Recipes

I am not ready for pumpkin season to end, and by that I mean the time of the year full of pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread, pumpkin lattes, and even pumpkin smoothies.  I honestly can’t get enough pumpkin both because of its warm, comforting taste but also because it has a ton of health benefits – it’s full of vitamin A, potassium, fiber, beta carotene, and more – and because it contains 0 weight watchers points – a definite winner.  One way that I continue to eat pumpkin throughout the year is this yummy and simple slow cooker oatmeal.  For this version I use steel cut oats and cook it in the slow cooker so it’s ready to eat first thing in the  morning.  However, you could definitely substitute regular oats (you would need to double to amount of oats since they don’t expand as much) or cook on the stove.  You could also easily substitute the pumpkin for other fruit.  There are lots of variations once you get the basic recipe down.

Slow Cooker Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal
Servings: 4
Serving Size: 1 cup cooked oatmeal
Nutritional Info: 253 calories, 3 g of fat, 44.1 g carbohydrates, 9 g dietary fiber, 9 g of protein

Ingredients
1 cup steel cut oats
.5 tbsp butter (optional)
1 can canned pumpkin
1 tbsp Splenda Brown Sugar Blend
2 cups Lite Vanilla Soy Milk or Almond Milk
2 cups warm water
1/4 tsp salt
1-2 tbsp pumpkin pie spices (I like lots of spice)
2 tbsp dried cranberries (you could also another dried fruit like raisins or apricots)

Instructions
1. This first step is optional, but I find it adds a lot of flavor to the oatmeal.  Melt 1/2 tbsp of butter in a saute pan and toast the steel cut oats until lightly brown, about 4 minutes.

2.  Combine soy milk or almond milk, water, pumpkin, salt, pumpkin pie spices, and cranberries to the slow cooker and stir together.  Then stir in the toasted oats.   I prefer light vanilla almond milk in this recipe because it adds some nuttiness but soy milk or even regular skim milk will work.  If you can’t find light vanilla almond milk, you could use regular almond milk and add in some vanilla extract.

3.  Turn the slow cooker on low for 8-10 hours and head to sleep!  I usually put this on right before I go to bed because if it cooks too long it can get mushy.  In the morning, you will wake up to delicious pumpkin pie oatmeal.  This recipe will keep well in the fridge.  I put mine in 1 cup servings and then just throw them in the microwave for a minute and they are ready to go.  Add a little milk if needed when reheating.