Once upon a time I had one of those pull out garbage cans. Although it got kind of dirty, I’ve always wanted another one and am planning to incorporate it into the dream kitchen (within budget, haha) I am designing. My sister asked me why, since it got so messy. This is why (and no we did not stage this–as a matter of fact it was hard to discipline him properly since we were both laughing):
Anyway, I have been meaning to try baked oatmeal for ages. This past winter I started making rice cooker oatmeal, only I added all sorts of “chewier” grains (like barley and sweet black rice) because I did not like the mushiness of just the oatmeal. Then our rice cooker broke, much to Alex’s dismay, and I stopped making oatmeal for a while. But while investigating the oatmeal possibilities, lots of people, especially over the CLBB, recommended I try baked oatmeal since I like it chewy.
When I went looking for a recipe, it was apparent to me there are pretty different ways to go about it in terms of liquid to dry ratio, whether to include an egg and baking time and temperature. I went with less liquid since I like it chewier. I started with a Cooking Light recipe but altered it quite a bit, especially because since I was making it for my toddlers I didn’t want to make it low fat especially.
We LOVED it. So much so that I am sharing it now, but I really want to fiddle with the recipe since I think the possibilities are endless. So expect to see more baked oatmeal from me in the future.
Basic Baked Oatmeal with Apples
2 cups old fashioned rolled oats
1/2 t cinnamon (I would use more next time)
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 t baking powder
1 handful cranberries
1 small handful sliced almonds
2 small apples, peeled, cored, chopped into chunks and rolled in lemon juice
2 cups milk (I used 1 cup whole and 1 cup 2%)
1 egg, beaten
1 t vanilla
cooking spray
cinnamon sugar and/or coarse sugar for sprinkling on top
Preheat the oven to 375 F. Spray an 8 inch square baking pan with oil.
Mix the oats, cinnamon, baking powder and brown sugar together. Toss in the almonds and cranberries.
In a separate bowl, mix the milk and egg with a whisk. Mix in the vanilla. Dump this into the bowl with the oats and add the apples. Fold it all together until evenly blended. Dump it into the prepared pan and use a spatula to even it out. Sprinkle the top with coarse sugar or cinnamon sugar–or if you are feeling wild and crazy, a combination (I like the crunch from the coarse sugar but I wanted the cinnamon). Bake for 25-30 minutes, until set and browned on top. Serve warm.
Okay oatmeal looks very good and yummy. I love oatmeal more than anything.
But that puppy is so dang cute.
Here are the thoughts going through my head as I read this:
1) Crap, I forgot to put the garbage on top of the chair.
2) Oh wait, Thatboy took out the garbage last night.
3) Crap, looks like a closed lid garbage can isn’t going to solve our problems. (Thatdog was never interested in the garbage can until about 2 weeks ago. That’s right, we had an open garbage, right in the middle of everything and he could care less. But then he started getting anxiety and we started coming home to garbage everywhere. He never ate anything out of it, just knocked the whole thing over…everyday…within the first 10 minutes we were gone.)
4) I’ve never even tried rice cooker oatmeal – why do I make everything so much more difficult for myself?
5) Remember to tell Laura you gave her an award!
http://katorade.blogspot.com/2008/07/sun-tanned-wind-blown.html