Category Archives: Oatmeal

Cinnamon Vanilla Protein Pancakes

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Protein Pancakes
Most weekends, we make a big breakfast at least one weekend morning.  Favorites include pancakes, waffles, Mike’s famous cheesey scrambled eggs, and bacon.  This weekend, I decided to try out these protein pancakes.  I’m trying (and mostly failing) to eat more protein and fewer carbs and I was curious to see if the trio would eat this creation.

All three of the kids liked them.  Clara wasn’t as in enamored as Bo and Anna, but she ate them as well.  The combination of ingredients seems a bit strange, but the taste is really quite good — and I didn’t even miss all of the flour and sugar in my traditional recipe.  I served ours with a small amount of maple syrup.  If you want a real protein bang, try them with almond butter or peanut butter on top!

If you’re visiting from my friend Amber’s blog, Becoming a Coupon Queen, welcome!  I hope you enjoy the recipes and knowing that Amber needs a recipe each week is helping me to be a bit more motivated about taking photos of the food I making!  If you haven’t visited Amber’s site, go check it out.  She has lots of good money saving tips!

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Cinnamon Vanilla Protein Pancakes
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Serves: 6
 
Ingredients
  • 2 cups liquid egg whites or 12 egg whites
  • 2 cups old fashioned oatmeal
  • 2 cups cottage cheese
  • 4 Tbsp. sugar or sweetener of choice
  • 1 Tbsp. cinnamon
  • 1 Tbsp. vanilla
Instructions
  1. In a high-powered blender (I used a Ninja) combine all ingredients and pulse until smooth. Cook pancakes over medium heat until cooked through. Serve with maple syrup and butter, almond butter, peanut butter, or other toppings of your choice. Recipe can easily be halved or extra pancakes can be frozen for quick breakfasts later.

 

Banana Baked Oatmeal

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Banana Bread baked oatmeal

I made this baked oatmeal on Tuesday morning for my trio to have for breakfast before school.  We had several very ripe bananas that needed to be used after spending the long weekend in the Wisconsin Dells.  The trio love to help me cook and both Clara and Bo helped to mash the bananas and combine the ingredients, which helped them to think that breakfast was extra wonderful since they helped make it.  Anna was still asleep (by some miracle) and they were sure to encourage her to thank them for making breakfast. 😉

This recipe is a great weekday morning breakfast — it’s healthier than many breakfast options and tastes great with a smear of peanut butter on top.  I served it to the kids with glasses of milk – and enjoyed a cup of coffee with mine.

This makes 12 servings, but it is very good leftover and can be frozen in squares for an extra quick “on the go” breakfast option.

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Banana Baked Oatmeal
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Prep time: 
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Serves: 12
 
Ingredients
  • 5 overly ripe bananas, mashed
  • 2 eggs
  • ½ cup brown sugar (you can use an alternative sweetener)
  • 3 cups quick cook oatmeal
  • 2 tsp. baking soda
  • ½ tsp. salt
  • 1 cup almond milk (any milk you have on hand will work fine)
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350. Spray a 9x13 inch pan with PAM. In a large bowl, mash the bananas. Add the eggs and brown sugar and continue mashing until it is well combined. Stir in the oatmeal, baking soda, salt, and milk. Pour mixture into pan and bake for 30-35 minutes. Cut into squares and serve. Great topped with a smear of peanut butter.

 

No Bake Cookies

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No dessert takes me back to the good ole days like no-bake cookies.  They don’t photograph well, but they taste delicious!

I always think about no-bake cookies at the beginning of the school year.  I was a teacher at my hometown high school for 5 years and had the honor of teaching with my best friend, Mandy, for 3 1/2 of those years.  We had so much fun and our crazy lunches, signs in windows, and yearbook sleepovers together are some of my fondest memories.

School started this week for Mandy and it made me think about the cafeteria’s delicious no-bake cookies.  Often, Mandy and I would head to the lunch room praying that it was no-bake cookie day.  Our favorite lunch?  Noodles and no-bakes.  It doesn’t get much better!

