I was hesitant to make slow cooker oatmeal in the past because I was the only one in my family who ate oatmeal. My Crockpot is big enough that I figured I wouldn't be able to eat as much as I'd have to make for the recipe to turn out right. As luck would have it, my kids recently decided that they DO like oatmeal and proceeded to eat all of my single-serve packets. So I finally decided to a try a slow cooker oatmeal hoping it would actually get eaten. Boy am I glad I did! I prepped everything Sunday night and turned on the Crockpot before I went to bed. I came home from a Crossfit workout the next morning and was delighted! It smelled wonderful, was cooked perfectly, and the kids LOVED it! I've made it now 4 times, tweaking as I went, and finally found my perfect version.
Ingredients:
4 medium Granny Smith apples peeled and cubed
1 TBS Earth Balance Vegan Buttery Spread (you can use any butter or butter
alternative)
1 cup Steel Cut Oats (if gluten is an issue look for oats marked gluten-free)
2 Tbs Xylitol (you can use any sweetener you like here, granular or liquid)
2 Tbs Hulled Hemp seeds (totally optional~ I had them and decided on this
last batch to throw them in for the added nutritional value)
2 tsp Cinnamon (or to taste~ I like a lot of Cinnamon!)
1 1/2 cups Dream Blends rice/quinoa drink (unsweetened) (You can use any
dairy or non-dairy drink, but if it's sweetened you might want to ease up on
the other sweetener you use)
1 cup water
Zest of 1/2 an orange
A few twists of a salt grinder
Directions:
Place all of the ingredients and mix well. I cooked it for 6.5 hours on low and then it sat on warm for a couple of hours. The texture was good (I like some "bite" left). Everyone's slow cookers are different though. You may want to think about how your slow cooker has behaved in previous recipes and how firm you like your oatmeal before deciding how long you cook it.
I did not add any liquid when I reheated it in the microwave on subsequent mornings, but if you like your oatmeal less firm, then you might add a few Tbs of "milk" or water.
An added bonus is that my daughter, who would rather sing in the morning than get herself ready for school, has something easy to eat for breakfast. A delicious, healthy breakfast with less mess and time spent in the morning is definitely a clear winner in my book!
I hope you enjoy it! If you change things up and like the results, please share in the comments. It's always nice to have more options!
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I made these last night and . . . WOW . . . just, WOW! They are so easy, are allergy-friendly, and lower in calories, and yet they are rich and delicious enough to feel totally indulgent!
Ingredients:
1/4 cup coconut oil (I use raw, organic)
1/4 cup cacao powder (I like TerrAmazon Organic which I've gotten at both Sprouts and Whole Foods~ make sure you don't get COCOA powder as that will have dairy and sugar in it!)
1/4 cup powdered Xylitol (put the xylitol in a coffee grinder for about 30 seconds and it will resemble powdered sugar. It's crazy-easy)
Pinch of salt (I used a salt grinder and did about 2 turns)
4 drops of peppermint flavor liquid
Extra cacao powder for dusting.
Directions:
Put the coconut oil in a microwave safe bowl and get it liquid but not hot. Add in the cacao powder, powdered xylitol, and salt and mix until everything is well incorporated. Add the peppermint flavoring and mix well. Place the bowl in the refrigerator for about 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the mixture is the consistency of a cookie dough. Put a little cacao powder into a small bowl. When the chocolate mixture is ready, roll some into a ball between your hands (your hands will get chocolatey, but that's okay!). Once you have a nice little ball, roll it in the cacao powder to coat it just enough so that the balls don't stick together. Put the truffles in an airtight container and refrigerate. I like them stiff and cold so I ate two right out of the refrigerator today. If you want them softer, just take them out of the fridge about 10 minutes before you plan to eat them.
Notes:
It's up to you how big you want to make your truffles. I'm like a toddler in that if you offer me one big cookie, or two smaller cookies, I will take two because it just feels like more to me. So I made the truffles pretty small. How many truffles you end up with, and what the nutrition information would be is totally dependent on how big your truffles are.
If you try it, and you don't feel that they are exactly what you want, you can adjust the ingredients slightly without drastically affecting the outcome. My husband thought they were too sweet and a few of my taste-testers thought the mint was a little strong. You can easily play with either of those elements by slightly reducing the amount of xylitol to make it less sweet, or putting fewer drops of the mint in to make it less minty. If you omit the mint altogether, you will get chocolate with a slight coconut taste ~ also yummy.
These are allergy-friendly and great if you are limiting sugar. They are not, however, calorie-free. The coconut oil is calorie-dense and while the xylitol has a lower glycemic load than refined sugar, it still has about 10 calories per teaspoon. These are a healthier alternative but they still need to be thought of as a treat, especially if you are trying to lose weight.
If you make them, please let us know what you think!
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Enjoy!
