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Blueberry-Banana Baked Oatmeal

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One evening, The Child comes into my office. She seems pleased with herself, and tells me she used her Amazon gift card from Christmas to buy a book and a hat for herself.

That’s great, I tell her, and ask what book she got. It’s a hardcover thing she wanted – some new release from her favorite series – and she’s excited about it.

I do realize she must have some money left – it was a large gift card from my father.

A little, she tells me, not much. The gift wrapping was expensive.

Gift wrapping? I inquire.

Yes, she tells me. The gift card was a present, so I made sure that what I got with it was gift wrapped. It took me a while to write something on the card, too.

I can’t wait to get it, she says.

I tell my father about this, and he’s very pleased. Awesome, he says: She gets it. She gets that gift-giving isn’t about the stuff, it’s about the ritual – the reading of the card, the unwrapping of the box.

I love my own rituals, too – most important my morning ritual of a large, strong cup of coffee each morning, in a quiet house – no tv, no music, and usually, nobody else awake. I don’t do anything in particular with the time, but my day is always a little bit off if I don’t have that slow, quiet time at the beginning – even if it’s just five or ten minutes.

I like my coffee with something, often a muffin, or on the weekend, a bagel. But lately I’m trying to watch my weight, and I find the best way to do that is to avoid the baked goods – though I do love them – and start my day with some oatmeal. It keeps me full through lunch, so that I don’t start eating things I shouldn’t.

I loved the Apple-Cinnamon Baked Oatmeal I tried recently, but since I had a hankering for some blueberry muffins, I switched it up a bit with some blueberries and bananas. The banana and oatmeal combo is a real winner – mellow, filling, and hearty; the blueberries add flavor and lighten the overall texture up just enough. It’s a nice, warming start to the day, and, like it’s Apple-Cinnamon cousin, doesn’t require any additional sweetening to be delicious.

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Blueberry-Banana Baked Oatmeal
 
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Ingredients
  • 2 cups rolled oats
  • ½ cup toasted walnuts, chopped
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1½ tsp cinnamon
  • ½ tsp salt
  • ⅓ cup maple syrup
  • 2 cups milk
  • 1 large egg
  • 3 tsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
  • 2 tsp vanilla
  • 2 ripe bananas, cut into ½-inch pieces
  • 1½ cups blueberries (can be frozen)
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Generously butter the inside of a 9-inch square baking dish.
  2. In a bowl, mix together the oats, walnuts, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt.
  3. In another bowl, whisk together the maple syrup, milk, egg, butter, and vanilla.
  4. Arrange the bananas in a single layer in the bottom of the prepared baking dish. Sprinkle the berries over the top. Cover the fruit with the oat mixture. Slowly drizzle the milk mixture over the oats. Gently give the baking dish a couple thwacks on the countertop to make sure the milk moves through the oats.
  5. Bake for about 40 minutes, until the top is nicely golden and the oat mixture has set. Remove from the oven and let cool for a few minutes.
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Sloppy Lentils

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Everything changes, it’s true, but in my world lately everything re-arranges.

It’s been only a few months since much of the furniture in the house was turned over to The Departed, and I began the process of making the house – finally – my own. I thought I would just go slowly: Paint a couple of rooms that only I see, then slowly work my way up to bigger projects.  I could never quite figure out how to arrange things anyway – nothing in this house ever seemed to look right.

But the ideas start coming – quickly, and often, impulsively. I look at the large wall unit that houses my TV one day, and realize that if I get rid of that one thing, I can completely re-arrange the room in a way that makes sense and is much more cozy. I mention this to The Child, who proceeds  to re-arrange all the furniture in that room after I go to sleep one night. And though I woke up the next morning and found myself completely disoriented – not to mention almost losing a cup of coffee tripping over an unexpected sofa – I also was sure I was on the right track.

It feels much less like a house, and much more like a home.

We give The Child’s outgrown trampoline to our new neighbors, who have two bouncy little boys. The new neighbors return the favor in the form of five rose bushes from their yard. We start having friendly visits, and chat about gardeners and handymen.

It feels much less like the street we live on, and much more like a neighborhood.

With all of the projects and re-arranging, everything is in chaos at the moment, and I frequently can’t find a kitchen counter or a clean dish when I need it. So, I find it’s easier to make a large vat of something that I can just heat up when I don’t have time to cook. One of my favorites is sloppy lentils, a recipe given to me by a vegetarian friend – whose child, unlike mine, will eat it – but originally from Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker.

