Cooking in My Sleep

The nights are finally getting colder.  I'm sitting upstairs wrapped in my favorite blanket listening to the woodsman move the stovepipe around downstairs as he finishes the fine tuning on our "new" wood stove (Farmer Dan welded new sides and installed new fire brick on our circa 1975 Fischer stove).  This is the kind of weather that makes it hard to get out of bed.  I find it easier to stick my nose out into the cold if I know that there is the promise of good coffee and hot food. 

Some people can eat the same foods every day.  The Woodsman is one of those people - I, however, am not.  This holds true for breakfast.  So, a few years ago I created a breakfast rotation of meals according to the day.  Monday:  cereal, Tuesday:  bread (usually zucchini), Wednesday: hot cereal (oatmeal, polenta, etc.), Thursday: eggs (generally Toad in the Hole or Breakfast Burritos) and Friday:  pancakes or waffles (usually made on Sunday and then pulled from the freezer). 

This rotation works very well, but the September issue of Family Circle brought Wednesday's hot cereal day to a new level of bliss and ease.  I've tried two of the following recipes, and plan to do the third next week.  So, if you're in a breakfast rut, or just like the idea of having breakfast ready for you when you stumble out of bed - these are for you.  Let your crock pot work for you while you sleep.  It took me approximately 5 min. to dump the ingredients into the crock pot and even less time to do the final touches in the morning.  I'm sold.

By the way... all photos are from Family Circle.  I'm not taking pictures before I've had a cup of coffee :)

Honey Blueberry Hot Cereal 
I didn't use the hot cereal mix.  Instead I added a half cup of brown rice, steel cut oats, quinoa, and bulgur.  I don't bother to toast the walnuts either - I'll take mine raw.

Apple Cinnamon Wheat Berries

I used bulgur because that's what was in the cupboard.  It wound up being really rich and creamy.

Oatmeal-Banana Maple Parfaits

Can't wait to try this one.  I'm going to use goat cheese instead of ricotta.  I doubt that I'll put it in a parfait dish though!

Happy Eating!