Slow Cooker Porridge

Last night, I stayed in and it was fabulous. I watched a couple bad movies, hung out with the guinea pigs, read, and went to bed at a somewhat reasonable hour. I was bored out of my mind!! So, around midnight last night, I started looking through cookbooks to find something special to make for breakfast.

I was thinking of vegan quiche, or french toast... Then I came upon a recipe for an Irish porridge that sounded so good that I had to try it.

This is a slow cooker recipe and I found it in this cookbook called the Little Vegan Slow Cooker.  I have tried a couple things out of this book before and they were awful, but this sounded so simple, I figured you couldn't go wrong. I made a couple of additions to the recipe because it seemed a bit lacking.

Slow Cooker Porridge

•  1 cup steel cut oats
•  4 cups water
•  1/2 cup brown sugar, plus extra for topping
•  1 Tbsp cinnamon
•  1/2 tsp salt
•  1 cup of fruit
•  vegan margarine
•  non-dairy milk

Put the oats, water, brown sugar and cinnamon into the slow cooker and stir really well. Cook on low for 8 to 10 hours.

Good to bed.

In the morning, give the porridge a stir and add the fruit (I used canned peaches) and let cook for 15 more minutes. Serve with a bit of milk (I used my homemade almond milk), vegan margarine, brown sugar and whatever else you think may work.

It doesn't take the prettiest picture, but the taste was excellent!

The original recipe did not have the fruit in it or the salt. You can make it without, but I think the fruit is a great addition. There is a quite a bit of sugar in this, so I wouldn't say it is the most healthy, but it is warm and filling. A good way to start the day without any real effort in the A.M.

The slow cooker is the lazy person's best friend. Dump things into it, turn it on and that's it! Before I went vegan, I used my slow cooker all the time. Most of the recipes I had were very meat-based, so when I switched to a vegan diet, I sort of stopped using it. I think it is time to start using it again.