Baked Oatmeal

In the next two months our family has two trips to the beach. One for Andrew's sisters wedding, and one for a group vacation.

This means that bathing suit season is quickly approaching.

While I am not trying to lose any weight, I am really, really wanting to tone up. So I started joining Amber for Zumba Class.

If you have not tried Zumba, you have to! It mixes different dances together with a lotta booty shaking and is SO fun! It is one of those workouts that you feel like your not really working out until you wake up two days later and can barely stand up!

Andrew is also trying to workout and drop a few pounds. Besides working out we decided to set some personal goals to help us reach our goals.

One of mine is to eat breakfast.

Ugh! I am not a fan of breakfast!

But, I know it's good for me and I desperately want to get back on track with our families healthy eating so I started to search for recipes.

Josie and I made this one yesterday morning and OH MY!

BAKED OATMEAL

For a Healthier, Daily Version: decrease sugar to 2 cups, baking powder to 2 tsp., omit the butter completely and add 2-3 tbsp. flax seed.When fresh fruit is in season, top the oatmeal with the fruit instead of baking it in. Also, it's delicious with thawed crushed (previously frozen) strawberries (no sugar added) on top.

2 1/2 cup brown sugar

4 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 cup butter, melted

6 eggs

3 cups milk

9 cups rolled oats (NOT quick oats)

2 cups dried or fresh fruit- blueberries, raspberries, wineberries, ground cherries (increase sugar by 1/4 cup since these are a bit sour), chopped peaches, apples, raisins or any combination

Using a large bowl, combine ingredients in the order listed above, stirring after each addition or so. Spread into a greased 9 x 13 inch baking dish and bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes, until the edges begin to brown. Do not over bake.

It is best right out of the oven, but reheats well in the microwave. Can be eaten cold or warmed, with or without milk poured over it.

We did fresh strawberries and frozen blueberries and I cut the recipe in half. That still made enough to last us at least 3 days.

I found it over on Thy Hands Hath Provided (pretty much my new favorite since we are starting our veggie garden on Wednesday!)

Another big change is that Andrew is not eating meat and Josie and I are only eating a very small portion once a day. It's been a week now and I feel wonderful.

I thought about cutting out sugar, which seems to be all the rage right now, but I chickened out!

I had to do some searching for vegitarian recipes that my super picky husband would like so I will be sharing those as I make them. So far we've done a Veggie Stir Fry and lots of Salad and Sweet Potatoes!