It was lovely to wake up to hot oatmeal, but given my adaptations, I don't *need* to make this again, but might. I was using steel cut oats (granular in appearance / not rolled flakes) so I used the box ratio of 4c water to 1c oats. Plugged in at midnight. Awoke 7:00 a.m. to hot, creamy oatmeal. Required a stir to get rid of foamy layer, but not much loss in "cling-ons." *Note to self, use a crock pot liner for zero loss.* I stirred in salt and fat free 1/2 1/2, served a bowl with lite butter and Brown Sugar Splenda. VERY creamy, but a tad gluey. The chewy nutty texture from steel cut oats was lost; more akin to what microwave instant oatmeal is like. I ate a bowl, buttered a loaf pan and poured the rest into the loaf pan and chilled, wrapped. Next several mornings, I sliced a piece of "loaf" into a shallow dish w/ butter/sugar, and into the microwave it went for 1-2 minutes. Hot bubbling oatmeal followed, topped with a bit more 1/2 and 1/2, which was delicious. It stayed fresh for days and days that way.

I put the ingredients in a lightly sprayed pyrex bowl on a trivet in the cooker. This stops the oatmeal sticking. It never fails for me and I have been using my cooker for years to make oatmeal this way. I don't add salt.

I boiled the water added the dry steel cut oats and covered with lid.Wait 4 minutes then I turned off the stove and went to bed. In the morning the oatmeal is ready to be quickly heated (add the cream and sugar at that time) this is easy for those who don't have a slow cooker!

Tasted great, but I had to play with the ingredients a bit.. I found that 4 c of water for 1 c of oats was perfect. With 3 c water, the oatmeal had dried up by morning, and with 5 c it was too watery.

i read the reviews before i made this, and decided to add 2 tablespoons of butter to keep it from sticking to the crock. it either worked, or my slow cooker is not suceptible to sticking. i cooked it on low overnight, 9 hours, and it was fantastic. i made it again the next night with chopped apple added before cooking. if you do this, make sure to reduce the water by about 3/4 of a cup.

Here's my secret to this recipe: Use a small dip size crockpot (about one quart), and keep on "warm" setting overnight - I was lucky enough to find a crockpot that small with that setting - it works just great; no sticky, overcooked oatmeal.

I think that the wide variety of results on this recipe can be chalked up to crock-pot differences. To avoid a cooked on mess, your crock-pot needs to be 2/3-3/4 full when you turn it on. The recipe as written would fail miserably in a 6 qt cooker. Also, due to the long cooking time, use 20-25% more liquid than the oat container calls for. I wouldn't use instant oatmeal here. Try Old-Fashioned or Steel-Cut oats. I have a 6 qt crock pot and I used: 2 cups old-fashioned oats 1 cup steel cut oats 8 cups water 3 cups milk 4 Tbsp butter 1/2 cup brown sugar (should have used more) I cooked on low for 8 hours and stirred. The result was creamy and delicious and there was just a little stuck in the corners. This made a lot, but for the rest of the week I'll just portion it out and add a little milk before re-heating.

I'll never make oatmeal the "regular" way again! Don't worry about it sticking to the sides a little, just stir it well first thing in the morning, then add your mix-ins (raisins are excellent) and let it sit for a half hour or so, it's great. Wonderful left over. I don't use the cream, just add milk to taste (doesn't take much!) to individual bowls.

The end product is excellent, but the losses from sticking to the side need to be addressed. You end up with 3 cups of usable oatmeal and about a cup of stuff stuck to the sides anbd bottom of your slow cooker. I went with 3 1/2 cups of water to see if that helps, and it still wasn't enough to prevent the sticky stuff on the sides. I have been told by someone else to try this with 4 cups and a cup of low-fat milk. That's a lot of moisture, and if it turns out to be the solutuon, the original recipe at 3 cups is way off. For taste and texture this recipe is tops, and I will keep using it and trying to fix the sticking problem. The end product is really tasty!

I loved this recipe. With my crazy morning schedule, I was so glad to have breakfast finished & not have to worry about cooking. Soooo easy & can flavor it any way you would like. It was definately very creamy. I thought the leftovers were even better. Soo yummy with splenda, low cal maple syrup & bananas &/or cinnamon.