After yesterday's debacle with breakfast, I found a recipe for slow-cooker oatmeal on the forums on The Kind Life. Good thing, too, because by the time I got home yesterday I was starving and shaky because I didn't pack enough healthy food for work. Then I discovered that my vegan breadcrumbs have evaporated cane sugar in them....hooray. But I still managed to make a delicious dinner of oven-roasted rosemary and onion potatoes (cut into french fry slices so my son would eat them), garlic chicken with olive oil (I know, vegans reading this blog, I know), watermelon, and cucumbers and carrots. My husband loved the meal, and my son ate everything except the veggies...yeah, we're working on that.
Anyway, the slow-cooker oatmeal consists of oats (steel-cut are best but I grabbed "Irish" oats without looking to see if they were steel-cut or rolled), 2 cinnamon sticks, water, and frozen peaches. I didn't have frozen peaches, but I did have frozen cherries, and I tossed everything in the Crock Pot last night and woke up this morning to a house that smelled like Christmas. The oatmeal smelled awesome and tasted pretty good. Not as sweet as I'm used to, and I used too much water, but it was filling and I'm not ready to eat the paper on my desk right now, so that's good. Here is the lovely oatmeal:
Mmm, pink!
I also made a pot of rice this morning. I never cook in the morning but I ran out of time last night, so now I have rice for lunch. I also made a turkey, mustard, and sprouts sandwich on Ezekiel bread, blueberries and cherries, salad, cucumbers, and carrots. I brought salsa and organic white corn chips for an afternoon snack...and I'm going to have to be careful to not go the other way and eat too much salt. (Popcorn with Earth Balance spread and sea salt...ten times better than movie theater popcorn!) I am going to have to either make my lunch in the evening or get up earlier, because by the time I fiddled with the oatmeal, put the rice on the stove, smeared hairball control medicine on my cat's paws and ticked her off, showered, and dressed, I was cutting it close.
So, I don't know if it's the extreme heat or the no sugar, but I am exhausted. And cranky. That could be due to the huge traffic delay on the way to work today, or it could be getting close to *that* time of the month...but I have a feeling that the next several days are going to be rough. Alicia said in her book that when she cut out sugar she "felt grumpy for a week." "Grumpy" is not what I'm feeling. Grumpy is a cute little dwarf who pouts. By the end of the week I may be a raging she-beast and have to go into seclusion. I apologize to everyone in advance.
I don't know how you can put that much time into cooking after working all day! I barley have energy to make any kind of dinner but then fighting with Riley all do takes a lot out of me! Sounded like a tasty dinner! You will have to send me these recipes.
ReplyDeleteI cook, and you clean. ;)
ReplyDeleteDinner was very nice. Especially the fries. Those were awesome. And you are right that the popcorn we make with your special butter is great.
ReplyDeleteAs far as being a "raging she-beast" towards the end of the week, Ben and I will look for a hiding place :)
Keep up the good work!
Hiding spot would be a great idea Mike ! At least you have been given a warning that it is coming !
ReplyDeleteWhat are the measurements for the oatmeal? I just got a crockpot for $9 at walmart today and would love to try this because i work at 6 am and don't feel like making my oatmeal then haha
ReplyDeleteI used about 2:1 water to oatmeal, but that was a little too much water, I think, especially since the crock pot holds in a lot of water. I used 2 cinnamon sticks and dumped in a 10 oz bag of cherries.
ReplyDelete