Crock Pot "Apple Pie" Steel Cut Oats

I love making food for other people. The process of cooking and baking, and sharing the results of my cooking and baking endeavors with others, is one of my favorite things. Also however, spending time with those very same people with whom I love sharing food is one of other my favorite things. But the combination of making delicious food for others AND spending time with those same people? Even better.

This past weekend, my family was visiting me in Boston. I purposefully planned our meals so that they would be easy to make (i.e., less time for me, the "chef," in the kitchen) but delicious and healthy too. 

That way I could do two of my favorite things - cook food to share with my family but spend quality time with them as well. :) This crock pot steel cut oats recipe is a great example of a recipe that allowed me to do two of my favorite things.

 I put the ingredients for this recipe in the crock pot on Saturday night before we went to bed, and when everyone woke up on Sunday morning, we woke up to the heavenly smells of apple and cinnamon...it was almost as if I had baked an apple pie overnight. ;)

This recipe is from the Hungry Hungry Hippie. I "one and a halved" (roughly speaking) the original recipe, and the proportions I used are below.

Ingredients:

-1 and 1/2 cups steel cut oats

-6 cups liquid (I used 2 cups 1% milk, 4 cups water)

-3 tsp. cinnamon

-2 apples, peeled and chopped (I used granny smith)

-1/2 cup raisins

-maple syrup or sweetener of your choice

Instructions:

Add the apples, cinnamon, and raisins to the crock pot. Then add the oats, followed by the 6 cups of liquid. Stir everything together, and set the crock pot on low for 7 hours.

SO EASY!!

Wake up the next morning to the wonderful aromas of apple pie... And enjoy your hearty breakfast! And enjoy quality time with the people with whom you might be eating your breakfast. ;)

(The pictures of the ingredients in the crock pot the night before are not very good - just wanted to warn you! I was working with 11 PM lighting...)

And voila! The next morning. It's really not the prettiest of dishes...but the taste more than makes up for that. I promise.

We all enjoyed our oats with a drizzle of maple syrup mixed in for just a touch of sweetness. It was perfect! The raisins plumped up overnight and added some great flavor to the dish.

The proportions I used made approximately 8 servings or so. 

An awesome breakfast for a "crowd"!

Do you have any easy crock pot breakfast recipes?! I'd love to hear them, if you do. I think this might be the first breakfast dish I've ever made in the crock pot. Thankfully, it was a success. :)