My little girl loooves her oatmeal! But, mornings can be a bit hectic in our home with a 4 month old. I like oatmeal, it contains a good array of vitamins, minerals and a good source of antioxidants. It can also be delicious!
Jocelyn's not a big breakfast eater and would just as soon tote a box of dry cereal around with her than to sit down and actually eat. Who wants to eat when there's playing to be done? She's a grazer all day, so her breakfast is important to me. So, what could I entice her with that I know she will love enough to sit down for, that contain all of the things I think are important for her to have a balanced diet and keep her going throughout the day? Oatmeal of course! And, how could I make it so that I could include everything I think essential for her to have without making our crazy mornings even crazier? The crockpot!
So, here is what I did! I googled a bit and found the best way to make them in the crockpot is with Steal Cut Oats. Now, I did not have any of these on hand at the time. I did have a box of regular oats and I decided to give those a try.
These were my main ingredients: I chose to add peanut butter for the protein, raisins for the flavor and the iron and bananas because they are a great source of potassium and help with nightly growing pains kids often get at this age. I figured the banana's, raisins and peanut butter offered enough sugar so that I wouldn't need to add any. And Cinnamon for flavor!
Missing from this picture is an individual box of raisins and cinnamon.
I began by spraying a thin layer of non stick cooking spray and then putting a thin layer of sliced banana on the bottom of the crockpot and adding a think layer of oatmeal on top of that, repeating until you fill the crockpot halfway.
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| Note that I am using a baby or sidekick crockpot. This is not a full size cooker. | | | | | |
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I then added the box of raisins and filled the rest of the pot with water, gave it a stir and let it sit for an hour. After an hour was up, I checked to make sure it wasn't cooking too fast, had enough water and wasn't crusting up on the sides. I gave it a stir, added a teaspoon of cinnamon, stirred again and went to bed!
Note that if your mixture is crusting up you may need to add some water, and/or lower your heat setting if your crockpot has a control dial. Being this was a sidekick, there is only one setting.
When I awoke in the morning, this is what greeted me in my kitchen. Besides the amazing smell!
I then added 2 tablespoons of peanut butter and mixed really well.
My conclusion: This tasted wonderful, but was more the consistency of a bread pudding. Not to say that is a bad thing, if you like bread pudding, that is. But, if you really want the authenticity of an oatmeal texture I would stick with using the Steal Cut Oats.
Jocelyn's verdict: She ate a whole bowl for breakfast and asked for more for lunch. I think we have a hit!
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