Overnight Crockpot Oatmeal with Apples

Welcome back from what I hope was a long weekend full of gorging yourself on wonderful cooking!  I know mine was.  Which is why I also know I'll be pulling double workouts as often as possible between now and Christmas.

So worth it though.  Am I right?

Although we all know turkey is the Thanksgiving Day showstopper, I have absolutely no idea what goes into cooking a turkey (except a lot of raw meat touching.  shudder!), so I'm going to focus instead on a couple of the new traditions-in-the-making that I actually helped to implement this year.

Then go get my sweat on because just looking at this decadence is adding another five pounds to my rear.

Recipe: (Full Disclosure - I did not make this recipe, but I did give my mom the idea to make crock pot oatmeal for Thanksgiving morning.  She found the recipe on the internet and put this together Wednesday night while Alex and I were driving up from Ohio.)

2 apples, peeled, cored, and sliced
1/3 cup brown sugar
4 cups water
2 cups old-fashioned or steel cut oats
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
optional: chopped pecans or walnuts and additional fruit such as raisins, dried cherries, or dates (I believe we had chopped walnuts in ours.)

Mix brown sugar and cinnamon with apple slices, fully coating apples.

Mix oatmeal with water and salt.

Put apples in bottom of crock pot and pour oatmeal on top.  Do not stir.  (According to my mom, not stirring is the hardest part!)

Cover and cook on LOW overnight (8-9 hours).

In the morning, stir thoroughly.

 Serve with milk and additional sugar.  (This was written in  the recipe, but I didn't add anything to my bowl.  Unless someone added milk or sugar to the crockpot before I was present, I don't think this extra step is necessary.  Although I did sprinkle some additional cinnamon on top.)

Verdict:
From a purely practical standpoint, this recipe solves a dilemma that I know has plagued my family for years: when you spend all your time for days focusing on preparing Thanksgiving dinner - Thanksgiving breakfast tends to get lost in the shuffle.  With turkey and stuffing and potatoes and gravy all demanding your attention, most moms don't have time (or kitchen space) for an elaborate breakfast.  Yet I know every year, I am starving and cranky by the time I finally get to eat real food.  Not fun.  This make ahead recipe was perfect for its mere convenience.

Plus, when my dad gets up at the butt-crack of dawn, his breakfast is hot and ready.  When my mom gets up at a slightly more sane hour, her breakfast is hot and ready.  When I finally shuffle downstairs around 9 and slurp my way through my first cup of coffee to a near-human state, my breakfast is hot and ready.  Everyone has a happy tummy!

From a taste standpoint, this recipe wins as well.  It was warm and filling.  I knew I was getting something nutritious into my stomach to keep me going through all that intense parade watching and food preparation.  It was just sweet enough to taste like a special occasion breakfast but wholesome enough to stave off the feelings of food guilt until later....

Thumbs up all around!