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I heart oatmeal, I think is the correct expression. I may just stop writing there. Oats are a wonderful grain and fit into breakfast, cookies, everything, etc. Groats, steel-cut, or rolled, they are amazingly fulfilling, enjoyable to eat, and fit into even the, “I just moved to New York and am sharing a closet as a room with a friend” budget. Regular oatmeal is great on its own, but lately we have been going nuts over baked oatmeal.

We have had baked oatmeal nearly every day while fine tuning this one. Even my four-year old, who had forgotten that he liked oatmeal for two years, has been lining up for this. Truly, this is not a hard sell.

I have seen recipes for baked oatmeal that call for eggs. Now, I eat eggs, but usually not in my oatmeal. I do, however, love flax seed in my oatmeal. And since I regularly use flax seed in place of egg, this was the easiest decision I made all day. With the flax seed, the more ground the better, if you have flax flour, awesome; we have a Baby Bullet from when we were making baby food for our youngest, and this works great.  If you do want to do the eggs, this converts over as 2 eggs in place of the flax seed and water.

I swear I am trying to space out the blueberry recipes, but when they are in season, pretty much goes in everything for a while. To balance that out, we’ll have two versions of this.

The other top contender in this area has been Apple Cranberry Walnut. There’s raisins in there too, but you have to stop the name somewhere, right? Both of these go quick, so be prepared for that. Recipes as they stand are roughly 2.5 servings. I am sure in some homes this is actually 3 servings, but for us, 2.5 is already stretching it.

Peach Blueberry Baked Oatmeal

Ingredients

2.5 TBSP Ground Flax Seed
7 TBSP Warm Water

1 Cup Blueberries
2 or 3 Whole Ripe Peaches

1/4 Cup Brown Sugar
1.5 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt

2 Cups Rice Milk
2 Cups Old Fashioned Rolled Oats

Steps

· Preheat oven to 325 F
· In a large mixing bowl, combine ground flax seed and water, set aside.
· If you are using frozen blueberries, place in a small colander and rinse thoroughly.
· Peel and cut up peaches, set aside
· In the large mixing bowl, add cinnamon, baking powder, brown sugar, and salt. Whisk these together.
· Mix in oats and rice milk.
· If you are using frozen blueberries, rinse again.
· Fold in the peaches and blueberries

· Pour into an oven-safe 2 QT dish
· Bake for 50 minutes

Apple Cranberry Walnut Baked Oatmeal

Ingredients

2.5 TBSP Ground Flax Seed
7 TBSP Warm Water

1 or 2 Apples

1/3 Cup Brown Sugar
1.5 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 Cup Walnut pieces
1/4 Cup dried Cranberries

2 Cups Rice Milk
2 Cups Old Fashioned Rolled Oats
1/2 Cup Water

Steps

· Preheat oven to 325 F
· In a large mixing bowl, combine ground flax seed and water, set aside.
· Cut up apple, put in oven safe 2 QT dish and put in oven while preheating.
· In the large mixing bowl, add cinnamon, baking powder, brown sugar, and salt. Whisk these together.
· Mix in oats and rice milk.
· Fold in the walnut, cranberries and raisins.

· Carefully remove dish from oven. Pour remaining ingredients into oven-safe 2 QT dish.

· Bake for 50 minutes
Enjoy and repeat as needed.

Keep living the daydream!

Continue reading »]]> Vegan Mocha Almond Fudge Melted Ice Cream Cake

Ok, bear with me, I know I am doing dessert two nights in a row, but these are worth it, and this one has coffee in it, so it’s at least partially a breakfast food. This cake was a spin-off from my Vegan Peanut Butter Zig Zag Melted Ice Cream Cake for the So Delicious 2013 Recipe Contest earlier this year. The idea of melting the ice cream and turning it into a cake worked out great a way to enjoy the ice cream in a new form. The almonds add a good texture and some crunch that compliments the coffee-chocolaty goodness from the ice cream.

