Overnight Slow Cooker Cherry Almond Oatmeal

Serves 4-5 (if I had not lined my slow-cooker, we could have easily gotten 5 servings out of this. As it was, the liner made it really difficult to scrape all the oatmeal out.)

3/4 cup dried cherries
1 apple, peeled and grated or or 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 cups unsweetened vanilla almond milk (you'll find this in the canned milk section)
1-1/2 cups water
1 cup uncooked steel-cut oats
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1-1/2 tablespoons light butter, cut into 5-6 pieces
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
2 teaspoons ground flax seed (you'll find this in the baking section)
1/4 teaspoon salt
Optional garnishes: toasted sliced almonds, maple syrup, additional almond milk, butter and/or chocolate chips

1. Coat inside of 3-1/2 quart (or larger) slow cooker with cooking spray. Add all ingredients (except optional toppings) to slow cooker. Stir, cover, and cook on low for 7 hours. Spoon oatmeal into bowls; add optional toppings, if desired.

Store leftovers in refrigerator. Freezes well. To reheat single servings: Put 1-cup cooked oatmeal in microwave proof bowl. Add 1/3 cup almond milk. Microwave on high for 1 minute; stir. Continue cooking for another minute, or until hot. Recipe can be doubled in 6-quart or larger slow cooker. Increase cooking time 1 hour.

Results: First of all, I was so paranoid about using the slow-cooker overnight. I don't know why. I don't have any problem turning the slow-cooker on during the day and leaving the house. I guess if the slow-cooker is going to burn my house down, I would prefer we not be in the house sleeping when the fire starts. As it was, there were no problems.

I had a 5k race to run on Sunday morning, so I wanted to make something that would give me a lot of energy for the day, but also would make breakfast healthy and simple. I found this recipe and decided to give it a try.

The smell of this oatmeal was incredible to wake up to. I could smell it all the way upstairs and down the hall to our bedroom. When I walked downstairs and looked in the slow-cooker, I was so disappointed. Ewwwww...it looked so gross. But somewhere between stirring it up, scooping it into bowls and adding the toppings, this looked AMAZING. And it tasted soooo good. Every one of us (even Steven!) loved this! Steven actually woke up this morning asking for leftovers, but we didn't have any.

I put maple syrup, brown sugar and almonds on mine. The boys all went with maple syrup and chocolate chips.

We decided to call this "Race Day Oatmeal" and I'll be making it the night before every run! Another one this Sunday! Yum! As for whether it gave me extra energy for the run, I just happened to beat my best 5k time by 2 & 1/2 minutes...so go figure! (Of course, I had a lot of room for improvement.) ;-)

See that smile? That's an "I just ate some awesome oatmeal and ran really fast!" smile!


This recipe came from The Yummy Life.