Slow Cooker Pumpkin Steel Cut Oatmeal

I know, I know. It is no longer "pumpkin season," meaning this month does not end in "-ber." However, it still feels like a "burrr" month, (have I mentioned how much I love puns yet?), and tasty, warm and easy breakfasts are still required.

Enter Pumpkin Oatmeal.

As you can tell from my lovely decor, we first made this for November's freezer cooking club. Doesn't it look cozy?! We made it again for February's freezer cooking club to use up some inventory, and my family still loved it. As in, my two littlest guys ate half the pot.

Really, just put this hot mess in the crock pot over night, (about 7 hours) and you wake up to chewy, pumpkin-y goodness. Be SURE to spray your crockpot with non-stick cooking spray to avoid a painful clean-up experience. And really, finding steel cut oats is a must because your typical rolled oats won't stand up to the long cook time.

When we prepare our freezer meals, we throw all of the ingredients for the oatmeal in a ziplock bag and freeze them. I've never frozen this oatmeal though because I've been too excited to make it, and my family was too excited to eat it.

The oatmeal does turn out very thick, so if you like a thinner meal, douse your bowl with a hefty amount of milk.

Slow Cooker Pumpkin Steel Cut Oatmeal

adapted from Overnight Crockpot Pumpkin Oatmeal

Ingredients:

1 cup steel cut oats
2 cups almond milk  (we've also used just 1% milk)
2 cups water
1/2 cup brown sugar (plus more for sprinkling, if you want...)
1 cup canned pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
2 tbs butter, melted

Directions

1. Mix all ingredients in a bowl or bag.
2. Spray crockpot with non-stick cooking spray and pour oatmeal mixture into crockpot.
3. Cook on LOW for 7 hours.
4. Serve with milk. Optional toppings: almonds, cranberries, walnuts, or even whipped cream!

Bacon Asiago Quiche

Bacon Spinach Asiago Quiche

Adapted from http://www.food.com/recipe/bacon-spinach-asiago-quiche-283061

We had a lot of asiago cheese and spinach to use up, so Kristi found this little beauty! Like you, we love bacon and were VERY generous with it. We used a pre-made pie crust to save time, and we cooked the quiches most of the way through. That way it was mostly just a matter of reheating the quiche. We each made a quiche in a pie tin and then April had this delightful pan we used to make a bunch of mini quiches. They were so cute, and tasty! Pocket-sized quiches for all! Can I hear a woot-woot?!

Crust: (we used premade crust)

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup shortening (I like to used the butter flavored shortening)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup cold water

Filling
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup shredded asiago cheese
3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese, divided
8 slices bacon, cooked and chopped (we used the pre-cooked bacon in a bag from Costco)
1/4 cup shallots or 1/4 cup green onion, chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained (we used fresh spinach)
1/4 cup sun-dried tomato, chopped

Here is the quiche egg goop!

Directions:

1. For the crust: Mix flour, shortening and salt together with a fork until crumbly. Add water a little at a time until the dough holds together. Mix lightly with fork. Be careful not to over mix the dough or it will come out tough instead of flaky.
2. Place ball of dough onto a lightly floured surface and roll out to fit a 9" pie pan. Loosely roll the dough onto your rolling pin and place dough in pie pan. Push dough into the pie pan and trim off any excess dough. Finish edges with a fork or by crimping the edges with your fingers.
3. For the filling: In a large bowl whisk together eggs and milk. Mix in the asiago cheese and 1/2 cup of the cheddar cheese. Add bacon, shallots, sun dried tomatoes, salt, and cayenne pepper. Squeeze out the excess liquid from the spinach and add to the egg mixture. Mix everything together until it is well blended.
4. Pour into prepared pie crust shell. Sprinkle with the remaining 1/4 cup of shredded cheddar cheese. Bake at 400 degrees F for 40 minutes or until a knife inserted about 2 inches from the edge comes out clean.

TIP:

Reheat a quiche- preheat oven to 325 and heat for 15 minutes
Reheat a FROZEN quiche- defrost and place a towel under the seran wrap to absorb moisture, then follow the above directions