I finally bought a little crockpot (Rival, 1.5 quart) and made oatmeal in it last night. I rubbed a tiny amount of olive oil on the inside, then added 1/4 cup of McCann's and 1 cup of water. In the morning, one side of the oatmeal had a crust on it. I stirred it in, added a small amount of additional water, and left it cooking for a few more minutes. The water was absorbed and it was less crusty, but there were still clumps of hard oatmeal. Do I need to slow cook with more water? Or is there some other secret?

Hi Andrea, This is the pitfall with crocks. Restirring and adding more water helps. I usually cook 1/2 cup oats with 2 1/2 cups water for 2 people, so it is more water, but of course that doesn't change the blocks (no matter how many arguments go up on this site, water is not a carb!:) ) It will need more stirring, and will stick a little, that's just the nature of it. However, It's much faster in the AM and I don't like rewarmed oatmeal, so I deal with the stickage. You may try making a bit larger batch--it may help. Ronica

Thanks, I'll try it tonight with more water. Part of the problem may be that I let it cook for quite a long time. I don't think the discussion was about the number of blocks of [i:441df39120]uncooked[/i:441df39120] oatmeal. The discussion was that if you make more than one serving at a time and add more water, the volume will be greater than if you add less water. The carbs in total remains the same--but unless you're going to divide the portions right after cooking, you need to know how many blocks are in a cup because if you add more water, you end up with more oatmeal. Same number of blocks in all, but not the same number per cup.

[quote:af6b910589="andreawk"]I finally bought a little crockpot (Rival, 1.5 quart) and made oatmeal in it last night. I rubbed a tiny amount of olive oil on the inside, then added 1/4 cup of McCann's and 1 cup of water. In the morning, one side of the oatmeal had a crust on it. I stirred it in, added a small amount of additional water, and left it cooking for a few more minutes. The water was absorbed and it was less crusty, but there were still clumps of hard oatmeal. Do I need to slow cook with more water? Or is there some other secret?[/quote:af6b910589] Hi, I have the Rival 1 quart (called the "Crockette"). It's a littlesmallest than yours, but actually holds 5 cups plus a little. I use it for steel cut oats all the time using 1 cup oats to 4 cups water, and I leave it cookig all night (anywhere from 8 to sometimes 12 hours. This makes 12 or 13 one block servings (1/3 cup cookes is one block). I used to buy Mc Cann's and now buy bulk. They both cook exactly the same in it, nice and creamy, with sometimes a very little crust at the bottom. I think your problem is too little in the crockpot. Try it with at least 1 cup oats and 4 cups water. You could even use a little more since your crockpot is a bit bigger, as long as you keep the oats to water in 1:4 proportion. What we don't eat I freeze in one block portions. Frequently I'll cook a pot full and freeze the whole thing in one block portions for easy reheating in the microwave (add a little water when reheating). Sue

[quote:46ecb1c4bf="Slknorr"]I think your problem is too little in the crockpot. Try it with at least 1 cup oats and 4 cups water. You could even use a little more since your crockpot is a bit bigger, as long as you keep the oats to water in 1:4 proportion. What we don't eat I freeze in one block portions. Frequently I'll cook a pot full and freeze the whole thing in one block portions for easy reheating in the microwave (add a little water when reheating). Sue[/quote:46ecb1c4bf] I used to cook up a batch on top of the stove and heat the leftovers later in the microwave, but the reason I bought the crockpot was so I could have warm oatmeal ready in the morning! Adding additional water has helped a lot. There's still a small bit of crust, but I've actually come to like it. I don't really like the consistency of the oatmeal from the crock, especially once I've stirred in my protein powder--too creamy for me--but I like the convenience, so I enjoy the texture of the crusty part. I'm using the crock on work days but cooking on the stove other days when I can spare the time because I like the consistency better. Andrea