Wednesday, October 11, 2017

baked oatmeal: a newfound love

Never in my life had I heard of baking oatmeal until I started following Budget Bytes. I follow her on Facebook, as well as browsing her website from time to time. She has lots of budget-friendly recipes.

A couple weeks ago I saw on her Facebook page a recipe for what looked like a dessert:  Peanut Butter Brownie Baked Oatmeal.  It looked so delicious! I figured it would be loaded with sugar, but it called for only 1/4 cup of brown sugar.  She has lots of baked oatmeal recipes and most of them use bananas, unsweetened applesauce, or sweet potatoes as the main source of sweetness.

I decided to give it a try since I had all the ingredients on hand and I'd just bought a massive bag of thick-cut rolled oats.  It was really easy to put together. I think the most "strenuous" thing was mashing the bananas, and that only took a minute. The rest just gets tossed into the bowl and mixed, then milk added, then oats. Then you put it in a casserole dish and bake it for about 45 minutes. Baking time depends on the depth of your pan. I used a 2 quart smallish square dish and it took almost an hour to bake.


The results were delicious!! I tried a forkful right out of the hot pan; however, I've discovered I prefer it cold, sliced off like a brownie. The texture is much more like a brownie than it is oatmeal, though you could eat it warm or cold.  It's also very filling, especially for me since my stomach in so small.

One thing to note:  even though most of the sweetness comes from the bananas, it still has sugar. Anyone who is a WLS post-op and has an issue with sugar will need to test the waters as to how much you can eat at once. I find a can eat the standard brownie size, about 2" x 2", without an issue. (Note:  standard brownie size! Not pre-WLS brownie size, which typically meant almost half the pan back in the day.) 

Here's the recipe for the oatmeal I made last weekend:  Peanut Butter Brownie Baked Oatmeal.

And here are the search results for baked oatmeal:  Baked Oatmeal Search Results.

2 comments:

  1. You posted this a while ago but -- I had to comment because OMG baked oatmeal. I am from Central Pennsylvania and baked oatmeal is a classic Amish dish. I'm always so excited when I see non-Pennsylvanians discovering it! My go-to is plain baked oatmeal with blueberry sauce; I've never had a chocolate version but it sounds awesome. I might actually try bananas next time in mine, since I always have ripe bananas around and baked oatmeal is wayyyyy better than banana bread.

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    1. I had no idea baked oatmeal is an Amish dish. I'll have to ask my cousin, as she lives in Lancaster. Yes, OMG, this version is awesome! This is my first time making any kind of baked oatmeal and I was very surprised at the texture--in a pleasant way! I love that I can cut it and eat it cold like a brownie. I'm anxious to try different variations and yours sounds delicious since I LOVE blueberry.

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