Cinnamon Chia Oatmeal bake with Coconut Whipped Cream

I made the kids and I some baked oatmeal this morning.  I adapted the recipe from a new blog I found called, Skinny Mom's Kitchen.  Her recipe looked delicious, so I just made a few changes using coconut oil, coconut milk and added some chia seeds for additional nutrition.  Since I was on the coconut theme, I played around with the coconut whipped cream as well.  Don't like coconut??  No worries!  Outside of the whipped cream, which you could omit, you will find that there is no shockingly crazy coconut flavor to this dish.  It's very cinnamony (is that a word?) and this is a basic recipe in which you could play around with all sorts of flavors.  How about almond flavoring, using a mashed banana rather than applesauce, or adding peanut butter........PEANUT BUTTER, why did I not add that??  The possibilities are really endless.  Play around with it and let me know what you come up with.

Cinnamon Chia Oatmeal Bake with Coconut Whipped Cream

Ingredients:

¼ cup coconut oil, melted

¼ cup honey (I used raw honey, so this too needed to be melted in the microwave for a few seconds)

2 large eggs, beaten

½ cup applesauce (I used my home made apple pear sauce I cooked up yesterday)

1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

3 cups rolled oats

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 cup chia seeds

1 cup coconut milk

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

1. In a medium to large bowl mix together oil, honey, eggs, applesauce, cinnamon, and vanilla.
2. Add to the bowl rolled oats, baking powder, chia seeds and milk. Mix until thoroughly combined.
3. Pour oat mixture into an 8 inch square baking dish and bake for 20 - 22 minutes. Let sit for about 3 minutes, cut into 9 squares, and serve warm.

If you so desire, feel free to top with some coconut whipped cream.  Here is the instructions I followed from Nutty Kitchen.  I probably added a good 1/4 tsp of cinnamon and 1/2 tsp vanilla to sweeten it up.  Another alternative would be to use liquid vanilla stevia drops.  

The site that I adapted the recipe from said that these would freeze and reheat nicely. After they cook and are cooled, you could simply wrap individually in plastic wrap then place in labeled freezer bag for the freezer.

In Good Health,

Debbie