I live for the weekends! I get to eat breakfast sloooowly (well, maybe not that slow, but slower for sure)…. in my eat-in kitchen, next to my little daughter and hubby with my St. Bernard breathing on my elbow  In the summer, or spring when the weather is a little bit warmer, I love to open the sliding door going out to the deck, and enjoy that morning breeze. Now, I just get to watch the sunshine from the inside, where it’s nice and warm!

One of my all-time favorite breakfast items is probably oatmeal. Yep, kind of hard to believe right? It sounds too healthy. I recall many years of eating instant oatmeal for breakfast at work and loving it. Red, on the other hand, doesn’t care for oatmeal very much. He claims that it has funny textures, whatever that means. I have, however, been wanting to try baked oatmeal at home, and I finally convinced him to try it. It uses two fruits that are favorites at my household, so I figured that my chance of winning over my audience (of two) is definitely higher than 50%. To my pleasant surprise, everyone loved it! We skipped the topping and I thought it was perfect on its own. Red describes this dish like a “warm, soft oatmeal cookie”, which was why he loved it. We polished this off, and Red actually requested that we make this again soon. How about that for a happy me???

Ingredients
1 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup walnuts, chopped and lightly toasted
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Pinch of salt
1/4 cup maple syrup, plus more for serving
1 cup milk
1 large egg
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 ripe bananas, sliced into 1/2-inch thick pieces
3/4 cup fresh blueberries

Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease or spray a 1 and 1/2-quart casserole dish with either butter or cooking spray.

In a medium bowl, toss together the oats, half of the walnuts, the baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. In another separate small bowl, whisk together the maple syrup, milk, egg, half of the melted butter, and the vanilla.

Place the sliced banana pieces in a single layer in the bottom of the prepared casserole dish. Sprinkle about two-thirds of the fresh blueberries over the top of the bananas, then cover the blueberries with the oat mixture. Drizzle the milk mixture over the oats, making sure to distribute the milk as evenly as possible. Sprinkle the remaining blueberries and walnuts over the top of the oats.

Bake the oatmeal for 35-45 minutes, until the top is golden brown and the oats have set.

Remove the oatmeal from the oven and drizzle the remaining butter over the top and serve. Add your fave toppings.

Yield: 2-4

Recipe from Super Natural Every Day by Heidi Swanson as seen on The Curvy Carrot