Update below:
Slow-cooker Cereal
(start this the morning before you want to eat it)
In the morning put the following in a bowl of just enough water to cover it, and add a tablespoon of plain yogurt or vinegar or lemon juice for each cup of grains:
1 c. oat groats
1 c. millet
1/4 cup buckwheat or nuts if desired
(Can substitute brown rice and/or barley and/or wheat berries for oat groats and/or millet. The texture is a bit chewier, but it's still good. Can use any combination of the 5 grains as long as you use the same general dry-to-liquid proportions of 2 1/4 c. dry to 8 c. water.)
In the evening just before bed, drain the grains, rinse them, and put them in your crockpot with:
2+ tsp. cinnamon (more or less)
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
8 cups cold water
3+ tsp. vanilla ( more or less- we also like orange extract and cinnamon)
about 1/2 a cup to a whole cup of nut-butter- drop it in by the spoonful and try to distribute it evenly.
about 1/4 cup of butter or coconut oil
Gently stir and finish stirring by leveling out the dry ingredients on
the bottom.
Set slow-cooker to just under 3, or low on a crockpot.
In the morning, stir in some nut-butter and serve.
Possible toppings:
raisins, diced apple or applesauce, other fruit, brown sugar or honey, milk, yogurt, chopped nuts, etc, singly or in combination.
Variations:
Protein:
Macadamia nut butter is particularly good. You do not have to add the nut butter until breakfast time.
I'd like to add some ground flax seed to it sometime, too, and see how we like that.
Grains:
When out of oat groats, in keeping with my preference to use 'what's in my hand,' I've rummaged through the pantry and used buckwheat, millet, and barley in varying proportions. Buckwheat and millet had a smoother texture. I prefer something chewier, so I liked it best when I used half barley and half buckwheat. We happened to have a lot of buckwheat on hand, because it turns out that I'm the only one who really enjoys my recipe for buckwheat-sesame bread. It's too crunchy for the rest.
Sweeteners
We've liked it topped with maple syrup, a spoonful of citrus honey, OR a spoonful of jam. Equuschick liked hers with salt, butter, and maple syrup together.
We've liked it when I choppped up dried apricots and added them to the grains before cooking. Some family members are sure it would be delicious with raisins, but... I don't like them.=)
Seasonings
We've used cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla, cloves, allspice, and mace. I think the cloves add a very pleasant extra touch.
Fats
I believe that we need fats in our diet, healthy fats, and children need them in particular. Developing brains NEED fats, and giving children a low-fat diet is akin to giving them stones for bread in my opinion (it should go without saying that I am talking about the good fats in butter, olive oil, coconut oil, eggs, sour cream, cheeses, and meats, not trans-fats in unhealthy foods like Krispy Cremes). Fats also help stave off that hungry feeling that comes from stoking up with carbs. I have added up to half a cup of coconut oil to the crockpot at the start of cooking, and the cereal was tasty, not at all greasy or oily.
The Equuschick, as we mentioned, likes to add butter to hers. The nutbutters also have fats, and the fat in macadamia nut butter is supposed to be particularly healthy.
Most recently I made it with 2 1/4 cups of oat groats and 1 cup of almonds and coconut whirled through the food processor, stirred with 1/4 cup of organic, whole milk yogurt. After this soaked in the crockpot all day I added the other ingredients (spices, nut butters, dabs of coconut oil), and THEN, instead of water, I put in ice cubes and turned the crockpot on low.
This way I could start the crockpot earlier the night before, and it didn't overcook in the morning!
All of this sounds wonderful and super healthy!!!
ReplyDeleteI have a few questions:
1)At the top, in your list of ingredients to soak the day before you listed:
"1/4 cup buckwheat or nuts if desired"
So, if I add nuts instead of buckwheat, are they supposed to soak too all day? Won't they become soft? I like crunchy nuts. Or, are the nuts supposed to be grinded and then soaked all day?
2)You said to add 1/2 a cup to a whole cup of nut-butter in the evening, and then you said: "In the morning, stir in some nut-butter and serve". So, cook with nut butter and then serve it with nut butter also?
3)You mention that macadamia nut butter is particulartly healthy, but it doesn't need to go in until breakfast time. So, what kind of nut butter can be added in the evening?
4)I assume that you add the equivalent of 8 cups of water in the form of ice. Doing this, for how many hours would you let a crockpot go on low?
Thank you in advance for your answers. I am really looking forward to trying this out.
This is why you might want to soak nuts.
ReplyDeleteThe nuts aren't going to be crunchy if you cook them in the crockpot, whether soaked or not.
I generally grind nuts before adding them= lately, I grind nuts with either coconut or dates (or both).
If you want your nuts crunchy, don't cook them at all- sprinkle them over the top when you dish out the cereal.
2. Good question- I should clarify that. You can do either- it depends on what you want, but you don't need to do both.
3. You can add the macadamia nut butter in the evening or morning. What I've read suggests they have very little enzyme inhibitors so it doesn't matter whether they are soaked or not. You can add any nut butters at any time, unless you are concerned about enzyme inhibitors, then you should add them before cooking.
Actually, ideally, you would mix the ground nuts, cereal grains, and yogurt or sour milk earlier the day before, add other ingredients the night before, and cook overnight to eat the next morning- but I generally don't think that far ahead.
4. This will depend on your crockpot- our crockpot is usually on low for anywhere from 8 to 12 hours when I cook it with the ice instead of water, and it's just fine. When I cooked it with room temp. water it was sometimes a little dried to the crock around the edges after more than 6 or 7 hours.
Incidentally, lately I've been making it with 2 cups oat groats and 1/3 cup pearled, hulless barley, 2 cups of ground almonds and coconut, cinnamon, yogurt, and a little bit of extra fat in the form of coconut oil or butter.
I've not been soaking and draining- I just stir in the yogurt and cinnamon with the grain mixture and add the other ingredients.
It's really a very forgiving, flexible recipe, especially if you don't mind the texture of a hearty oatmeal or a cooked granola, which is about what this is.
Thank you very much for your thorough and quick response. I should be making this soon for my family.
ReplyDeleteI am trying to become a better cook for my family. It doesn't come naturally to me and I was never taught by my mother. I have stumbled quite a bit my 13 years of marriage trying a multitude of recipes that are either too complicated or call for fancy ingredients.
I want to get a hold of a cookbook with recipes that are 1)delicious and easy on the palate (kid-friendly) 2)easy and fast 3)nutritious and healthy 4)easy on the wallet.
Incidentally, would you consider writing book reviews on your favorite cookbooks? I don't know if you have already done this or not. I've seen the list of your favorite cookbooks, and I am sure one of those has to come close to what I am looking for, but which one(s)?
I just think your thoughtful reviews of your favorite cookbooks could be very beneficial for moms like me who can't find their groove in the kitchen. Or who just want to keep improving.
Just a thought. Thanks again!!!