The recipe is basically Sloppy Joes, which I used to love as a child. I didn’t have a recipe, I had cans of Manwich and I loved every artery-clogging bit of it. Instead of meat, though, lentils are used, turning an unhealthy indulgence into a guilt-free nutritious meal that oddly enough, doesn’t feel like a poor substitute for the original. After several hours in the slow cooker, the lentils and sauce meld together into a savory, almost-meaty, warm and filling sandwich. I love to eat it on squishy hamburger buns, just like a regular sloppy joe.

It makes enough to please a crowd, and also can be stored in the refrigerator and eaten slowly over a few days by just one person, as it reheats beautifully.

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Sloppy Lentils
 
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Serves: 8
Ingredients
  • 1 T Olive Oil
  • 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
  • 1 small red or green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
  • 1 T Chili Powder
  • 1½ c dried brown lentils
  • One 14.5 oz can crushed tomatoes
  • 3 c. water
  • 2T tamari or soy sauce
  • 1 T prepared mustard
  • 1 T packed light brown sugar or natural sweetener
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • Fresh ground black pepper
Instructions
  1. Heat oil is skillet over medium heat. Add onions and peppers, cover and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the chili powder, stirring to coat.
  2. Transfer onion mixture to a 3½ - 4 quart slow cooker. Add lentils, tomatoes, water, tamari, mustard, brown sugar, salt and pepper to taste and stir to combine. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours.
Notes
The original recipe calls for cooking onions and peppers first in a pan, then adding it to the slow cooker. I just toss it all in. If there's a difference, I can't tell.
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Apple-Cinnamon Baked Oatmeal

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I went to a friend’s house the other evening, for one of those in-home sales “parties.” This one was for clothes, and I found myself struggling a bit – I don’t want to buy too much at this weight, especially at full price.

But I loved the clothes and since I have an actual date – one that I’m actually kind of really super-excited about – I bought a few things. Things that will still fit me as I lose the weight that I vowed that night, I will lose.

Yes, that was me sounding like a teenager about … a guy.

That was also me making a pinkie promise to be a “Diet Accountability Partner” with the party hostess, who texted me a couple of days later to ask “how’s it going?” and remind me of a big event we have coming up in a couple of months involving evening gowns.

An event that he will be at.

Not only can I take a hint (thanks, Universe!), I can diet with the best of them. My technique is pretty simple – I don’t count calories or eat nothing but cabbage soup. I just eat plants. I allow myself a bit of grain, but not as the main part of the meal (ie, no pasta dishes). Most of the grain I consume is at breakfast. You know – oatmeal.

I experimented a bit with steel-cut oats in the slow cooker, but I found it made a whole lot of mess for something that was okay, but not great enough to warrant all the cleanup. (It sticks like crazy to the pan when you cook it that way.) Then I started running across recipes for baked oatmeal, and thought maybe that would work better.

It did. It didn’t stick to the pan, even though I forgot to grease it. The recipe made a week’s worth of breakfast for me, and kept me full enough that I made it to lunch without getting cranky. Or at least, without getting cranky about lack of food.

I used the wrong size pan, so the recipe came out slightly more dry and crumbly than I would have liked, but still satisfyingly moist enough that I didn’t feel like it needed milk poured over it. It was also pleasantly sweet from the apples and maple syrup, and so didn’t need any extra sugar. I just kept it in the fridge, covered in tin foil, and warmed up a square each morning.

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Apple-Cinnamon Baked Oatmeal
 
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Serves: 6
Ingredients
  • 2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
  • ½ cup chopped walnuts, toasted, divided
  • 1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 2 cups milk
  • ⅓ cup pure maple syrup
  • 1 egg
  • 2 tsp unsalted butter, melted
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 2 apples, peeled, cored and cut into ½-inch dice
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease an 8-inch or 9-inch baking dish; set aside.
  2. In a medium bowl, stir together the oats, half of the walnuts, cinnamon, baking powder and salt; set aside.
  3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the milk, maple syrup, egg, melted butter and vanilla.
  4. Arrange the sliced apples in a single layer on the bottom of the baking dish. Spread the oat mixture over the apples, in an even layer. Slowly drizzle the milk mixture all over the top of the oats. Tap the baking dish a couple of times to disperse the milk among the oats. Sprinkle the top with the remaining walnuts.
  5. Bake for 35-45 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and the oatmeal mixture is set. Remove from the oven and let sit for at least 5 minutes.
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This is my contribution to Weekend Cooking, hosted by Beth Fish Reads. Why not swing by and see what other savory delights await?

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