Overnight cooking in a slow cooker caramelizes ingredients into a tasty, healthy breakfast.

The beauty of this recipe is that it is very adaptable; you can substitute different ingredients depending upon what you have on hand and make the most of personal taste preferences. This is also very easy and allows you to have a healthy, hot, hearty, and delicious breakfast ready for you when you wake up in the morning. Kids can even serve themselves.

I love the caramelization that occurs with this method — it creates a very deep and satisfying flavor. A slow cooker (Crock-Pot) is needed to create the depth of flavor, and of course the convenience of having a hot breakfast ready for you before your eyes have even adjusted to the morning light.

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INGREDIENTS AND HOW-TO

(This recipe makes two large servings, or four smaller servings as part of a larger breakfast menu)

Into a slow cooker unceremoniously toss and stir well:

My dog, River, supervising food photography.

• 3 apples, which you have washed, cored, and chopped into bite-sized chunks (no need to skin)
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1 to 3 tablespoon honey (I don’t like things very sweet, so I only use 1 tablespoon)
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• Juice of half a lemon
• 1 tablespoon coconut oil
• 1 tablespoon water (you may want to add more water depending upon how moist you want it; I like mine on the dry side so add another tablespoon of water if you want something more moist)

Set your crock pot to low, put the lid on, and let it cook overnight. In the morning, place into bowls and top with a healthy dollop of pureed sweet potatoes — I use organic canned sweet potatoes, you can use organic canned pumpkin, too, which is very tasty, or of course make your own! It is also tasty with yogurt or a bit of milk.

Don’t feel limited to apples; I frequently make it with mixed berries, bananas, or nuts depending upon what I have on hand. It is also very tasty with a healthy tablespoon of peanut butter added!