Something Nice: Steel Cut Oats

I don't know why this is posting as all one paragraph. Blogger doesn't like me right now. Sorry. I am not a morning person. You know that. Everyone knows that. (well, everyone that's ever been around me before 9am, knows that.) One of the things I really admire about Aaron is how happy he is when he wakes up in the morning. Like, when the alarm goes of at 4:45 or 5 am, he doesn't have a natural urge to throw it agains the wall, then throw a lamp at it, to make sure that it actually broke and will never bother me again. He is NICE when he wakes up. Me? Not so much. I do try to be nice...and some days, I feel like I am getting better. I've always been such a night owl, and it's pretty impossible to be both. I knew that Aaron had a busy day at work today so last night I decided to try something new. Around 11:30pm, I put 1 cup of steel cut oats and 4 cups of water in our tiny (I think it's about 1 1/2 quart size) crockpot and turned it on Low. At 5:30, Aaron filled a bowl with fresh, piping hot steel cut oatmeal to eat on his way out the door. We changed the setting to Keep Warm, and I had a bowl at 6:30. Listen guys (gals), they were cooked to PERFECTION. Seriously, perfection, I tell ya. Cook some. Soon. Tonight! I LOVE a recipe that makes me look like an awesome wifey that makes hot breakfast for my family in the morning. Uh, especially when it took less than 1 minute to prepare. Forget 30 minutes on the stove top! Even quick oats take 1 minute to nuke, and these were sooooo much better. Wonderful consistency. I've heard that using a large crockpot results in burned edges, over cooked, dry oatmeal, and a fat mess to clean. Using the tiny crockpot was the perfect size, because this left NO mess whatsoever. I emptied the leftovers into a tupperware to nuke for tomorrow's breakfast, and the crockpot was so easy to clean, I could have rinsed it clean with cold water. Yeah! That easy to clean. So if you have a tiny crock pot, don't be afraid to try this recipe out...and say goodbye to the assumption that just because you use your crock pot means you'll be soaking and scrubbing it for an hour later. Not so! Just be sure to use STEEL CUT oats for this recipe. Not rolled or quick oats. Steel cut oats look like little pellets, rather than a flat flake. You'll end up with mush if you use the other kind for this. If want to let them cook longer (because you sleep longer, but still want breakfast ready when you wake up), try setting the cooker on low for 1 hr before you go to bed, then on Warm for 8 hrs. FYI-fresh oatmeal is delicious with dried or fresh fruit (mmm or frozen berries), nuts, maple syrup, brown sugar, honey (blech...I hate honey, but the rest of my family loves it), milk, fruit syrup, cinnamon, vanilla, whatevah! So many options! Give it a shot. Non-"instant" breakfast that IS ready in an instant? Maybe I can be a morning person.