These would be a great after-school snack or dessert for all of the littles who are going back to school over the next few weeks!  Bo starts Kindergarten on Monday and Clara and Anna start their second year of Pre-K on the 26th.  I have a feeling more of these cookies are in our near future…

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No Bake Cookies
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Serves: 12
 
Ingredients
  • 2 cups sugar
  • ½ cup cocoa
  • ½ cup milk
  • 1 tsp. vanilla
  • 1 stick butter
  • ½ cup peanut butter
  • 3 cups quick cooking oatmeal
Instructions
  1. Mix sugar, cocoa, milk, and butter in a saucepan. Boil for one minute. Remove from stove and add remaining ingredients. Drop by teaspoonfuls on to waxed paper. Let stand until firm.

 

Cookie Butter Baked Oatmeal

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Recently, breakfast has been baking time.  With the trio on summer break, we rarely have anything scheduled before 10 am, which gives us plenty of time to make yummy breakfast goodies in the morning.

This recipe was inspired by a jar of Trader Joe’s Cookie Butter that has been hanging out in my cabinet since Christmas.  It’s similar to Biscoff spread so either ingredient should work in this recipe.  The resulting oatmeal has that spicy cookie flavor — and it was the perfect recipe for the dreary and rainy day.  (Pardon the photo quality — it was raining and dark so there was no natural light).

I made this in a round 2 quart Corningware dish, but when I make it again I think I will make it in a 9×13 inch pan and cut it into squares.  Also, you can serve it with syrup, but I didn’t think it was necessary so we just ate ours plain.  The kids loved it.

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Cookie Butter Baked Oatmeal
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Serves: 6
 
Ingredients
  • 1¾ cups old fashioned oatmeal
  • 1½ tsp baking powder
  • ½ cup Cookie Butter
  • 1¼ cup milk
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • ¼ cup sugar
Instructions
  1. Spray a large dish (round or 9x13) with PAM. In a large bowl, mix the oats and baking powder together. In a separate bowl combine the cookie butter, eggs, milk and vanilla and mix well. Mix the dry ingredients and wet ingredients together and pour into prepared pan. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until set.

Anna requests chocolate chip oatmeal nearly every day and she gave this “special” Cookie Butter Baked Oatmeal two thumbs up — and a tongue out for good measure. 😉

Crockpot Steel Cut Oatmeal

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I’ve always loved oatmeal, but for the past several years I haven’t eaten it often — mostly because I simply didn’t have the time in the mornings to babysit a pan of oats on the stove to make sure they reached the right consistency.  My mornings are filled with attempting to feed, dress, and contain my trio so that they end up at school on time.  In text, this seems like a simple task, but in reality, it made dealing with a pot of oatmeal for 30 minutes in the morning nearly impossible.

Recently, I discovered the perfect crockpot steel cut oatmeal recipe.  It is divine!  I’ve eaten it nearly every day for the last two weeks and it is perfect for my busy mornings!  I make a batch on Sunday evening and then I have breakfast ready for four days that week.  I make the batch plain and add my toppings based on my mood. To the oatmeal above, I added half of a sliced banana, a teaspoon of brown sugar, and 10 pecan halves chopped.  Amazing.  Seriously.  It’s the texture and creaminess of the oatmeal that makes it so delicious!

The recipe below makes 4 servings, but can easily be doubled or tripled if more people in your family eat oats.  I store them in a Tupperware container and scoop out what I would like into a bowl and microwave for about a minute and 15 seconds before adding my sweetener and toppings.  Some topping ideas besides the banana/pecan mixture include mini chocolate chips/chopped almonds/sugar, chopped apple/crunchy peanut butter/honey, and this mornings creation – raisins/brown sugar/vanilla extract – tasted like an oatmeal cookie!

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Crockpot Steel Cut Oatmeal
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Serves: 4
 
Ingredients
  • 1 cup steel cut oatmeal
  • 3 cups water
  • ½ tsp. salt
  • desired toppings/sweetener
Instructions
  1. In a small crockpot, combine the steel cut oats, water, and salt. Stir. Cook on low for approximately 4 hours, on high for approximately 2 hours until desired consistency. Transfer to a Tupperware container and store in the fridge for up to 6 days. Dish out and microwave in the morning - topping with your desired ingredients.