Overnight Crockpot Steel-Cut Oatmeal

March 25, 2008 By 227 Comments

Over a year ago, I posted a brief explanation (after forcing readers to suffer through the details of the Valentine’s Day storm that snowed us in), but I’ve had so many conversations since then about the profound culinary pleasure of crockpot steelcut oatmeal that I felt like posting a more involved and detailed set of instructions.

I’ve tried to explain to friends and family how simple it is to cook steel cut oatmeal in a crockpot overnight, but evidently it’s hard for some people to visualize. So with the magic of digital photography, I have attempted to capture, step-by-step, the simplicity of this delicious breakfast option.

With only a few seconds of preparation the night before, you can awaken to steamy, creamy, perfectly prepared steelcut oatmeal. It’s like you’re suddenly transported to a cozy bed-and-breakfast where the hostess bustled around in the kitchen early in the morning in order to serve you this healthy breakfast treat at the moment you’re ready.

Steel cut oats are chewy and delicious, but they take a long time to cook on the stovetop–30 minutes! Instead of preparing them first thing in the morning, this overnight method basically turns your crockpot into a double-boiler; or, to sound like a more frou-frou B&B hostess, a bain-marie.

And that, my friends, is the the beauty of this method: by using your crock as a double-boiler, the oats don’t get all crusty and burnt on the sides of the crockpot, as they do when you cook the oats in the crock itself. Put the oats in their own bowl, and there’s no waste, no lost oats. No soaking and scrubbing afterwards.

Read on…

You can buy the well-known McCANN’S Steel Cut Irish Oatmeal, 28-Ounce Tins (Pack of 4), or you can buy a cheaper version. This is what we buy at Trader Joe’s:

My goodness. How blurry. So much for digital magic. I’ve got to take a photography class or something.

Okay, the label reads: ”Country Choice Organic Irish Style Oats:  Steel Cut.” Be careful not to buy the quick-cooking kind.

steelcut-cooking-instructions.jpg

Stick with the recommended measurements–the back of my can says 4 cups of water to 1 cup of oats will result in 4 servings [Updated: I have since used less liquid for a less creamy oatmeal; experiment to achieve the consistency you prefer--you could even substitute some milk for the water].

steelcut-oats-measured.jpg

Find a bowl that:

1) Holds four cups of liquid

2) Fits inside your crockpot with the lid on.

3) Is oven-safe (this is not necessary, but may reduce the possibility of the bowl cracking–I’ve never had this happen, but people have expressed some concern)

When I first tried this, I used an older crockpot and was able to fit a fairly small, round, oven-safe white Pyrex bowl inside–the kind you might use to serve a side dish at dinner.

This new wider, deeper crockpot has allowed for a bigger and different-shaped inner bowl for the oats, and I found a pretty green-and-yellow one that works well.

By the way, it’s not a big deal, but the exterior of your oats bowl, because it will be sitting in water, might get a little white ring around it from the water evaporating, especially if you have hard water. It’s always come off in the dishwasher for me, but I wanted to mention it, so that you have no surprises.

[Updated 1-04-10: Several readers have recommended putting wads of foil under the oats bowl to lift it up a bit from the main crock—some people have reported that the main crock could crack if water isn't between the two bowls. Updated 8-23-11: Now I always use foil under the inner bowl and highly recommend that you do so, as well, to protect the main crock from cracking. Updated 4-6-12: Reader recommendation is to use canning rings to lift inner bowl from direct contact with main crock]

Measure out one cup of oats. Pour that into the inner bowl. Add the four cups of water. Stir. Add a dash of salt, if you like (it’s not at all necessary).

Fill the crock with water to a little more than halfway. Set the inner bowl in the crock and see how high the water rises with the displacement. Add water in the crock if necessary–I usually try to match it so that the water reaches about the same height on the outside of the oats bowl as the cooking water inside, but I don’t think it matters that much.

Place the lid on your crockpot.

Set on low.

Go to bed.

steelcut-oats-in-crock.jpg

When you awaken the next morning, your oats should have cooked to perfection overnight in the steamy bath.

Do you see how hard I’ve been working this new crockpot? The handle broke off. So much of my life is about brokenness…often literally.

steelcut-oats-bain-marie.jpg

I took this picture to try to show the water, because some people really can’t picture the whole double-boiler concept. But here it is, friends–the crockpot as bain-marie.

I snapped the above picture after The Belgian Wonder had already scooped out his morning serving.

You can add all your favorite goodies the night before and let them cook along with your oats–raisins, nuts, etc.–but the kids like it plain. So we add our goodies as we serve it up.

I keep a bag of frozen blueberries on hand, thawing a few of them in the microwave as needed, so that they don’t cool my oats down too much. One morning, as I pulled them out of the microwave, they made pretty, artsy swirls on the side of the bowl. So I tried to snap a little picture of them:

blueberries.jpg

It doesn’t do them justice. They were so pretty, I almost hated to add the oats.

Almost.

But those oats are so good, I did it anyway. Blueberries and chewy, steelcut oats in the morning?

Maybe I should open a B&B?

Or maybe, now that you see how easy this is, you can.

