Slowcooker overnight steelcut oats

I'm not exactly sure how I survived my whole life without a crockpot because it's such a game changer!  After years of debating if I really needed it, I finally gave in and bought a basic one last year and I'm already in love! One of our family favorites is steel cut oatmeal cooked overnight. This means its ready to eat right when we wake up, even my 22 month old can't get enough it. This recipe checks off everything on my list; it's filling, it's healthy and it's easy to make!
I've played around with lots of different ingredients and flavors but ultimately settled on the ingredients below. Keep in mind you do need to have steel cut oats for this.  They are hard grains and almost like broken rice.  Any other version of instant oatmeal wont work, not even the old fashioned oatmeal.

2 cups steel cut oats 

5 tablespoons flax seed

5 tablespoons tricolor quinoa

5 tablespoons wheatgerm

5 tablespoons maple syrup

3 cups of water

3 cups of almond milk

2 tsp cinnamon

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp salt

Old fashioned oats to thicken if necessary.

Any desired toppings such as fruit, nuts, cream etc

I simply dump  all the ingredients except the wheat germ and syrup into the crockpot. I'll usually add a few extra cups of milk to reduce how much the sides get scorched.

This is where the old fashioned instant oatmeal comes into play; in the morning if the oatmeal is too runny I add a little bit of old fashioned oats to it and turn it to low setting which gets it to the consistency we like.  If I had a more advanced crockpot with a timer I could set it to a delayed start or choose the option to switch to warm after a certain number of hours and I wouldn't need to play with the thickness in the morning. But alas I went the cheapie route and bought such a basic crockpot that I literally can only set it to low, high or warm.

I also add in the wheat germ and maple syrup in the morning and it smells delicious. The best part is you can save the left overs in the fridge and reheat it throughout the week and it still tastes good as new.