A Full Belly...

It is winter, it is cold and it has even snowed here. On top of that, I am hungry. Hungry for a good hot and healthy breakfast. One that will stick to my ribs. Something that I can feed my family and know that they are leaving for the day with a full belly.

What's your favorite hot breakfast cereal? I have several. I am from the south so one of them is grits but that's not what I am fixing today. I fixed oatmeal. The slow cooking kind. Actually I put it in my crockpot so that it was ready when we got up. If you like real oatmeal, not the instant or quick kind, I would suggest you try this. So easy. This recipe calls for oat groats, the groats are the oat with just the hard outer shell removed. They are much less processed than the oats we normally use for oatmeal and have the nutritional value still intact.

So, all you need:

Crockpot

heat safe dish that fits securely into the bottom of your crockpot

oat groats

water

You will use the measurements of 1:4. My dish will hold 1 cup of groats and I add 4 cups of water. Set this dish into the crockpot and pour water around the outside of your dish up to the level of the water inside your oat groats dish. You will cook on low for 7 hours. Since this is a waterbath method, be very careful when lifting your dish out. It will be very hot and the water bath will be steaming.


You can then add in any type sweetener that you like. We use honey, brown sugar, turbinado or sucanant. My favorite is the turbinado because it has a milder flavor than the sucanant but still has alot of the nutritional value still. You may add butter if you like. My husband likes to add raisins. I like pecans and a cinnamon blend. At this point, the only thing holding you back is your imagination. These are really creamy but yet really chewy. Just right for my taste. Any leftovers will need to be refrigerated for another day. You can warm them up in the microwave without any problem. Unless your family has a really hearty appetite, you will have leftovers.

Well, now I am really hungry, so I think that I am going to go eat my oat groats. Remember that you can find these at most health food stores and some country markets. You can buy them in bulk and use them a number of ways. As a matter of fact, I grind them in my Whisper Mill grinder and put in breads, pancakes and baked goods. But that's another post...I have to go now, this bowl is calling my name. Can you see the raisins and almonds? Wish you were here to smell it, yummy! Do you use oat groats? Comment below and let me know how you incorporate this very healthy grain into your diet.
Until later, Blessings
Linda