Breakfast is served!

It's no secret I regularly have a love affair with my slow cooker. Some weeks, we meet every day. And then after that hot, steamy, delicious rendezvous we take a break and I give the oven or stove some attention.

Just last night I perused the Interwebs in search of another tasty treat I could create in my crock. I was in the mood for breakfast.

At 9:30 p.m. my husband joined me at the counter cutting apples while I concocted what, this morning, was possibly the most delicious oatmeal I have ever eaten. Slow cooker overnight apple pie oatmeal.

I'll give you a moment to collect yourselves and wipe the drool from your chin.

Now, I'm not a food blogger - we all know that - so there's only like one crappy cell phone pictures of this amazingness, but when I make something that I think is so good others might like it, too, I like to share the wealth. So, I'll tell you what I did. {Here's the long version, but if you want to skip over all my epic storytelling, scroll to the bottom.}


First, several weeks ago, I made this recipe for overnight pumpkin pie oatmeal. It's yummy, not too rich, a little on the spicy side because of the cloves and made enough that I ate breakfast every day for damn near a week. I was in heaven because I love breakfast but never take time to make it or eat it, and when I do it's always bread-based (bagels, English muffins, toasts, etc.). In all honesty, I hate to eat first thing in the morning and even when the girls were still breastfed it was a challenge for me to make breakfast. Quick oats was about as fancy as I got, and that was because oats are a natural galactagogue. I was always worried about my supply after the stress of Josie's weight gain issues as an infant, so when Charlie came along it was oatmeal every day just to keep myself from freaking out.

And I hated it. When Charlie started to self-wean and ask for cups, I was kind of thankful because it meant I could stop eating oatmeal every single day. I could go back to coffee for my main morning meal. Bittersweet.

But then recently as I drifted through the internet and was in my pumpkin phase, which is basically from mid-September until November, I came across the Chubby Vegan Mom's recipe. I still had steel cut oats in the cupboard from when I was making oatmeal for Charlotte. Yeah, I'm that mom ... I made all her food. I was cheap and it was easy. Jarred food can suck it. Moving on. So, I was like sure I'll try this and if I don't like it, oh well, I'll eat it because I hate to waste and then won't make it again.

I tossed it all in the slow cooker, turned my little crock of love and happiness to "low" and went to bed. The next morning it smelled like I had baked pies all.night.long. Heavenly. And it tasted good.

And that's what brought me to a never ending search for more oatmeal recipes. I recently made this hot chocolate oatmeal recipe and it was delicious, too. But I wanted more. More ... apple. Because canning more than a dozen quarts of applesauce wasn't enough.

In a quick search of Pintrest and Google last night I found nothing I approved of for overnighting my oats. I improvised. And have to give total props to the Chubby Vegan Mom because I borrowed the basics of her pumpkin pie oatmeal recipe. If it weren't for her, I never would have started buying and using coconut milk. Here's what I did...


Slow Cooker Overnight Apple Pie Oatmeal
3 c. water
2 c. steel cut oats (I use Bob's Red Mill)
1 can (13.5 oz) coconut milk
1 tbsp cinnamon
3/4 c. brown sugar, packed
pinch of salt
generous sprinkle of ground cloves
three apples, cored and chunked (leave skin intact) - I had the equivalent to five cups of apple.

Crappy cell phone picture doesn't do justice. *drool*

Grease your crock with coconut oil. Pour in water and coconut milk; sprinkle in cinnamon, pinch of salt and cloves. Mix oats and brown sugar, add to the crock. Add apple chunks. Give 'er a stir to get the apples coated. Looks like there are more apples than liquid? Rinse your coconut milk can with 1/4 to 1/2 cup water and add it. If you're feeling adventurous, sprinkle more brown sugar on top. Turn that bad boy on low for the night. In the morning give it another stir or two to get the apples good and mixed in (if it's sticking to the sides a little, scrape it off so it doesn't burn) and leave it for another hour.

You're welcome.

Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: ~ 9 hours
Nutritional stats: um ...