Crock Pot Apple Pie Oatmeal

This whole having-a-school-age-kid thing is tough. She has to adjust to all day school (kindergarten is half-day here), and, honestly, I have to adjust to her being gone all day. 

One of the adjustments that we have to make concerns food.

When she is home, we can schedule meals and snacks around our appetites, and we can spread the daily nutrition requirements among, well, a whole day's worth of meals and snacks.

Being in school all day makes that a little tougher. I have to make sure that she has a nutritious and filling breakfast first thing when she wakes up, and it has to be a meal that can carry her all the way through to lunch time, as there is no morning snack at school.

Little miss likes oatmeal, and I like that it is a filling start to her day. So this week, I decided to try a new overnight, crock pot version of oatmeal. This past spring I made pumpkin oatmeal in the crock pot, but this time I was inspired by a different autumn fruit - apples.  I looked around online to find some guidance, and after reading this recipe, I decided to just go for it.

I started by putting the oats in the crock pot, and then chopped up three granny smith apples. The recipe I read called for two apples, but I wanted my oatmeal to be super apple-y, so I added an extra.

And then I kind of went off-recipe. Meaning I didn't actually remember the real measurements and, as it was late, didn't bother grabbing the computer to re-check them.  Turns out that I added one more cup of liquid than the original recipe calls for, but, funny enough, I usually do increase the liquid a little bit when I make oatmeal, as we like ours nice and creamy. Coconut milk, water, brown sugar, cinnamon, and even a little bit of honey (I have no idea why I wanted to add the honey - I just did...).

I then stirred everything together put the lid on the crock pot and went to bed.

Nope, I didn't turn it on. I go to bed about nine hours before breakfast time, and this oatmeal only takes seven hours to cook. So I enlisted daddy to help - he was up later than I was. I asked him to please turn the crock pot to low before coming up for the night, as I knew that, even if it was more than seven hours, it would be closer than if I started it up before I went up.

And it worked out beautifully. We woke up in the morning to this:

It smelled like fall and was deliciously creamy.

Everyone enjoyed it and I felt good about little miss having a healthy yet delicious start to her day.



Crock Pot Apple Pie Oatmeal
(inspired by The Yummy Life)

3 apples (I used granny smith)
1 cup steel cut oats
1 1/2 cups coconut milk (the beverage kind, not the canned variety)
2 1/2 cups water
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon honey

Peel, core and chop the apples. Combine all ingredients in your slow cooker. Set cooker to low and cook for seven hours. Remove lid, stir and enjoy!

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