Framed Friday: Overnight Oatmeal.

Hi there, this is Kate from Framed Cooks.  I am a mother, a wife, a redhead,  a dog-lover, a bookworm, a first-born, a photographer, an avid cook, and just a little bit of a hypochondriac. Framed Cooks started as a two week photography project, and two years later here I am, still trying to cook with teenagers and dogs constantly underfoot, still taking pictures of my supper, and still writing about my kitchen escapades for anyone who wants to listen to me!  My basic rule of thumb is this: everything I cook needs to be easy enough to make when you only have about 30 minutes to get dinner on the table… AND it needs to be something you haven’t made a million times before, because suppertime is so much happier when the food is interesting. And if it includes bacon and/or chocolate, even better!

I think I am overdue in terms of singing the praises of one of my very favorite kitchen appliances, which is my beloved, faithful, trustworthy slow cooker. I’ve had the same slow cooker for years and years now – it’s a basic Rival Crockpot model – and I’ve made everything from the best beef barley soup in the world to a really incredible chocolate pudding cake and a lot of stuff in between. There’s nothing quite like the feeling you get when you toss a bunch of stuff in the crockpot in the morning, go out to work, and then come home hours later to a house that smells like heaven and the glorious knowledge that dinner is already made!

Most of my crockpot recipes are dinner-oriented (Well, except for that cake. Which I would happily eat for dinner, but that’s just me.) This oatmeal recipe also makes a fantastic comfort food dinner recipe, but it’s my only crockpot recipe that is perfection for breakfast. Here’s how it works, and why I adore it so much.

First of all, you must use steel-cut oats – none of those regular rolled Quaker Oats for this recipe. Steel cut oats are those hard little round oats – they look like teeny little pebbles and you will wonder how on earth they are going to turn into anything edible, but have faith. You toss them into your trusty slow cooker with some water, a little half and half and some dried fruit. I used dried cranberries and chopped up dried figs, but I think probably anything you have around will work just fine – raisins, dates, etc. Set the slow cooker for 8 hours on low, and go to bed. The next morning you will wake up to an unbelievably amazing aroma of sweet and creamy oatmeal. It has slowly cooked away all night look, and the fruit has somehow broken down and blended into the oats, giving the whole thing a wildly delicious, comforting, sweetly creamy texture. No additional sweetener is needed – just warm up a little milk and grab your favorite bowl.

Take hold of a spoon, close your eyes and dig in.  It’s comfort food extraordinaire, and you may never go back to those little oatmeal packets ever again.

Overnight Oatmeal

from Alton Brown

• 1 cup steel cut oats
• 1 cup dried cranberries
• 1 cup dried figs, cut in quarters
• 4 cups water
• 1/2 cup half and half

1. Combine all ingredients in a slow cooker and set on low.  Cover and cook for 8 hours.
2. Stir and scoop into bowls.  Pour warm milk over each serving.

3 Comments
  • TERI REES WANG

    November 19, 2010 at 11:04 am Reply

    Looks lovely…
    and I am wondering if it call be done in a rice cooker? I am so ready to try.

    We went the Will Rogers’ Family Home to watch our friends sing songs from the 1930’s and took a tour of the house after. That man wanted slow baked beans with fatty ham, all day every day. He had a pot, with a flame, and small tasting cup for any one who wandered in for a snack. Great idea.
    So, I came home with the Will Rogers cook book, and found slow cooked dishes from all over the world.

    Cheers!

  • Natasha

    November 20, 2010 at 12:30 pm Reply

    I adore my slow cooker too, it was given to me from my parents, a wedding present that they received 37 years ago and they never used it once! I use it in the winters for stews and chili, i’ve never used it for breakfast but I will now and will be making your overnight oatmeal. Merci!

  • Carmie of the Single Nester

    December 1, 2010 at 3:55 pm Reply

    I am not a fan of oatmeal having not cooked it very well in the past. Can’t wait to try this!

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