Baked Oatmeal

A quick yet filling breakfast for the family that is a cinch to make.  And there are so many options as to what you can put in this dish.  The fastest and easiest way is to simply make the baked oatmeal by itself.  If you're in the mood to add things in, experiment with some of your favorites.  We've tried apples, bananas, nuts, raisins and craisins, etc.  Feel free to adjust the spices to your liking as well.  As the recipe stands, it has a very mild cinnamon flavor.  Baked oatmeal tends to have the texture of a muffin.  Any kind of oat will work, although I prefer quick cooking oats in this recipe.  Tonight I only had rolled oats on hand, but you can easily turn them into quick cooking oats by crushing them a bit, or pulsing them in a food processor or blender.  **Note that I doubled my recipe, but the basic recipe is provided.**

2 eggs
2 1/2 c. oatmeal
1/3 c. veg oil or your favorite oil
1/2 c. sugar (can use less or omit altogether)
1 c. milk
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. cinnamon (or your favorite spices)
3/4 c. add-ins of your choice

Start out by placing your oatmeal in a large bowl.  (For those of you who have been following my blog for a while, you'll be shocked to see that my red bowl does NOT contain flour and butter for a change! ;))

Next, add in all the remaining ingredients, stirring to mix well before pouring it into an 8x8" pan (9x13" pan if you are doubling the recipe).  In this photo, I have included everything but the milk and the apples I decided to add in.

Stir it all up well.  It might not look all that appealing, but just wait!

Now decide on if you want to add anything in, and if so, what it is you want.  If you decide to go with apples, use 1-2 small/medium apples.  I remove the peel from the apples.

Maybe there are faster methods for peeling apples, but I'm used to using my little white peeler.  First I peel a circle around the top and bottom of the apple, like this:

Then I simply peel down from the top peeled area to the bottom peeled area, like this:

Pretty simple.  Here are my "naked" apples.

Now I KNOW there are faster ways to core and chop an apple, but I tend to do things the old-fashioned and more labor-intensive way.  So I used a knife to core and chop these two apples into nice sized pieces to place in the oatmeal.  If you don't care for apple chunks, shred or puree the apples instead.

Next throw your add-ins into the bowl.  I love that everything goes into the same bowl; less to clean up!

Stir it all together and pour it into a lightly greased pan.  Have your oven preheated to 350 degrees.  Allow the oatmeal to bake for approximately 30 minutes, or until it is golden brown and is "solid" in the middle.

Enjoy this as it is (pictured below) or for a different option, place in a bowl and pour some milk over top.