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Hello, foodies…

Besides your fridge, oven, and microwave, what kitchen appliances could you NEVER live without? Somewhere near the top of my list would be my pressure cooker/slow-cooker. I’ve mentioned more than once what a time-saver pressure cooking is, but slow-cooking, too, is a terrific time-saver. For example: if you know you’ve got a particularly busy morning ahead, why not make breakfast…ahead. Here’s my Slow-Cooker Oatmeal.

Slow-Cooker Oatmeal
Serves 6-8

This recipe is prepared with the KIND (20) Fruit, Nut & Chocolate Bars (M46350).

Go to David's Recipe Item Page for the full list of items that David has used in his recipes.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups steel-cut oats


• 8 cups milk


• 2 Tbsp butter


• 1/2 cup light brown sugar


• 1 tsp vanilla extract


• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon


• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg


• 1 tsp salt


• 1 pint blueberries


• 1-1/2 cups chopped, roasted, and unsalted cashews

Preparation:

1. Place the oats, milk, butter, brown sugar, vanilla extract, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt into a slow cooker. Stir to combine. Cover and cook on low for 4 hours or on high for 2 hours. When ready to serve, stir in the blueberries and cashews.

If your slow cooker has a timer, set it to turn on during the night so you can wake up to a hot breakfast. If you don’t have a timer function, make this before bed and refrigerate it. Everyone can heat up their own bowl in the morning. If you happened to pick up the KIND bar Today’s Special Value(R) we had on Wednesday, you can crumble a few of the blueberry, vanilla, and cashew bars on top for a flavorful, nutritional kick!

So back to slow-cooking and planning ahead. In theory, you could make dinner for every night of the week in your slow cooker. On a Sunday, do your shopping. Then on Sunday night or Monday morning, if you have time, start your recipe….chop the veggies, clean and trim the meat, even brown your ingredients on the stove top. That way, when you come home, dinner is ready. Even if you can’t eat together, most slow cookers have a “warm” setting which keeps your meal hot, without cooking it any longer.

Here are a few general slow-cooking tips to keep in mind:

• It’s better to slow cook tougher, bone-in meats like pork butts, chuck roasts, or ribs because they’re moister. Boneless chicken breasts or flank steak can get tough and dry because of the long cook time.


• Because you’re cooking foods for a long time and the lid is on, you won’t need much liquid. Make sure your meat and veggies are just covered.


• While tempting to lift that lid to check progress, don’t. You can slow down the cook time by as much as 20 minutes per lift.


• Fresh herbs can brighten up your slow-cooker meal beautifully...both in taste and color. Sprinkle a little on each plate before serving.

Foodies, for your blog question today, tell me what’s your favorite slow-cooker recipe? Do you make your pot-roast in a slow cooker? A hearty stew? Dessert, perhaps? I’ll see you on Sunday at Noon ET.

Keep it flavorful!
—David