Dairy-Free Slow Cooker Peaches-n-Cream Oatmeal

When observing a freshly cut peach and sunflower, you notice the similarities between the two. Darker on the inside and lighter on the outside, this stone fruit and flower are symbolic to human nature. 

Most people who struggle in life, spiritually, are "dark" or hard on the inside. Whether they're hard on themselves, or have yet to purge the negative voice inside their head, the more we clean up our insides, we tend to lighten up and vibrate beautifully on the outside. Alleviating the pain or hurt from your heart (like a stone-cold heart), and allowing the light to come within, healing is the most important thing to do on a continuous basis to accept life's challenges. 

Take a lesson from the sunflower, that no matter how much you are hurting, keep reaching for the light. Eventually, with time and healing, our inner worlds will blossom to become whole, healthy and complete. 

Inspired by the beauty of these two, I decide to make a vegan peaches-n-cream crockpot. I love the slow cooker because it's easy to use for people who struggle with time management. Our lives cannot get any busier and the crockpot alleviates much time spent cooking. Plus, most crockpot meals tend to be budget-friendly too. 

For the "cream" I used coconut yogurt, which any dairy-free vanilla yogurt will suffice. 

You can throw everything in the crockpot or "spice" up this oatmeal with a peach compote to add to additional flavor. Enjoy! 

"I don't think there's anything on this planet that more trumpets life that the sunflower. For me that's because of the reason behind its name. Not because it looks like the sun but because it follows the sun. During the course of the day, the head tracks the journey of the sun across the sky. A satellite dish for sunshine. Wherever light is, no matter how weak, these flowers will find it. And that's such an admirable thing. And such a lesson in life."
Helen Mirren

Dairy-Free Slow Cooker Peaches-n-Cream Oatmeal
​Setting: 8 hours (cooked for 5 hours)

​Ingredients:
1.5 cups of steal cut oats
5 cups of nondairy milk (used unsweetened almond milk)
2 tbsp flax meal (or seed) 
4 peaches (1 used for the compote)
1 6 ounce tub of vanilla coconut yogurt (or other nondairy yogurt)
pinch of salt, cinnamon + splash of vanilla
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Compote:
1 peach, chopped
1-2 tsp coconut oil
2 tbsp maple syrup

Directions:
Blend three peaches in two cups of milk in a blender. Pour the milk with peaches, steel cut oats, flax meal, spices and the remaining milk into the crockpot. Place the crockpot on the 8 hour setting. Around five-six hours, I found the meal to be "complete."

From here, mix in the yogurt and sauté the compote ingredients on a skillet for about one minute. Mix the compote into the oatmeal and adjust any of the flavors or add additional milk to thin out the oats. Serve warm! 

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