Baked Pumpkin Pie OatmealHappy Pumpkin Oatmeal Day! OK, technically it’s National Oatmeal Day, but since National Pumpkin Day was on Monday, and I missed it (drat!), I decided to make this recipe for Baked Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal a two-fer. I started with my favorite baked steel-cut oatmeal recipe and tweaked it (why reinvent the wheel, I say). I added pumpkin and more milk, changed the nuts and dried fruit, and made the spices more pumpkin-worthy. This is morning #2 of it, and I say it’s delicioso!

The extra milk, the three eggs and the nuts give this breakfast dish a little protein bump. Whenever I have a new patient who mentions they eat oatmeal (cooked in water) with fruit for breakfast, I ask, “So, how do you feel afterwards?” The response is almost always, “I’m starving an hour later!” Yep, not enough protein.

I wanted to use pumpkin pie spice, but I didn’t have any, so I made my own. The “recipe” for that is included below. It makes roughly double the amount you’ll need for the oatmeal recipe.

Baked Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

  • 3 eggs
  • 1-3/4 cups milk of choice
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • ¼ cup maple syrup
  • 2 tablespoons butter or coconut oil (melted and slightly cooled)
  • 1-1/2 cups steel-cut oats
  • 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
  • Pinch of sea salt
  • 1/2 cup pecans (or nuts of choice)
  • 1/2 cup dried cranberries
  • Additional butter or coconut oil for greasing the pan

Directions:

  1. The night before, grease an 8-by-8-inch square pan or a deep pie pan with butter or coconut oil.
  2. Whisk the eggs in a medium-size bowl. Add the liquid ingredients (milk, maple syrup, vanilla) and whisk just to combine. Add the dry ingredients (oats, spices, salt, pecans, dried cranberries) and whisk again to combine.
  3. Pour into the prepared pan, cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator to to soak overnight (about 8 to 12 hours).
  4. The next morning, remove the oatmeal mixture from the refrigerator and preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Bake for about 60 minutes until the top is golden brown and a knife inserted in the center comes out clean and dry.
  5. You can serve immediately if you want to scoop it out of the pan. If you prefer to cut it into squares or wedges, allow it to cool for 5 or 10 minutes, first. This also reheats quite well!

 

Pumpkin Pie Spice

Makes about 2 tablespoons

Ingredients:

  • 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
  • 2 teaspoons ground ginger
  • 1/2 teaspoon allspice
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Directions:

  1. Mix all spices together in a small bowl. Store extra in an air-tight jar or container.
  2. Note: Some people find cloves too “assertive.” If this is true for you, you can cut the amount of cloves in half, if you want your spice a bit gentler!

Since it’s Oatmeal Day, I found it appropriate to call up the website of my favorite cartoonist so I could fall down laughing. Have you met The Oatmeal? If not, I highly recommend him…especially his cat comics.