Berry Baked Oatmeal

9/11/2013

Berry Baked Oatmeal

Oatmeal is one of my favorite breakfasts. Its wholesome, filling, healthy, and you can add tons of yummy goodies to it and make it delicious. My fiancé, (ah! I still get giddy when I say it!!) Mitch, is also an oatmeal fan, and sometimes on his way out to work I'll just hand him a packet of instant oatmeal as he heads out the door. But honestly, I hate doing that! First of all, instant oatmeal not as nearly as tasty as homemade, stove-top oatmeal, and secondly, it's not as healthy because there's always more sugar and processed ingredients in the packaged oatmeal. Determined to figure out a quick way for Mitch to take healthy, homemade oatmeal on the go, I started playing around with the idea of baked oatmeal. It's a little more work the night before, but after making this Berry Baked Oatmeal recipe, I can assure you that it's SO worth it! I made a whole 9x9 pan full of this baked oatmeal, and we were eating it for breakfast for the next several days. It was sooo good, each morning, until the pan was scraped clean! It's packed with healthy ingredients including chia seeds, flaxseeds, berries, nuts, and gluten-free oats, and if I do say so myself, it's absolutely delicious. And what's great about this Breakfast Bite is that you can package it up in a tupperware and take it with you to work!

Ready for this Berry Baked Oatmeal? Here we go . . .

Ingredients
2 cups gluten-free rolled oats
1/2 cup sliced almonds
2 tbsp SugarLeaf sweetener
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups almond milk
1 egg
2 1/2 tbsp coconut oil
1/2 tbsp vanilla extract
2 bananas - cut in slices
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
2 tbsp chia seeds
2 tbsp ground flaxseeds
1 cup of your favorite berries
1/4 cup golden raisins/dried cranberries

Serves 9-12.

• Preheat oven to 375º.
• Mix dry ingredients together - 1/4 cup of the sliced almonds, SugarLeaf, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, chia & flaxseeds, and nutmeg. 
• In a separate bowl, combine wet ingredients - almond milk, egg, coconut oil (heat a bit first so it's liquidy), & vanilla
• Grease a square baking dish and then slices of banana to cover bottom layer of dish. Then add half of your berries on top of banana slices.
• Pour dry ingredients evenly into baking dish.
• Sprinkle dried fruit, golden raisins, or dried cranberries over oats ... what ever you like!
  
• Slowly add wet ingredients.
• Make sure dry ingredients are covered by wet, gently shake side to side to combine, and push down on the mixture, if necessary, to coat.
• Add the rest of the berries and sliced almonds to the top. Sprinkle a bit more cinnamon over everything.
• Bake for 35 minutes until golden on top.
• Serve warm with a drizzle of honey and a little sprinkle of SugarLeaf on top.

Hope you all love this recipe as much as Mitch and I did! It's really the perfect start to the day.
Let me know how it turns out for you!