Oatmeal & Yogurt Pancakes

This is a really great recipe because it's so easy to make different flavors and it's healthier than a box mix. Use any flavor yogurt you have on hand, blueberry would be great and you could also add extra fresh or frozen blueberries! These are very filling!

Oatmeal & Yogurt Pancakes

Ingredients:

2 cups oats (ground to a flour like consistency)
1/2 cup ground flax seed
1 cup yogurt
1 cup applesauce
2 eggs

Directions:

Mix all ingredients together and brown both sides on a heated skillet, cook through. Serve with fruit preserves or syrup.

Oatmeal Pie

How many different ways can you eat oatmeal? I don't know, but I'm determined to find out :) This recipe was adapted from the book Simply in Season by Mary Beth Lind and Cathleen Hockman-Wert. What they call "Baked Oatmeal" we re-named "Oatmeal Pie" because when I handed Michael a bowl of this and he was expecting just oatmeal he was a little skeptical. "What kind of oatmeal is it?" he asked. "It doesn't look like oatmeal." Well it's Oatmeal..... uhhhh (come on super Mommy be brilliant here) Pie! It's Oatmeal Pie." And with that he got a huge smile on his face, hopped up in his chair and said "Yum! I Love pie!."

After my alterations here is the recipe we ended up with -

Ingredients:

2 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup ground flax seed
1/2 cup (or more) raisins
2 ripe bananas (mashed)
1/2 cup brown sugar (reserve about 2 Tablespoons for the top)
1 cup milk
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 Tablespoons oil
1 egg (beaten)

Directions:

Heat oven to 350 F and grease a 8x8" pan.

Mix all of the ingredients together (dry in one bowl, wet in another and then all together).

Smooth into prepared pan and sprinkle with reserved brown sugar.

Bake at 350 F for 25 minutes.

Serve warm.

Oatmeal Muffins Your Way

I wanted something similar to eating a bowl of oatmeal, but without the mush... I'm not big on mush for breakfast. We all know oatmeal with a little fruit is a healthy breakfast so I was determined to come up with a fun way to eat it. Muffins. I love muffins. But many muffins can be worse for you than a donut as far as calories, fat and sugar are concerned!

These muffins were so perfect in my mind as I lay there trying to sleep, but unable to because of the NyQuil I knew I shouldn't have taken because it always keeps me up. Lucky me they turned out just as perfect the next morning.

Base muffin ingredients:

* 1 cup Oats
* 1/4 cup Almonds
* 1/4 cup Flax Seed Meal (ground flax)
* 1/4 cup flour
* 2 teaspoons Baking Powder
* 1/2 teaspoon Salt
* 3/4 cup Milk (1%)
* 1 Egg
* 1/4 cup Canola Oil
* 1/4 cup Applesauce, unsweetened
* 1 Banana (very ripe)
* 2 teaspoons Cinnamon

Directions:

Heat oven to 350 F and grease 24 mini muffin tins or 12 regular.

Mix oil, applesauce, banana, milk and egg in a large bowl.

Put dry ingredients in your food processor and grind to a fine powder.

Fold dry ingredients into your wet ingredients and mix until just combined.

Fill muffin tins to the top with batter.

*For the regular muffin tins you can fill them half way, add some of the topping (I'll describe in a minute) and then top with remaining batter and topping. The nutrition information below is for the base muffin recipe (12 regular muffins) and does not include the toppings.

12 Servings
Amount Per Serving
Calories		121.8
Total Fat		7.4 g
	Saturated Fat	0.9 g
	Polyunsaturated Fat	2.6 g
	Monounsaturated Fat	4.0 g
Cholesterol		18.5 mg
Sodium		106.8 mg
Potassium		155.2 mg
Total Carbohydrate		15.9 g
	Dietary Fiber	2.8 g
	Sugars	2.6 g
Protein		3.2 g

Vitamin A	1.3 %
Vitamin B-12	1.8 %
Vitamin B-6	4.5 %
Vitamin C	1.8 %
Vitamin D	2.5 %
Vitamin E	8.2 %
Calcium	8.6 %
Copper	6.1 %
Folate	4.3 %
Iron	7.1 %
Magnesium	8.6 %
Manganese	39.6 %
Niacin	2.2 %
Pantothenic Acid	3.3 %
Phosphorus	12.1 %
Riboflavin	6.4 %
Selenium	4.1 %
Thiamin	9.0 %
Zinc	4.9 %

*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.

The toppings here are what make these muffins what they are. Think about what you like to top your oatmeal with and go from there. These are some of the toppings we tried:

Apple Cinnamon Brown Sugar:

1 Tablespoon butter (melted)
1 apple (chopped into small pieces)
1 Tablespoon brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Mix melted butter into apples and cover well. Mix cinnamon and brown sugar together and then toss with apples.

Top each muffin with some goodness :)

Banana Brown sugar Cinnamon:

1 banana (sliced)
1 Tablespoon brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Mix cinnamon and brown sugar together. Toss in banana slices and coat well.

Top each muffin with some goodness :) This was our favorite version.

Top with Blueberries as they are or any berries for that matter.

We also mixed in some dried cranberries with the apples.

Raisins and brown sugar would also be great!

Bake for 20-25 minutes.

The options are endless! What a fun way to eat your oatmeal in the morning or as a snack! Compared to the almost 450 calories and over 30 grams of sugar in a regular muffin these under 150 calorie with less than 2 grams of sugar muffins are the way to go. Thank you NyQuil.