Overnight Oatmeal Recipe

Here is an easy way to serve a crowd a hearty breakfastshowlist_icon.gif before facing the elements for a day of winter sports. You can assemble it in the slow cooker in the evening and wake up to a bowl of hot, nourishing oatmeal. The slow cooker eliminates the need for constant stirring and ensures an exceptionally creamy consistency. It is important to use steel-cut oats; old-fashioned oats become too soft during slow-cooking.
Ingredient Note: Steel-cut oats, sometimes labeled “Irish oatmeal,” look like small pebbles. They are toasted oat groats—the oat kernel that has been removed from the husk that have been cut in 2 or 3 pieces. Do not substitute regular rolled oats, which have a shorter cooking time, in the slow-cooker oatmeal recipe.

Per serving: 188 calories; 3 g fat (0 g sat, 1 g mono); 0 mg cholesterol; 34 g carbohydrate; 6 g protein; 9 g fiber; 80 mg sodium; 197 mg potassium; 0 g added sugars
Carbohydrate Servings: 2
Exchanges: 2 starch, 1/2 fruit

Nutritionshowlist_icon.gif Bonus: Fiber (36% daily value).
Scaling Disclaimer: EatingWell recipes are tested extensively in the EatingWell Test Kitchen. EatingWell cannot guarantee a recipe that has been scaled to make a different number of servings from the original. Also note that scaling only applies to the ingredient measurements: no adjustment is made to the recipe instructions, so pan sizes and cooking times and ingredient amounts referred to in the text of the recipe only apply to the original number of servings.

Ingredients
8 cups of water
2 cups of steel-cut oats
1/3 cup of dried cranberries
1/3 cup of dried apricots
1/4 teaspoon of salt
Preparation Instructions
Combine water, oats, dried cranberries, dried apricots and salt in a 5- or 6-quart slow cooker. Turn heat to low. Put the lid on and cook until the oats are tender and the porridge is creamy, 7 to 8 hours.

Stove top Variation:
Halve the above recipe to accommodate the size of most double boilers: Combine 4 cups water, 1 cup steel-cut oats, 3 tablespoons dried cranberries, 3 tablespoons dried apricots and 1/8 teaspoon salt in the top of a double boiler. Cover and cook over boiling water for about 1 1/2 hours, checking the water level in the bottom of the double boiler from time to time.