This week I had the ‘hankering’ for my baked oatmeal, told everyone I was going to make a quadruple batch of one of my favorite things. This led our son, Phillip,. and I into a serious discussion on finding cereal that was half way healthy. So; he and his girlfriend began to study granolas at the market and they came up with one that is half way healthy. I ‘whipped out’ my baked oatmeal recipe and compared it against the cereal. Surprise, surprise, the ingredients were almost the same. You see if you make my baked oatmeal, you can then crumble it like granola and allow it to dry out in the oven! Poof, you’ve got a healthy breakfast or snack.
The granola label is ‘Nature’s Path’, an organic granola. They purchased the granola at our local Walmart. It will be significantly more economical if you make the baked oatmeal, crumble and dry it into granola.
The recipe explains how you can add all kinds of dry fruits, nuts, coconut, banana chips, etc. I’d even put in a few chocolate chips or peanut butter! I used half honey and half granulated sugar on my quad batch. I will note that it didn’t taste as sweet as it does when I use all granulated sugar.
When I do a quad recipe I place parchment under the mixture and use a pan that I refer to as a ‘jelly roll pan.’ It has a rim of about 1 inch all the way around. After it is done baking I pull it from the oven and use a spatula to break it all up, while it’s still hot. Then I lower the oven to about 275-300 degrees, place the oatmeal back in and turn the oven off. Leave it until the oatmeal becomes crunchy granola. We keep our oatmeal or granola in the refrigerator in a sealed bowl or ziploc bag.
When I was teaching school I would take a ziploc bag of the oatmeal, for my morning snack. A little oatmeal, milk and a quick pop in the microwave is a good start for any morning.
Now for an expensive ‘chuckle’ on me regarding this recipe. So; yesterday I made a quadruple of the dish, just like I described above. I had it all crumbled and back in the lowered oven etc., for it to get hard like granola. Ervin, my spouse, says he will start our special dinner, FISH STICKS, in the oven. I tell him to take out my oatmeal and put it on top of the stove before he starts because fish sticks bake at 425 degrees. He says I didn’t tell him this, but oh, I did! My baked oatmeal burnt up in the oven. It wasn’t all the time spent making the dish that was crushing, it was the amount of money that went down the tubes. The eggs for a quadruple batch were about 2.00
the butter was about 2.00, well you get the picture. The answer is no, I haven’t re-made the baked oatmeal. Maybe later in the week, The Covered Dish.
Baked oatmeal
8 x 8 baking pan for 1 batch
Large Mixing bowl, ‘do not’ use a mixer.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
1 ½ cups quick cooking oatmeal
2 tablespoons wheat germ
2 tablespoons flax seed, optional
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ cup granulated sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
½ cup milk
½ cup melted butter
¾ teaspoon vanilla
I like to mix all my dry ingredients into a bowl, then make a well in the center and add the egg, cold milk and melted butter, vanilla and any extra ingredients. Stir to blend all ingredients and spread into the bottom of a greased 8 x 8 baking dish. Bake until golden brown on top, usually takes about 25 – 35 minutes. Depends on the baking pan. Feel free to add extra dried fruits, dried banana chips, coconut, nutmeats and the like. I also like to add a little bit of cinnamon to each batch.
