Crock Pot Steel Cut Oatmeal

I haven't fallen off the planet!  I started a super exciting winter internship with the Green Urban Lunchbox so I will be cutting back my food posting for a few months.  I am still cooking, although I need to get a new memory card and card reader before I can get back to photo-taking.  Don't worry, it will happen. 

Busy days mean not much time for breakfast, so boy is it a nice surprise to wake up to oatmeal that's already cooked and ready to be served.  Crock pot to the rescue!  Every crock pot is a little different so I suggest trying this recipe out during the day first so you can verify the time and temperature for yours.  The Low setting on mine cooked it too much after 7 hours but keeping it on Warm works well.  This is a mish-mash of various recipes online, tweaked to my liking. 

This recipe has endless variation possibilities.  The canned pears have enough sweetness in them that I don't add any sugar.  Raisins can be thrown in if you like them big and juicy like grapes... not my thing but some people like that.  :)

Make sure to use steel-cut oats and not rolled oats, which get super mushy in crock pots.  Side note, Quaker is a unit of Pepsi, which is a GMO-supporting-company, so I avoid that brand. 


Crock Pot Steel Cut Oatmeal
Serves 2 very hungry people or 4 medium-hungry people

INGREDIENTS
1 cup steel-cut oats, uncooked (I like Bob's Red Mill or McCanns in the round white can)
1 pint canned pears or 2 cups sliced/peeled/cored apples (fruit optional but delicious)
3 to 3-1/2 cups liquid, including liquid from pears (I use 2 cups milk, pear juice, and the rest water)
1/4 tsp cinnamon

DIRECTIONS
1. Pour all ingredients in crock pot.  Stir.
2. Set to warm for 7-8 hours
3. Get a good night's sleep knowing you have a delicious hot breakfast waiting for you!