I made this delightful baked oatmeal one morning when we had a surplus of apples around. I believe my mom got the recipe from one of her cousins. It is really easy and tasty. The sweetness comes from the pure, natural maple syrup. No processed white or brown sugars! The downside is that you have to get up early and make it before you actually want to serve/eat it. This is problematic for me because I pretty much want to have my coffee and eat breakfast the minute I wake up. For this reason (and because I forgot to do it the night before) the nuts didn't get toasted before going in. Still tasted great. It does reheat, so theoretically you could make it ahead... However, I think it's better fresh out of the oven. The recipe serves about four people...or three really hungry people!
Apple Baked Oatmeal
Ingredients:
1 cup old-fashioned oats
1/4 cup nuts, lightly toasted (optional) and divided (I used pecans)
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
1 cup organic milk (I used 1%)
1 large egg, lightly beaten
2 TBSP coconut oil, melted
1 tsp natural vanilla
2-3 cored, sliced apples
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease a 2-quart baking dish.
- In a medium bowl, combine oats, half the nuts, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Stir with fork to combine.
- In a liquid measuring cup, combine maple syrup, milk, egg, melted coconut oil and vanilla.
- Spread 1/2 of the apples in a single layer over bottom of baking dish. Sprinkle dry oat mixture over. Pour over the liquid ingredients. Sprinkle remaining nuts and fruit over the top. Push fruit into liquid.
- Baked 35-45 minutes. Let cool a couple minutes so you don't burn your mouth. Enjoy!
Here's one I've been meaning to put up for a long time! I made these yummy muffins towards the end of Christmas break. I took a recipe I found (my mom's mom's) for pumpkin bread. Then, I totally messed it up (eliminated the sugar, all-purpose flour, shortening, and water). I really had no idea how they would turn out. The batter was pretty good, which is always a good sign. They smelled good while they were baking, another good sign. When I finally tried one, I was impressed. I was kind of hoping that the brother would think they tasted too healthy, so then I would have leftovers to take to school...but no. He didn't even noticed. He loved them. The mother loved them too. Definitely a success for replacing processed ingredients with more natural ones!
Pumpkin Muffins
Ingredients:
1 cup honey (local)
4 eggs
1/3 cup all-natural applesauce*
2 cups all-natural canned pumpkin
3 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp ground cinnamon (I probably added a little extra)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Grease or line a 12-cup muffin pan.
Mix honey, eggs and pumpkin
Add in dry ingredients and mix
*Add applesauce until the right moisture is achieved
Divide batter into muffin cups
Bake for...15-20 minutes or until done.
I think that's about right! It's been awhile since I made them... and of course I didn't exactly write everything down.
