Anyone averse to traditional hot slop oatmeal?
It’s not one of my faves. Plus, there’s this image I ALWAYS think of when I think of oatmeal (cue the Christmas Story movie):
Just gross.
Anyone relate to the near gag experience?
Yeah, I know there are different ways to make oatmeal less slop-like, believe me. Yet, the ol’ oatmeal affinity needs some spark. Some razzle dazzle. Sans slop.
Enter onto the scene the Oat Cake (some refer to it as Baked Oatmeal). A recent client actually triggered this idea in my mind. Her weekly batch of baked oatmeal was a “go to” for her (awesome that she was batch prepping her breakfast a week at a time!), yet the recipe was lacking in the desired Nutrition Mechanic Oomph (NMO) while having a fair amount of added sugar (with fruit already added).
Some quick internet searching left me not finding exactly what I was looking for, so it was time to do some recipe blending (pulling together elements of recipes I liked and adding more goodies). Here’s what we got this first go round.
Recipe Ingredients (for yield of 12 servings):
2 c (160 gm) old-fashioned oats
1/2 c (50 gm) raw walnuts, chopped
2 Tbsp (20 gm) chia seeds
2 Tbsp (20 gm) hemp hearts
~40 grams of protein from your preferred protein powder (I used 2 scoops of Tera’s Plain Whey + 2 scoops of Tera’s Vanilla Whey)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp iodized salt
1 tsp baking powder
13.5 fl oz (400 ml) light coconut milk, canned (I used Sprouts)
2 large eggs (you could swap out for flax eggs if you are non-egg), beaten
1 c frozen or fresh fruit of choice (I used Earthbound’s Triple Cherry Blend, frozen)
2 tsp vanilla extract
Preparation Steps:
Heat oven to 350F. Lightly coat with oil (or spray of choice) the bottom of a 9” x 11” glass baking dish (or 9” x 9”).
Stir to combine all dry ingredients (oats through the baking powder) in a large mixing bowl.
In a separate bowl, mix the wet ingredients and stir in the fruit of choice. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir to combine.
Pour the batter into the baking dish and bake for about 30-35 minutes or until done (use the toothpick test). Let cool for at least 10 minutes.
You can freeze some of the bars for later, but these should be fine in the fridge for 4-5 days.
Note: If you are expecting a sweet cake, this ain’t it. I encourage you to try this recipe as is and really let yourself TASTE it. Then add on other items if your palate cannot deal with its non-sweetness (such as jam or a light drizzle of maple syrup). Remember though that many of our palates are so used to “sweet everything” that the baseline is “always need sweet.” So I challenge you to try before you deny!
If having this for breakfast, pair it up with Greek or Icelandic yogurt, boiled or scrambled eggs, or a tofu-veggie scramble. If having for a pre-workout snacky, you’re good to just have a piece unless you need more carb or calorie oomph for your workout. I topped with a bit of peanut butter and found that to be deeeelightful.
Basic nutrition info (per piece):
156 calories
13 gm carb (2.5 gm fiber, 2.7 gm sugar)
8 gm protein
8 gm fat
~1.5:1 carb to protein ratio
As always, let me know what you think and you know I love to see your food pics so give me a tag on Insta or FB. And let me know if you use Pinterest actively for saving your recipes.
Peace,
Dina