A Gilt Nutmeg

Oatmeal can be pretty bland and banana bread is so full of sugar and oil that it’s not particularly a healthy way to start off your day.  So let’s brainstorm for a moment….if we took oatmeal…and made it taste like banana bread………I think we’re on to something!  I’m really loving the idea of baked oatmeal because it truly gives an entirely different texture to the dish–instead of mushy lumpy blah-ness, you get something full of flavor and texture–a great way to start your day off!

This great (and cheap) breakfast idea is so simple and tastes so good it’s really hard to believe that it’s so healthy for you.  Just throw the ingredients together in a dish, bake for a little while and voila: with almost no work you’ve got a healthy, hearty breakfast that will not only keep you full for a long time, but also sneakily satisfy your sweet tooth without much sugar at all.  Trickery!  One of my friends on the weekend trip to the cabin suggested this would be a great pre-workout meal because it’s full of fiber, complex carbs and bananas, yet tastes much better than a protein shake because of all the cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla in it.

If I was in the mood for a more standard softer oatmeal, I wonder if that super crunchy texture would be fixed by letting the mixture soak overnight in the fridge…experiments to try!  But, truly, this recipe is so good as it is, I’ll let you have it now and tweak it yourself if you so choose.  This was the last recipe I made at the cabin in the woods (without my camera), so next week we’re kicking it off with a crazy rich dessert that could only be made in my own familiar-to-me kitchen.  Also, be sure to subscribe to the blog in the upper right corner of your screen–you’ll get my posts emailed to you whenever there’s something new!

Banana Bread Baked Oatmeal

Adapted from Budget Bytes

• 4 bananas, mashed
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg
• 2 cups milk
• 2 1/2 cups steel-cut oats
• 1/2 cup walnuts, chopped

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees and butter or non-stick spray a 9×9 inch baking dish.
2. In a large bowl, stir together all of the ingredients except for the milk, oats, and walnuts.
3. Once everything is thoroughly combined, stir in the milk.  Once THAT is thoroughly combined, add the oats, stir till combined, then finally stir in the walnuts.
4. Pour oatmeal batter into the prepared baking dish and cover with tin foil.  Bake for 30 minutes, remove the foil and bake for another 15 minutes.
5. Serve hot and enjoy!  I like to pour some milk over mine and maybe an extra dash of cinnamon and brown sugar.