Ingredients

For the Cake

1/2 pint So Delicious Mocha Almond Fudge Ice Cream
1-1/2 tablespoons ground flaxseed
4-1/2 tablespoons water
1-1/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup dairy-free buttery spread (such as Earth Balance)
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Frosting

5 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
1/2 cup dairy-free buttery spread
3/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon safflower oil (or other neutral-tasting oil)
1/3 cup strong coffee
1/4 cup vanilla dairy-free creamer (such as So Delicious French Vanilla Coconut Milk Creamer)

Ganache

1/2 cup dairy-free chocolate chips
2 tablespoons dairy-free buttery spread
2 tablespoons vanilla dairy-free creamer (such as So Delicious French Vanilla Coconut Milk Creamer)

Instructions

For the Cake

Preheat oven to 375ºF
Get ice cream out of the freezer and set aside in a bowl allowing to melt.
Mix flax and water in small bowl and set aside.
Mix flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt in a medium mixing bowl.
In a large mixing bowl, beat together the buttery spread, sugar, flax mixture and vanilla. Add in the melted ice cream.
Gradually add in the flour mixture
Pour into a greased 9-inch cake pan.
Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
Cool completely before adding frosting & ganache.

Frosting

Mix together the flour and cocoa, and set aside.
Mix the buttery spread, sugar and oil with an electric mixer on medium for one minute. Blend in the coffee and creamer, followed by the flour mixture.
Refrigerate for 10-30 min before frosting cake

Ganache

Combine ingredients and heat in small saucepan until melted. Drizzle over cake.

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I did this cake for the So Delicious 2013 Recipe Contest earlier this year. The idea was placed out there to come up with ideas using one or more of their products. Let’s just say, the research and development department had been well primed for this project. I LOVE their ice creams, and make a point to highlight them whenever someone starts to go down that “man, you can’t eat ice cream” road. Having a mild-to-moderate obsession with chocolate and peanut butter combinations, this zig zag had been something of a staple in the house for several years now. Coming back to the recipe contest, it was a given that I was going to do something with the ice creams, just a function of what it would be. Melting the ice cream and turning it into a cake worked out great a way to enjoy the ice cream in a new form.

Ingredients

For the Cake

1/2 pint So Delicious Chocolate Peanut Butter Dairy-Free Frozen Dessert

1-1/2 tablespoons ground flaxseed
4-1/2 tablespoons water
1-1/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup dairy-free buttery spread (such as Earth Balance)
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoons vanilla extract

Frosting

5 tablespoons flour
3 tablespoons cocoa powder
1/2 cup dairy-free buttery spread
3/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon safflower oil (or other neutral-tasting oil)
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup vanilla dairy-free creamer (such as So Delicious French Vanilla Coconut Milk Creamer)
Ganache

1/2 cup dairy-free chocolate chips
2 tablespoons dairy-free buttery spread
2 tablespoons vanilla dairy-free creamer (such as So Delicious French Vanilla Coconut Milk Creamer)

Instructions

For the Cake

Preheat oven to 375ºF
Get ice cream out of the freezer and set aside in a bowl allowing to melt.
Mix flax and water in small bowl and set aside.
Mix flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt in a medium mixing bowl.
In a large mixing bowl, beat together the buttery spread, sugar, flax mixture and vanilla. Add in the melted ice cream.
Gradually add in the flour mixture
Pour into a greased 9-inch cake pan.
Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
Cool completely before adding frosting and ganache.
Frosting
Mix together the flour and cocoa, and set aside.
Mix the buttery spread, sugar, oil and peanut butter with an electric mixer on medium for one minute. Blend in the creamer, followed by the flour mixture.
Refrigerate for 10 to 30 min before frosting cake
Ganache
Combine ingredients and heat in small saucepan until melted. Drizzle over cake.

Enjoy, and keep living the daydream!