I am sorry, here's a recipe. Are we friends again?

September is here. I should be posting my September to do list and reporting how I did on my August list. But I will do that tomorrow. But right now, I need to say, sorry for being so absent here on my blog. I have no excuses, I just didn’t get around to posting. I thought about it lots, does that count for anything? I also want to share a recipe instead. It’s my blog. I can do what I want!

 

So, school started this week in these parts. Of course BigJ is done school (for now….we are still hoping his dream of being an architect is not yet dead and he will enter University…he’s giving small signs that this is still in his mind!). LittleA started the 8^th grade. He loves school so this is a happy occasion. He had a funny request though. He asked me if I was taking the day off (When both my kids were in elementary, I always took the first day off work so I could walk them to school and pick them up). I laughed and told him no, you are in grade 8. You don’t need me on the first day anymore. His response was “but I was hoping you would be home to make me a first day of school wholesome breakfast. My first thought was, I always try to make sure there are “wholesome” things in the house for you to have for breakfast…he made it sound like he eats crap all year long! But then I realized, he just wanted a little something special for the first day back to school (he’s funny like that). So I made the deal that I would make him something nice before I went to work. And then, I had to figure out what the heck I could pull off amongst showering and getting my self ready for work, making lunches and getting out the door by 7:00am.

 

That’s when the light bulb went off. Earlier in the summer on the drive home from picking up LittleA and my Niece from summer camp they both were raving about this baked oatmeal they had at camp. Maybe all Mom’s make this, but I had always just made regular, on the stove oatmeal. So I thought, that might be something I can make on a busy morning such as this!

I found a recipe (find it at Mennonite girls can cook, an awesome site for recipes) but tweaked it just a tad, I indicated my changes on the recipe for reference. I also used baked apples I had made earlier in the crock pot from some apples my wonderful friend T had brought over the day before. Have you ever made your own baked apples/ applesauce in the crock pot? It’s awesome and I don’t even like applesauce really. And it makes your house smell amazing while they are cooking. Leave a comment if you want my recipe for that as well.

An awesome detail, you can do this the night before (its super quick and easy to get ready) and just pop it in the oven in the morning. I popped it in the oven right before I went into the shower and by the time I was out of the shower and dressed, it was ready. Easy peasy! So awesome on a busy morning! And it can be warmed up in the microwave and served again the next morning. Perfect right? And…it was a hit! This recipe calls for it to be served with milk. I was informed by LittleA that at camp they served it with ice cream. What? Ice cream with breakfast? I bet the kids loved that!

So LittleA got his “wholesome” warm breakfast, I also had time to sit and eat it with him (bonus) and we have breakfast for a few days. Winning all around.

 

Here’s the recipe!

 

Ingredients:

• 3 1/2 cups oats or quick oats (not instant)
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon (I added probably triple that, it didn’t seem cinnamony enough for me!)
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup coconut (optional) -(I did not add this to this batch, I might another time though)
• 1/4 cup oil
• 2 eggs
• 1 apple, grated (I used the above mentioned baked apples instead of grated apples)
• 1 cup milk

Method:

Mix ingredients in order given and pour into greased 8X8 inch pan. (I sprinkled a little more cinnamon on top as well).
1. Bake at 350 F for about 30 minutes
2. Serve warm with milk and brown sugar.

 

P.S- I ate a square of it cold this morning; it was pretty good not even warmed up. So it could be good on the go as well. Another bonus!