Don't Feel Guilty!
Now here's a couple of recipes that won't make you feel guilty about gawking at my blog, and drooling over all that frosting I put on my Red Velvet Cupcakes! And let's not forget the Nutella Chocolate Fudge Brownies!
Amish Baked Oatmeal
Amish Baked Oatmeal is a heart-healthy recipe, conjured up during our vegan years! Oh, the horrors! Can you imagine us being vegans? And yet, I can't deny that we felt the best during those 3 1/2 years. Then we got into catering, and life as we knew it suddenly changed. Although we eat our share of meat, dairy and junk food now, it doesn't hurt once in a while to eat something you can feel good about. As it is, we probably go meatless 2-3 days a week anyway. Not just for health reasons, but because of sheer laziness!
Apple Strawberry Baked Oatmeal
When Erika from Stampin Mama (AKA one of my very talented daughters) was asked to share her Apple Strawberry Baked Oatmeal Recipe for Homespun Oasis - a new blog about Bringing you the BEST in Handmade - she asked me to dig out my own recipe for the family's favorite Baked Oatmeal. She wanted to cross link my recipe - in my long, out-of-print cookbook - with hers in Homespun Oasis. Warm fuzzy memories came flooding back. OK, so some memories weren't that great, but hey, I was talking about Baked Oatmeal! At the time, we were living in Lancaster County, home of the Amish! For whatever reason, the recipes for Baked Oatmeal became Amish Baked Oatmeal. Who knows why? Maybe they invented the stuff. After all, it is a quick & easy, no-fuss, economical and time-saving recipe, and the Amish are known for their simplicity and frugality. Sounds good to me, I'll go with that one.
All the recipes were loaded with drippy, syrupy, fat-laden butter (not that I have a problem with that mind you), dairy and refined sugars. I had to find a way to make it healthier and still be absolutely delicious so the kids would still eat it! That's how this recipe for Amish Baked Oatmeal came to be. You don't have to make it with all the crunchy-granola alternatives. You can make it any way you like. I added optional ideas just in case.
Quaker Oats Says....
Improvise, play around with the recipe, make it your own! And you know what? Quaker Oats says, "More than 40 scientific studies confirm that eating oatmeal daily can help lower blood cholesterol, and can help reduce the risk of heart disease. Experts believe it is the soluble fiber (beta glucan) in oatmeal that helps reduce blood cholesterol levels. Oatmeal is more than a cholesterol-freefood." WOW!
Two Baked Oatmeal Recipes
There are two recipe links here. One is for Erika's Apple Strawberry Baked Oatmeal, and the other for my Overnight Amish Baked Oatmeal. Go take a look, they're both different enough to give you plenty of breakfast variety. Oh, and all the photos in this post were taken by Erika too. Let's give her a big round of applause!
This looks absolutely wonderful. Although I will have to replace your great granola to make this one, I think the kids might really like it! I have never heard of Baked Oatmeal before.
Posted by: Cindy | February 23, 2009 at 10:32 AM
WOW I have not heard of Amish oatmeal before! Looks really great. Love this combination!!
Posted by: Cathy-wheresmydamnanswer | February 23, 2009 at 10:38 AM
I love otameal anything donna, & both your ideas are swell. I think I've sorted out this typoepad comment problem for now. Maybe it was a script blocker. Well, here I am again!!
Posted by: deeba | February 23, 2009 at 11:02 AM
Donna, oh wow, I can't imagine anything better for breakfast right now than this baked oatmeal. I'm an oatmeal or cereal girl most mornings, and this just looks like the perfect way to snazz things up! Talk about amazing flavor. You've left me with a craving!
Posted by: Elyse | February 23, 2009 at 11:06 AM
They Look and sound so Delicious!!
TFS
Posted by: Dee | February 23, 2009 at 12:09 PM
That strawberry oatmeal looks and sounds incredible. I'm going to try that soon.
Posted by: debbie | February 23, 2009 at 12:27 PM