Easy Baked Blueberry Banana Oatmeal

It’s been a really fun Vegan MoFo, and for my next post I’ll recap some of my favorites from my blog and others during this amazing past month! For the last Yup, it’s vegan MoFo post of my blog’s inaugural year, I’m sharing {a version of} my favorite meal.

For over 3 years now, I have eaten the same breakfast every day, with exceptions for holidays/vacation and bad hangovers. Oatmeal, almond milk, banana, berries, psyllium husk, a pinch of cinnamon, and peanut butter. I would complain about being bored of my breakfast routine, but the truth is, I still think it tastes awesome, and love eating it every single morning. Bonus points for being wholesome and filling, with no sweetener.

This breakfast is full of calcium, has plenty of fiber to keep me full until lunch, has 1.5 servings of fruit, scores healthy fats, and gets me well on my way to my daily target of whole grains. Also, it’s delicious. Did I mention that? I wouldn’t have eaten this more than one thousand times if it wasn’t.

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I know that I’m kind of a freak, and always eating the exact same breakfast isn’t for everyone. But still, maybe you can work it into your rotation!

A little over a month ago, I started a new job. I used to work weird research lab hours, and usually didn’t have to leave home until lunchtime. So cooking up some oatmeal wasn’t a noteworthy time suck on my day. Things are different these days. I’m up by 7 and out the door by 7:30 for my 30 minute bike ride to work. Hey, I’m no supermom and I know this would be a luxury for some, but for me, it represents an unusual new time crunch.

Solution: stop cooking up a single-serving of oatmeal for every breakfast. Make a baked oatmeal with a few servings at a time to cut down on wasted time and the morning rush! Not only that, but I get to make it fancier with added flavors, and I don’t have to sit by the microwave crossing my fingers that it won’t boil over.

Now I just nuke a slab of this baked oatmeal in the microwave, top it with some peanut butter, and I’m ready to eat, with only one dirty plate to clean up. 🙂

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Easy Baked Blueberry Banana Oatmeal
Makes 3 servings and is easily doubled

1.5 cups quick oats
2 tb powdered psyllium husk (see notes)
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1.5 cups plain, unsweetened almond milk (or other nondairy milk)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp almond extract
2 bananas, thinly sliced (see notes)
3/4 cup frozen blueberries (see notes)
(optional, for serving) natural peanut butter

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, and lightly grease a loaf pan. In a bowl, stir oats, psyllium husk powder, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon until evenly distributed. Add almond milk, vanilla extract, and almond extract and stir well. Gently fold in bananas and frozen blueberries. Pour into loaf pan, and bake for about 30 minutes, or until firm and slightly browned on top.

Eat right away, or store in the refrigerator for up to a week and reheat individual servings in the microwave.

Notes: Psyllium husk. It’s a natural plant source of dietary fiber that is especially great for people with digestive problems (like moi). Because it absorbs a lot of water, it’s sometimes used to replace eggs, too, and it does serve that function in this oatmeal. It’s important not to have any pockets of psyllium husk powder when you add the liquid to the mix, because they will turn into weird little balls of gel almost instantly. You have been warned. You can substitute ground flax or chia if you like.

Bananas. They aren’t required to be overripe! Very ripe bananas will produce an even sweeter final product, though, which you might desire. My ideal bananas for this are the ones that are just starting to get spots on them, but I’ve used bananas from all across the spectrum and it always works. Trust :).

Blueberries. Frozen are best because they will release some added moisture and tend to be the sweetest/most flavorful (unless it’s early summer in the Pacific Northwest right now… boy do I miss living there). If you are lucky enough to have fresh blueberries that don’t cost an arm and a leg and are sweet and delicious… by all means, use them!