Baked Oatmeal with Apples

So, in order to irritate Stefani on all levels, I blogged a food she will likely hate. It has baked eggs and oatmeal in it—she hates both these items. I, however, really like it and it will go in our permanent recipe file. Now, this is not super fast, but it does make a lot, and it’s a fun change. It does taste a bit like custard with the baked egg, so keep that in mind. Also, I searched for a bunch of recipes and combined it into this. My one irritation with the recipes I searched for is that they acted like this was a health food. If you put 1 cube of butter and 1/2 cup of sugar in something that serves 6 people for breakfast, that is actually dessert. I’m just saying—that is literally almost my sugar and butter ratio in gingerbread cake, so don’t pretend this is a health food simply because oatmeal has insoluble fiber. Traditional baked oatmeal has 1/2 cup sugar/honey and 1/2 butter in it. If I wanted that much saturated fat and sugar for breakfast, I would eat a piece of pie, so in order to keep it mostly healthy, I have altered it significantly. Keep in mind I typically eat unsweetened oatmeal in the morning with fresh fruit, so I don’t need things overly sweet to be satisfying. As it is, there is a full tsp. of sugar in each serving, and it tastes like more because of the apples and raisins. Plus, milk has natural sugar in it, so I thought this was plenty sweet, but if you make it yourself, you will likely want to increase it because I am accustomed to eating low sugar foods. I give this a 7.5

Baked Oatmeal with Apples

3 cups rolled oats

2 1/2-3 cups of milk

3 large eggs, but use a slight less if you can

1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2-3/4 tsp., salt

2 tsp. baking powder

3/4 cup toasted pecans

1 apple, chopped into teensy pieces

1/4 cup raisins

1 T. maple syrup

1 T. brown sugar (if you have no qualms about eating 2 Tbs, of sugar at breakfast,which is more than you would get in say, 2 servings of Fruit Loops, then increase the total amount to either 1/2 cup of maple syrup or 1/2 cup of brown sugar)

2 T. butter (if you have no qualms about getting almost your entire daily allowance of saturated fat at breakfast, by all means, add a full cube and omit the canola oil)

4 T. oil

1 tsp. vanilla

So, combine the dry ingredients. Mix wet ingredients together. Combine them. Fold in apples, raisins, and pecans. Put in a 9x9 baking dish and bake at 375 for 30-45 minutes, depending on your preference of doneness.