Coconut Oatmeal

My baby sister is getting married tomorrow!  That definitely called for a few girls' nights, so I came out here to share in the pre-wedding festivities.

Every time I'm out at my parents' house, we have awesome breakfasts, courtesy of my mom.  My contribution today was a baked coconut oatmeal.  I concocted this recipe because we're all oatmeal, coconut and walnut fans.  Plus, we definitely need our energy with the upcoming weekend!

If you like oatmeal and coconut, this recipe is absolutely DELICIOUS.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup steel cut oats
1 1/2 cups skim milk
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/3 cup shredded coconut
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
A few drops coconut extract
(other additions could be mashed banana, which my brother-in-law vetoed, dried fruit, other types of nuts, almond extract)
Preparation:
Preheat oven to 360F
Spray oven-proof dish lightly with nonstick cooking spray
Mix all ingredients together and pour into baking dish
Bake 40 minutes until golden brown on top and edges
*Apologies for the bad quality blackberry pictures!

*After 20 minutes

*When finished cooking

You can even throw in a few dark chocolate chips to make it taste like a chocolate coconut candy bar...

Enjoy!

Basic Frittata Recipe

Aahhh, the incredible, versatile egg....

In my opinion, eggs have gotten a bap rep for far too long.  As long as you don't gorge yourself on yolks, they're actually really good for you.  Packed with protein and basically a blank canvas for both savory and sweet dishes, eggs are a staple in my diet.

I call this a cheater recipe because you don't have to babysit it and it's basically always delicious.  Seems to be a theme running through my blog but hey, it works for me.

Frittatas are Spanish by origin, but they're a perfect way to turn just about any leftover veggies, meats and cheeses you have lying around into a delicious and healthy meal option.  It's kind of like using up leftovers to make soup: never quite the same twice but always delicious.

For this particular frittata, I added some torn bits of munster cheese and my brocolli slaw recipe.

Ingredients (serves 4):
- 5 eggs, beaten
- Entire broccoli slaw recipe, prepared (can be warm or cold out of the fridge; just  be sure to temper the eggs)
- 1/3 cup shredded/torn/grated cheese (reduced-fat if you have it)

*I also threw in a little bit of leftover chopped spinach that I had sitting in the fridge...which my honey hates, but I absolutely love.  Here I am sneaking it into things like he's a little kid but luckily, he doesn't mind it in this recipe

Preparation:
- Preheat oven to 360F
- Spray pan with nonstick cooking spray (I used a 9" pie pan but you can use any oven-safe dish, or even make individual dishes for each person)
- Beat eggs with a whisk or fork until fully incorporated
- Mix broccoli slaw and cheese into eggs
- Pour into pan and put into oven
- Bake for 20 minutes or until the eggs are set in the middle

The crust on the outside of this frittata is out of this world.  It almost tastes buttery, although there is no butter in the recipe.

This is a perfect item for any meal period, served with a simple French green salad.  We have certainly eaten this for dinner a time or two.  Experiment with this recipe and make it your own!

Banana Bread Oatmeal

This weekend was the best kind of healthy entertaining because it also happened to be my baby sister's bachelorette party.  After spending Friday night watching chick flicks and Saturday brunching and getting pampered at the spa, we thought we would continue the fun into Sunday morning with a healthy breakfast.  Now, we are both serious oatmeal lovers...so much so that we even eat it for dinner in a savory fashion (recipe for that to come!).

This morning, I surveyed my surroundings for oatmealcious inspiration and came up with...

Banana Bread Oatmeal (I swear it tastes just like banana bread but you don't have to feel guilty about eating it!)

Ingredients:

- 1/3 cup quick cooking rolled oats

- 1/3 cup quick cooking Irish steel cut oats

- 1 1/3 cups skim milk

- 1 mashed banana- leave some little chunks for texture

- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract

- 1 tsp cinnamon

- 1/4 tsp salt

- 2 tbsp sugar (I used granulated because it was all that was in the pantry this morning but you could substitute with fake sugar, brown sugar, agave, honey, etc.)

* Would also be delicious with slivered or sliced almonds!

I tried to add cocoa powder and a few dark chocolate chips, but my suggestion got vetoed.  If anyone tries that, please let me know!

Directions:

Mix all ingredients together

We let the mixture soak for 30 minutes but you can skip that step if you're in a hurry

Preheat oven to 360F

Spray two ramekins with nonstick cooking spray

Bake for 30 minutes

Turn heat up to 450F and bake for another 5 minutes to get a nice crust on the top and sides

This smelled and tasted EXACTLY like banana bread.  Not too sweet and had a perfect balance of flavors!

Note: This recipe was supposed to be for two people...but each of us only ate half.  Leftovers tomorrow morning!

Enjoy!!