What’s not to like about waking up in the morning to the house smelling like baked cinnamon? (Not to mention an extremely stick-to-the-ribs breakfast.)

The other day, I had three old apples in the fridge.

Not because they got old in my fridge, but because they were old when I bought them—you know, the way the grocery stores put apples out when it’s apple season, but they’ve been in the warehouse since last apple season and when you get home and bite into them they’re sad and soggy, and not happy and snappy the way apples are supposed to be.

They were old apples.

Then I had an old peach in the fridge—which, I have to admit, I can’t blame on the grocery store—I think I bought it about three weeks ago, when it really was the end of peach season, and then forgot I had it, and it got wrinkly and brown.

It was an old peach.

And when I was at the grocery store I remembered that old peach and those old apples in the fridge and wondered what I could do with them, because I didn’t want to throw them away.

I got an idea.

Here’s what I did to make this wonderful oatmeal. It took about 15 minutes to put it together, and it was pure alchemy.

I bought a fresh, new, in-season pear and cut up the three old apples and the one old peach and the one fresh pear and put them all in my crock pot.

Then I added:

A stick of cinnamon,

A half teaspoon of ground cloves,

A half teaspoon of pink Himalayan salt,

2 cans of coconut milk,

About 1 cup of (not instant) oatmeal (a two to one ratio of oatmeal to coconut milk),

A handful of grated coconut,

About a half cup of yellow raisins (or whatever kind you have on hand)

A handful of sliced almonds and

About a tablespoon of organic flax seeds.

(Notice I said, “about.” That means I didn’t measure anything.)

Then, I put the lid on the crock pot, turned it to low and went to bed.

All those things you read about “miracle” oatmeal that you cook overnight in your crock pot? Well, believe them.

They’re true.

It was delicious!

The great thing about this is I used up all that “old” fruit, and overnight it turned into a kind of compote, with the combination of flavors of coconut milk, oatmeal, fruit, cinnamon and my “secret” ingredient (cloves) turning the whole thing into a sensational autumn breakfast.

I served it with a dollop of yogurt (I’m plant-based, not 100 percent vegan, but vegans could use whipped cashew cream, coconut milk, almond milk or even tofu) and a dash of maple syrup (more for looks than for anything) and…

Finally.

When I make it again I may not have “old” apples and an “old” peach just laying around.  But whatever I do have I’m going to throw it in the crock pot to make this delicious oatmeal compote, because I think it will stand up to whatever variety of fruits I have in the house (including dried ones).

Oh, and by the way.

Before I had a crock pot, I would make all my crock pot recipes in the oven.  I just turned the oven on to 225 degrees, put the mixture in a pan, covered it tightly with tinfoil and baked it until it was done (up to eight hours). I never had a problem converting crock pot recipes that way.

As my mother used to say, “Mangia!”

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Relephant Read:

Guilt-free Cookie Oatmeal. {Recipe}

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Author: Carmelene Siani

Editor: Toby Israel

Photo: eren {sea+prairie}/Flickr

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