Serve with some fresh fruit, or a soft-boiled egg, whole wheat toast, or, if you just want to wow your guests, set out a Trader Joe’s chocolate croissant to rise overnight and bake while you’re in the shower.

croissant.jpg

It’ll negate all the health benefits of the oatmeal, but believe me, your B&B guests will never want to leave!

Trouble finding steel cut oats?

Consider investing in this dreamy slow cooker with lid-latches to seal shut when traveling (no more sloshes!):

Hamilton Beach 33967 Set ‘n Forget 6-Quart Programmable Slow Cooker

 

text and photos © 2008 Ann Kroeker

Filed Under: family, frugality, home, simplicity, slowing, WFMW, works for me wednesday Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

The Blessing of Boredom

March 25, 2008 By Leave a Comment

“I’m bored,” a child whines. Oh, no! Quick, pull out the paints or Playdough–heaven forbid the child actually sits with nothing to do.

In our entertainment-obsessed society, we almost panic at the thought of having nothing to do, at being bored. The world seems to want to fill every spare moment with productivity or fun.

But is boredom such a bad thing? Could boredom actually be…good?

This article in the Boston Globe about boredom explored the strength–even the joy–of boredom.

It quoted a professor of psychology and women’s studies at the College of Staten Island:

“Our society is perpetually anxious, and a way to alleviate the anxiety is to delve into something that’s very within our control, pleasurable, and fun…It feels like it has all the makings of addiction.”

I value creativity, so this quote stood out to me:

As Ralley studied boredom, it came to make a kind of sense: If people are slogging away at an activity with little reward, they get annoyed and find themselves feeling bored. If something more engaging comes along, they move on. If nothing does, they may be motivated enough to think of something new themselves. The most creative people, he said, are known to have the greatest toleration for long periods of uncertainty and boredom.

And this, too:

To be bored is to stop reacting to the external world, and to explore the internal one. It is in these times of reflection that people often discover something new, whether it is an epiphany about a relationship or a new theory about the way the universe works. Granted, many people emerge from boredom feeling that they have accomplished nothing. But is accomplishment really the point of life? There is a strong argument that boredom — so often parodied as a glassy-eyed drooling state of nothingness — is an essential human emotion that underlies art, literature, philosophy, science, and even love.

My friend S. and I have talked about the fact that our kids’ generation doesn’t seem to allow much time to just sit and think. They don’t have time to create. To solve problems. To wonder about the deeper issues of life.

That’s because they’re occupied with nonstop activities:

They’re online, on the phone, text messaging, watching movies, watching TV, playing games. I remember long car rides when I would just stare out the window and think. When today’s kids are on long car trips, they’re often playing handheld games or watching DVDs.

When is today’s generation of kids able to sort through the deeper questions of life, to develop a personal philosophy? Both S. and I grew up in settings that allowed for many hours of “down time” and alone time when we could think, uninterrupted, for hours. We’re not necessarily intellectual or philosophical giants, but we can sit down and talk about more than ”Dancing with the Stars”…although, I do watch that. Did you see Marlee Matlin?? Wait, where was I? Oh, I know. I was just wondering what will happen to our kids if they don’t get some of that “down” time–that “bored” time–to think?

“When we’re writing deeply, writing thoughtfully, we are often trying to communicate with ourselves and trying to communicate what ultimately can’t be communicated — the greatest mysteries of the world: what is truth; what is beauty; what is being?” said Eric G. Wilson, an English professor at Wake Forest University and author of the new book, Against Happiness.

To write like that, one must think about it. Ponder it in the quieter moments of a day.

Where are those moments?

Toward the end of the article:

Paradoxically, as cures for boredom have proliferated, people do not seem to feel less bored; they simply flee it with more energy, flitting from one activity to the next. Ralley has noticed a kind of placid look among his students over the past few years, a “laptop culture” that he finds perplexing. They have more channels to be social; there are always things to do. And yet people seem oddly numb. They are not quite bored, but not really interested either.

That means steeping in uninterrupted boredom may be the first step toward feeling connected. It “may take a little bit of tolerance of an initial feeling of boredom, to discover a comfort level with not being linked in and engaged and stimulated every second,” said Jerome C. Wakefield, a professor of social work at New York University and co-author of “The Loss of Sadness.” “There’s a level of knowing yourself, of coming back to baseline, and knowing who you truly are.”

Today’s Writer’s Almanac quoted Flannery O’Connor. Her words reminded me of this article, of being bored, of thinking and creating:

“The writer should never be ashamed of staring. There is nothing that does not require his attention.”

Boredom isn’t always disengagement, nor is it always unproductive–au contraire! Sometimes it leads to a new thought, an epiphany; a creative idea that requires our full attention.

Sometimes staring leads to story.

Next time your child looks up with a pitiful look and sighs, “I’m booorrrred,” just smile.

“Good,” you might say. “We need more boredom in this world.”

And then just wait. Don’t fill the time.

See what happens.

Filed Under: children, creativity, lifelong learning, mind, parenting, self-discovery, simplicity, slowing, writer, writers, writing Tagged With: , , , , ,