Crockpot Oatmeal

Hurricane Sandy has brought the cold to Michigan this week, so I'm in the mood for a warm and tasty treat for the cold mornings.  This oatmeal recipe is very easy to prepare and makes enough that you can have oatmeal for breakfast for the week.  It's a pared-down version of Alton Brown's "Overnight Oatmeal", but I think it's still yummy!

Ingredients
1 cup steel cut oats
4 cups water
1-3 apples finely chopped (the number used really depends on your liking of apples and their size)
Sprinkle of cinnamon

Directions
Combine all ingredient in a crockpot and stir.  Place cover on crockpot and cook on low for 8-9 hours.  Stir mixture prior to serving.

Helpful Notes
- This recipe works really well if you start the crockpot before going to bed - then you wake up to a house that smells like cinnamon and a warm, tasty breakfast!

- You can add half-and-half (up to 1/2 cup) to the crockpot before cooking if you like your oatmeal to be a bit more creamy.  I prefer to add skim milk to my bowl in the morning.

- If you put a little brown sugar on the top of the oatmeal when serving, it'll make your whole day better. :)

-  If your oatmeal is a bit runny in the morning, just stir and let the pot sit with the top off for 5-10 minutes before serving.  The water will absorb and the oatmeal with thicken up a bit.

Smoothies for Breakfast

I love a good smoothie in the morning.  I never remember to take a multivitamin, so I've convinced myself that if I have a smoothie every morning, I will probably get all the vitamins I need for the day. . . or at least more than I would without the smoothie. . .

This recipe comes from my lovely sister, Beth.  I've made a ton of these little packs and stuck them in the freezer for a quick and healthy breakfast in the morning.  I usually have a side of toast or a small bowl of cereal with my smoothie, and then I am full until lunch time.

Ingredients 
*Note: amounts are eyeballed and depend mostly on what size blender you have
Fresh spinach
Strawberries
Blueberries

Peaches
1/2 Banana

1 tablespoon milled flax seed
1 tablespoon coco powder
Skim milk

Non-fat plain greek yogurt

Directions

Place all ingredients (except milk and yogurt) in a sandwich bag and store in freezer.
In the morning, remove smoothie bag from freezer and place in a blender.  Add milk, greek yogurt, and a few ice cubes, then blend away and enjoy!

Helpful Notes

- You can make a bunch of these bags ahead of time, so making breakfast in the morning in a snap.

- If your blender isn't super powerful, take the bag of smoothie ingredients out of the freezer the night before and store in the fridge until morning.  The fruit will thaw a bit and make blending a lot easier.

- The fruit in the ingredient list is really just a suggestion.  I've tried lots of different mixtures of fruit and I've enjoyed them all.  My only suggestion is to be careful with the amount of raspberries you add - too many and your smoothie will be icky-sweet.  

- If you are a protein buff, you can add powdered protein to these or my sister suggests adding peanut butter.

- To make the smoothie drinkable, you want your milk/yogurt ratio to be >1.  This probably seems obvious, but I promise you in the morning, when you're still a bit sleepy, you'll be very confused why your smoothie is stuck in the bottom of your blender like a purple-goopy mess.  

Banana Bread

For my inaugural post, I'd like to share this banana bread recipe I found on a blog I often read.  I tweaked the recipe, though, in an attempt to make it a bit healthier.

Ingredients
3 very ripe bananas
3 tablespoons melted butter
6 tablespoons milled flax seed
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
1/4 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Directions
Preheat oven to 325F. Using a potato masher (or something equivalent), mash the bananas in a large mixing bowl. Mix melted butter and flax seed into the mashed bananas using a wooden spoon.  Mix in the sugar, egg, and vanilla.  Sprinkle the baking soda on top of the mixture, then gently mix with wooden spoon.  Add the flour and gently mix.  Pour mixture into a buttered loaf pan, then sprinkle walnuts on top (if you choose to make your bread a little nutty).  Bake for 1 hour, then cool on a wire rack.  Enjoy with a bit of peanut butter on top for an extra yummy treat!