Maple Spiced Dried Fruit Steel Cut Oatmeal

Time to try another healthy warm breakfast cereal.  Last month, this month, and next month involve an intense work trial.  Usually breakfast gets forgotten under such circumstances, especially when it's cold out.  Steel cut oats are supposed to be the best. They are rich in fiber, a whole grain, cheap in bulk, and do well with prolonged crock cooking.  They were purchased, and right before bedtime, unceremoniously tossed in the crock with available leftover dried fruit and other assorted ingredients from past crock projects  Sleep came soundly. Hours later, as the morning dawn light broke through the window blinds, the rich wonderful aroma of this concoction flooded from the kitchen and wafted into the bedroom.  This is oh so much better than it looks.

Winner, Loser or Meh

I do not like warm breakfast cereals.  I loved this.  I had a bowl at breakfast.  I sat at work in court all day and wanted it for lunch, too.  I was beyond sad I didn't bring any.  I had it for dinner.  The fruits, maple, and spice in this are fabulous.  The cherries and cranberries make it so different and exotic in flavor. 

Recipe

I used a 6 quart crock and placed a smaller souffle dish inside it which contained all the ingredients. You can also use a small crock pot for this.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup steel-cut oats
• 2 Tbls maple syrup
• 1/4 cup raisins
• 1/4 cup dried cherries
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• pinch ground cloves
• pinch nutmeg
• 6 twists nutmeg from grinder
• 4 cups water

Spray crock with no stick spray.  Combine all ingredients in the crock and stir well.  Cook on low overnight, 7-9 hours.  Serve warm.