I'm Addicted to Baked Oatmeal!

I found an awesome website called Budget Bytes a few weeks ago and I'm hooked on their Baked Oatmeal recipes! I started with the Apple Pie Oatmeal then began to adapt this recipe to make several flavors.  The website has several recipes for baked oatmeal including Banana Bread and Pumpkin Pie!

The cool thing about their recipes is that not only are they great tasting and photographed beautifully, but the cost per recipe and cost per serving is calculated for you, in case you are on a budget.

Let's make some oatmeal!

Apple Pie Oatmeal

(recipe adapted from budgetbytes.com)

Ingredients:

 

Apple Layer -

• 2 medium apples (I used granny smith)
• 1 Tbsp lemon juice
• 2 Tbsp brown sugar
• 1 Tbsp corn starch
• ½ tsp cinnamon 
• (the original recipe called for 1/8 tsp ground cloves - I left this out)

Oatmeal-

• 2 large eggs
• 1½ cups unsweetened applesauce
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 3 Tbsp. brown sugar (the original recipe was a little sweet for me calling for 1/4 cup)
• 1½ cups milk
• 2½ cups old-fashioned rolled oats

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Cut apples into cubes. Place them in a bowl along with the lemon juice, corn starch, 2 Tbsp brown sugar,  and ½ tsp cinnamon. Toss to coat. Place apple mixture in the bottom of a buttered 8×8 inch pan.

In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, apple sauce, vanilla, salt, baking powder, 3 tbsp. brown sugar, and 1 tsp cinnamon. Add the milk then whisk. Stir in the dry oats.

Pour oatmeal mixture over the chopped apples in the dish.

Bake for 45 minutes at 375 degrees or until the top is light golden brown and no longer wet in the center. Cut into eight pieces and serve or refrigerate until ready to eat.

I have made this the night before and heated up servings in the microwave the next day and I have whipped it up in the morning to serve hot out of the oven.  Your house will smell divine!

I found this cool website (caloriecount.about.com) that will analyze your recipe for nutritional information and this is what I came up with:

 

I have been reading about brown rice syrup as a natural sweetener and I'm wondering if a substitution of this syrup or honey might help make this recipe even healthier!  I'll try it out and report back.

Come back on Monday to learn my two variations - Blueberry Cake Oatmeal and Strawberry Shortcake Oatmeal!