My House Was Struck By Lightening, or Slow Cooker Oatmeal
One day last week there was a storm. It started in the morning as we were eating one of my favorite breakfasts, slow cooker oatmeal.
There was rain, and there was wind, and there was also a little bit of thunder. The power flickered a few times as we were eating, so we rebooted the internet and located all the flashlights. My husband, Marquis, was rearranging the modem situation so that it was plugged into the UPS (a big power strip thingy with a battery in it, for those like me who had no clue what that was) so it wouldn’t keep going out when the power flickered.
And that’s when lightening struck, inside the house. Okay, not really lightning, but for half a second that is what I thought had happened. While Marquis was moving my wonderful, perfect friend, my trusty slow cooker, there was a loud pop and there was a shower of sparks that slid across the counter and down across the floor at his feet.
I first made sure the husband was okay (yep, phew!), and then I went to check on my beloved slow cooker The news there was not so good.
That is the cable that comes out the back, burnt and hanging on by one teeny wire. One of the girls walked by moments after I took this picture and bumped the cord with their shoulder and that little bump was enough to break it off the rest of the way.
Goodbye old friend. We have been through much in our time together and I appreciate every delicious meal that you have helped me make. You will be greatly missed!
And now, in memory of that perfectly wonderful slow cooker, I’m going to share the very last recipe that I made in it, slow cooker oatmeal. Back when I had a slow cooker (sniff!) I would make this about once a week. It was always so nice to wake up to a warm, yummy breakfast and not have to do anything but serve it up!
So go hug your slow cooker, tell it you love it, and throw some oats in there tonight for a fast, easy breakfast tomorrow!
- 2 cups steel cut oats (do not use rolled oats, it will be a gross pile of burned goo in the morning, nasty!)
- 4-1/2 cups water
- ⅛ tsp salt
- A touch of honey or Real maple syrup to taste
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- Combine all ingredients in a slow cooker.
- Place on lowest setting and allow to cook overnight. For my slow cooker the lowest setting is Warm, so that's what I use. If your lowest setting is Low, you will want to cook it as short a time as possible, so starting it right before you go to sleep and checking on it as soon as you wake up.
- Serve with your favorite toppings. Some good options are: A little more honey or real maple syrup if it needs a little more sweetening. All kinds of fruit, we love mashed up bananas, blueberries (we always have some frozen ones) and peaches. For a special treat, we like to mix in some SunButter (you can use peanut butter or other nut butters) and some chocolate chips. I always add a little milk to make it creamy. I have also cooked the oats using coconut milk as part of the liquid, and then mixed in bananas the next morning, super yummy!
As a note, after an appropriate grieving period, the slow cooker was replaced with this guy, which we love even more than the original:
Although, and this is a secret so don’t tell our slow cooker, but we just might be considering getting rid of it because now we have this, and it does slow cooking and a whole bunch of other amazing stuff:
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Comments
My steel-cut oats ended up as as a gross pile of burned goo in the morning Any ideas about what may have happened? Is my slow cooker’s low setting just too high?
Oh, no! Yes, it sounds like it. My slow cooker has a warm setting, and that’s what I use rather than low. In my old slow cooker, though, the lowest setting I had was low, and it worked, just with some crispy edges around the sides. It’s crazy how much slow cookers can vary! I’m so sorry this didn’t work for you!
Ooh, I have a warm setting too! I’ll try that. The package of steel-cut oats I have says to cook with 4 cups of water per 1 cup of oats- should I increase the water in my slow cooker, or is less water fine since it’s cooking slowly?
Yes, I think that’s exactly why. When I cook steel cut oats in a pan on the stove, I use 4 cups of liquid for 1-1/2 cups of the oats, but doing less liquid in the slow cooker always works fine for me. Let me know how it goes on the warm setting!
Wow..scary!
I refer to my “beloved” slow cooker this way as well.
You may have convinced me to try these. I am not a fan of oatmeal. Well I like my oatmeal in my cookies! LOL
But these sound different. I’m down for trying them. Thanks for sharing!
Haha, yes! They become beloved after serving you so well for so long!
I hope you like the recipe. I’m not really an oatmeal fan usually, but I like these because they have more texture, and you can mix in so many different things!
This recipe is intriguing, but I’d just like to point out that putting on low in the slow cooker overnight is probably not a great idea.
If you read the slow cooker instructions, “low” will slow cook meat for around 8 hours, “high” will cook that same meat in 4 hours.
The “warm” setting is actually only for after the food has been cooked and you are keeping it warm.
I just think that your article might be confusing people who think that “low” is cooler than “warm” because “warm” is between “low” and “high”.
This recipe sounds like it shouldn’t really be cooked in the slow cooker if “low” is actually too hot for it.
Thank you for pointing this out! I just added a little bit to the recipe that I hope will clarify this. I appreciate the feedback!