I had the slower cooker out again last night. This time it was to make breakfast for the morning. Eggnog steel cut oats! I tried the recipe from The Yummy Life. It’s pretty easy. I made 2 servings. I don’t have a timer on this cooker and I didn’t want to get to get up at 3 am to start the slow cooker, so I used the water bath method. This means putting a smaller bowl in the slow cooker and filling the cooker with water to come up the sides of the bowl. I set a tiny dish underneath this to raise it up from the bottom of the slow cooker. Then you can cook the oatmeal while you sleep.
This was 1 cup of water, 1 cup of eggnog, 1/4 cup of dried cranberries, 1/2 cup steel cut oats, 2 teaspoons ground flax, pinch of salt and fresh grated nutmeg. Cover and cook on low overnight. Ready to put to sleep last night.
You must use steel cut oats. Any other kind will get too mushy. These oats came out creamy and delicious!
I liked the water bath method for these. It didn’t get all burned in the crock pot and stayed nice and moist. Calories for this bowl is about 370 (we divided the whole amount into 2 bowls) and super filling!
Work was really productive today. I have not run out of work so far since not having the one account any more. That was my biggest worry and it has not come to fruition yet. I hope it stays that way. I also worked really fast. Normally in a day I type 1350 lines on average. That is my daily goal I try to hit with 6.5 hours of typing time. There are other factors in there that can mess that up, but that is my goal since I am paid by the line. Today in that same 6.5 hours, I did 1583 lines – nothing like earning more money in the same amount of time! Yay!
Lunch was more leftover honey seseame chicken.
Still very good, but now I don’t want any more LOL!
I was ready for my break today. I did the lattes today. One of my deep cleaning tasks this month was descaling the espresso machine. Maintenance – it’s a good thing.
Drizzle of honey and nutmeg on that.
John had a super busy day as well. When I was done with work, he asked if he could buy me dinner out. Of course – although it doesn’t count as my football winning meal!!!! I’ll make him pay for that another day. 😈
I didn’t feel like cooking, not to mention my brain is a waste when I get done working. It’s an exhausting job.
We decided to go to Panera Bread.
Buzz! Waiting for the dinner bell.
I decided to get the chicken stew with biscuits on it. This bowl was 630 calories (per their website). Actually ended up with a bit fewer calories than if I had gotten soup and half a sandwich. Go figure. It was pretty good, too. My day was a bit void on veggies, though.
We walked across the plaza to Home Depot as we are thinking about our next big project, which is the upstairs bathroom.
We are thinking of the black and white hexagon tiles to go with wainscoting. I will have to post a picture of the bathroom as we have a design issue that I don’t know how to solve and I need some opinions.
Today’s ornament:
Biz – this is for you! This is one of the ornaments we sold when we had the retail shop years ago. I liked them enough to keep for myself.
That Tuesday sure flew by!
If I’m not mistaken, that hexagon tile is what I have in my hallway bath. I also have wainscot. 🙂 If you’re interested in a look, here’s a link to a picture of the work still in progress: http://bit.ly/cchallbath . So much to do, so little time. 🙂
Yay for more work in less time! Isn’t it odd (and wonderful) how the things we anticipate will cause us problems turn out to be the opposite? I love when that happens!
Neat! Did you do that yourself? It looks so well done.
Jeff had a four-hour ordeal in the dentist chair yesterday, and all he wanted for dinner was soup, so we went to Panera where he had the same chicken stew you did! He said it was good but the biscuits in it were amazing. Now I’ll have to try it.
Can’t wait to see what you’re thinking of doing for the bathroom! I love B/W tile.
The biscuits were the best part of the stew, really.
I love those steel cut oat recipes from The Yummy Life especially the Cherry Almond one. I make a full batch, divide into six servings and have ready-made breakfast. My crock pot doesn’t have a timer either – I just use a cheap light timer. Works perfectly!
I like the idea of the eggnog oatmeal. I might try to develop a lower calorie version tomorrow. I don’t like the overnight oats, so I think I’ll just try the ‘quick’ way in the morning.
That snowman is super cute. Good taste in ornaments!
Tiles look great, always funny to see the inside of a Home Depot since I work for the biggest DIY company in The Netherlands 🙂
I don’t feel like cooking at all anymore, kind of waiting till the end of the year and I can make a fresh start. I also ain’t enthousiastic to look up recipes to cook. Stupid right? At least I don’t have to cook for Christmas since we’re out both days.
I love the PANERA pagers
It makes me feel as though it’s the eighties again 🙂
So not feeling the black and white tiles Lori. There are so many pretty tiles out there what pulls you to the black and white??
Eggnog ANYTHING sounds wonderful!
Hugs! deb
We have a Victorian home, so that style fits in well. I like the honeycomb shape, too.
Those oats look delish! You so have me thinking of searching out slow cookers for after Xmas sales! 😉
You are a speedy typist but it is your job! 🙂 More money in the same time is a good thing!
Love the ornament!
I need to see what bagels Panera is serving up right now!!!
Panera has a pumpkin pie bagel and cranberry walnut. No gingerbread this year!!
Eggnog oats – oh yeah! Eggnog anything 🙂
Love the little snowman.
WOW…speed typing! I’m just LOVING the ornament of the day photos! And love this snowman!!! Look forward to seeing photos of the bathroom project. Um…my childish mind thinks that last sentence could sound REALLY bad… Happy Wednesday Lori!
I LOVE PANERA! It was my go-to lunch in college. Love their 1/2-1/2 option.
Yay for productivity! That’s quite a jump!
Those oats also look delicious – I agree crockpot oatmeal can be tricky to not dry out, I actually have a little quart crockpot that is excellent for 2-4 oatmeal servings and because of the size of it the heat distribution is excellent. My big crockpot would only work well for 10-12 oatmeal servings (which is still a kid or two down the road, I don’t usually make recipes with more than 8 servings these days).
I am a big fan of the black and white tile, very clean and classic.
Ive never made oatmeal in the slow cooker – that looks delicious. Wow you are a fast typist! I would make way too many mistakes – haha!
The black and white tiles look so clean and fresh – can’t wait to see what you decide to do.
THANK YOU FOR THE SNOWMAN PIC! Love it!! I still think about your roasted coffee – it was so good! I am reminded by it when I see your lattes! 😀
And now that my daughter works at Panera. She called me after her first day and said “Mom, don’t be upset, but Panera doesn’t make their soups in house. They come in a giant bag and we boil the bag in water to defrost it.” No!!
The only thing they make in house is the bread and bagels – even the pastries get brought in from outside!
It’s still good though – and she gets to bring a ton of food home – sadly, she doesn’t live with me anymore for me to benefit though! 🙁