thanks for the pic, Emily!

I don’t know about you, but around our house, weekday breakfasts need to be fast, and they need to be easy. I want to be able to stay in bed as long as my children will allow and then be able to get breakfast on the table as quickly as I can. Enter, this recipe. Less than 5 minutes of prep the night before, and we can wake up with breakfast ready to eat as soon as we want it. This is a super basic recipe that you can customize to the many different preferences in your house too.

Slow Cooker Steel Cut Oats

Adapted from this recipe

2 cups Steel Cut Oats (I buy mine from the bulk bins at my market, and don’t even think about using regular rolled oats. You’ll end up with something you can use for paste in a preschool classroom.)
4 cups Unsweetened Almond Milk (we usually have the plain kind in our house)
4 cups Water
2 tspn Vanilla Extract (I don’t measure, just add a couple splashes)
Pinch of Kosher Salt

• Add everything to the slow cooker, stir just to be sure the oats are all mixed into the liquid.

• Set to cook for 4 hours on low. I start mine around 10-11pm the night before, and it automatically goes to a “warm” setting until morning.
• In the morning, there’s usually a little right around the edge that’s gotten too dry, just toss that part.

I know it’s not the prettiest, but it’s sure yummy.

Top with any number of things like fresh or dried fruit, nuts, honey or maple syrup, cinnamon, and peanut butter even! You can also add sweeteners, spices, or fruit before cooking for a different variety. The options are really endless. I like to keep it simple so that everyone can eat it the way they like it.

A word of caution…this is how I make mine, but every slow cooker is different, and you may have to tweak the method or proportions of liquid to oats to get it just right for you. The recipe I started from was basically half the quantity of oats & liquid, but cooked for twice as long. It just got way to dried out in my slow cooker. I tried again with more liquid, still not great. I’ve landed on the same proportions, but double the amount. That seems to work best for me.

Is this the most exciting breakfast ever? Nope. But, it’s easy, and being able to pop (ok, slump) out of bed and be eating breakfast in minutes, makes it taste that much better. Also, after this oatmeal, you’ll never want to eat that 1 minute in the microwave stuff again.

love and butter,
amy

I figure there are at least a handful of you out there that aren’t into lots of sweets. How is this possible, you ask? Well, I’m married to one. I know you exist, and that’s ok. We can still be friends. I’ll be honest, as much as I love to bake, some of my favorite things to eat are actually savory dishes. I hope to be frequently sharing savory dishes here at stay and have a cookie.

Earlier in the summer, we were spoiled with an abundance of homegrown tomatoes from family & friends. Now don’t get me wrong, I can pop raw cherry tomatoes like they’re potato chips (and I did), but I was looking for a new way to use some of bounty of summer goodness. Bonus, these are really easy. I mean really. Second bonus, they’re delicious on just about anything.

Roasted Cherry Tomatoes

Cherry Tomatoes (Any color & any amount is fine, whatever you’ll eat in one sitting)
Garlic Cloves (I have a Costco sized bag of peeled garlic in my freezer and just grabbed a small handful)
Olive Oil
Kosher Salt (the only kind of salt in my kitchen)
Fresh Cracked Black Pepper

• Preheat oven to 400° F (I’ve been using our toaster oven a lot this summer, because it’s usually just too hot for the big oven when you don’t have air conditioning.)
• Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil for easy clean up.
• Lay tomatoes & garlic out on the baking sheet.
• Drizzle with just enough olive oil to lightly coat everything.
• Sprinkle with salt & freshly cracked black pepper.
• Toss everything together to evenly coat the tomatoes & garlic.

• Cook for 20-30 minutes, depending on how well done you want your tomatoes. I like mine to be mostly busted open and starting to brown, and mine tonight were about 28 minutes. Don’t forget, I used a toaster oven, and I’m not super positive how accurate the temperature is in it. I don’t have a small enough thermometer to keep in there.

Now here’s the great part about these tomatoes. You can serve them so many ways, all delicious. Here are just a couple of the ways I’ve used them.

• One of my favorite ways to eat these roasted cherry tomatoes is with some crust on the the outside & soft on the inside bread. I drag the bread through the oil & tomato juice in the bottom of the pan, drizzle a little bit of balsamic vinegar on it, pile on some tomatoes and a garlic clove or two, sprinkle with a tiny bit more salt, and top with a few shreds of fresh basil. I’ve eaten this and only this for dinner at least 3 times this summer.
• One time I cooked up some pasta, I think it was bow tie, but it would be good with any kind. Once the pasta was cooked & drained, I tossed in the roasted tomatoes (I made sure they were almost all popped) and all the juices & oil from the bottom of the pan. Easiest pasta sauce ever.
• The other night, I just warmed up some leftover plain rice, from last night’s dinner, and topped it with all the tomatoes, garlic, and drippings. So simple. So good.

And there you have it. Just another way to use one of the greatest members of the summer produce family. What’s your favorite way to eat summer tomatoes?

love and butter,
amy