooking time, set for the longest cooking time and lowest heat.

Spoon into cereal bowls in the morning and serve piping hot!

Yield:
6 to 8 one-cup servings

Susan
(12/20/08)

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Diane's Oatmeal

Diane's Oatmeal

Boil 2 cups of water.

While it's coming to a boil, cut about half a cooking apple in small pieces and drop them in. They'll be done when the oatmeal is.

Also add a handful of raisins.

I don't like nuts, but some people do.

Then add about a tablespoon of wheat germ, the fancied up kind if you can get it.

Add the oatmeal last, and less than usual because the fruit will take up some of the water.

OR:

Make oatmeal, adding 1 pkt. of the flavored instant stuff. I like peach, strawberry, and cinnamon roll, separately of course.

Diane
(10/2/03)

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Scotch Oats in the Slow Cooker

Scotch Oats in the Slow Cooker
(Notes and comments after the recipe.)

Got up this morning to this, which was delicious. Makes being unable to sleep at 3:30 almost worthwhile.

(An addendum -- be sure to liberally butter the inside of your slow cooker before putting this stuff in. Don't ask me how I know this. Carolyn, letting the crock soak until Kingdom Come)

2 cups steel cut oats
4 cups water
1/2 cup milk or cream
3 tbsp butter
2 apples peeled and grated
1 tsp cinnamon
generous glug of maple syrup, the real kind
pinch of salt

Put in slow cooker on Low overnight.

Just consulted Marion Cunningham, and she advises 2-1/2 cups water to 1 cup of oats overnight in a crockpot or in a well covered dish in the oven at 225°F. She also suggests not stirring it when its done, or it will lose its creamy texture. I don't know if I agree with that, but I generally find her recipes useful.

Carolyn
(11/14/01)

Notes and Comments:

Basically, if you are doing the steel cut oatmeal in the slow cooker, butter the inside of the crock first (otherwise it will stick something awful). How much water to add is really a matter of taste. I have one son who likes his oatmeal gruel-like, and another who prefers it more risotto like in texture.

There will be no evaporation in the crockpot, so don't put too much. Generally, I think about 1-1/2 to 2 cups water to one cup oats is probably adequate, though I haven't made this in a while. Add a pinch of salt. Put it on low all night long. In the am, if there is excess liquid on top, you can stir it in or skim it off. Add cream, butter, and real VT maple syrup. I am also partial to plain whole milk yogurt (the kind with the yogurt cream on top) in place of the cream/butter, along with the maple syrup.

Carolyn

---

I'll probably use the higher amount of water. I prefer my oatmeal a little on the thin side. And since I'll certainly end up taking some home as leftovers, it will thicken with storage. Besides, at this altitude, most things need a little more water and a little more time to cook.

Katherine also posted a recipe that includes dried fruit. I think this may be the application I need for some of the 6 pints of blueberries that found their way into the food dehydrator last summer.

Judith

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