Hot & Toasty

... delicous baked oatmeal!

But first, a little about the weather. It has been HOT here in the Twin Cities! The temp hovered up around 100 for most of the week, with a dew point of 71 so basically it was like being constantly smothered by a hot, wet blanket. Gross. We don't have AC either, so we've just been moving the fan around to wherever we are and pointing it towards us on full blast to stay reasonably comfortable.

Normally I'm always up for a warm, nourishing breakfast but since this week I would sweat buckets standing anywhere near a stove, it's been overnight oats to the rescue!

Oats with strawberry yogurt and chia seeds, and iced tea. Can't even stomach a hot beverage.

Fresh, summery lunches with tomato and avodado have been great, too

This is the face of me melting.

And I'm sorry, but what the heck is this???? I got stuck behind this winner at a red light on the way home from work. So special.

We've also been working on some last minute wedding projects, and hence both the dining room table and living room coffee table have essentially become craft spaces. Cutting up paper, gluing stuff... lots of little things coming together!

Dining room table = cutting room table


Ben hard at work... don't worry, I was helping too :)

Finally on Saturday it cooled off enough that turning on the oven didn't make me want to vom - so I made baked oatmeal! Lately we've been enjoying getting up early to make a more substantial breakfast, and eating it while watching a Saturaday morning movie. So much fun.

The baked oatmeal drew inspiration from a few different recipes (including Kath's), and I really like how it turned out.

BLUEBERRY BANANA BAKED OATMEAL
1 C steel cut oats
1 T plain yogurt with live active cultures
1/4 t kosher salt
2 bananas
1 egg
1 T flour

1.5 t baking powder
1.5 t Vanilla
1 c milk (I used 2%)
1/3 c blueberries
2 T brown sugar
Cinnamon

Put steel cut oats in a medium bowl, submerge in water, add the yogurt and mix together. Soak overnight to allow the oats to soften and expand in the water (you'll want to add a little more than enough to cover the oats - maybe cover by 1/2 inch)

In the morning, drain the water from the oats. Preheat the oven to 375. Mash 1 banana and mix together with the egg, milk, vanilla and maple syrup. Mix the liquid ingredients with the oats, add flour and baking powder and mix together.

Slice the remaining banana and arrange slices on the bottom of a pie pan. Pour oat mixture over the bananas and sprinkle the blueberries over the top. Bake at 375 for 30 minutes - then pull the pan out slightly, and sprinkle brown sugar over the top. Bake for an additional 7-12 minutes (check frequently to make sure you don't overbake) - the sugar will get all melty on top and it's delicious!

As an alternative to the mashed banana, you could probably use applesauce or, in the fall, pumpkin!