DAY TEN: Carrot cake baked oatmeal

The weekend before last, the morning before I was due to go on holiday…the very morning I had so much to do I told myself there was no way I would go into the kitchen and make a thing! I did venture into the kitchen, I just couldn't resist.

You see, a little idea had crept up on me, an idea that simply screamed ‘brunch’ and since I was hungry and the idea was simple I ended up in the kitchen whipping up a quick and simple baked oatmeal dish- carrot cake style. The perfect healthy filling mid-morning brunch, perfectly double portion sized so I saved the rest for the following morning for a hassle free breakfast before my flight. It was just as yummy served cold straight from the fridge! 

I’d come across various recipes for baked oatmeal in the past, not least from two of my favourite blogs Chocolate Covered Katie and Oh She Glows, but I’d never made a baked oatmeal dish of my own before. I’m often an impatient kinda girl when it comes to my breakfast so bowls of oats and two minute breakfast cookies are my usual style. But this was worth the short wait and the bonus of a ready-made breakfast the following morning... oh yeah!

You could sweeten this up with a little more agave or a pinch of stevia if you preferred, I wanted a very lightly sweetened breakfast snack so for me this was perfect. Add some choc chunks and a little more indulgence and you could also have yourself a dessert!

My oven dish was slightly too small (note the dribbles down the sides), so I packed the remaining mixture into a silicone muffin pan hence the muffin in the photos. You make all the mixture the into muffins if you fancied. I reckon this mix would make between 4 and 6 muffins depending on size of the pans.

Recipe: Carrot cake baked oatmeal

Ingredients

2 carrots grated

1 tbs chia/flax seed

1 cup soy milk (or other vegan milk)

1 tsp cinnamon

½ tsp nutmeg or ginger

½ cup oats

2 tbs chopped pecans or walnuts

2 tbs dried cranberries (or raisins)

2 tbs desiccated coconut

1 tbs coconut sugar/rapadura/agave

Topping- sprinkling of desiccated coconut and coconut sugar

Method

Mix all ingredients together until well coated  and spoon into a greased oven dish*. Press down and smooth the top before sprinkling with a little extra desiccated coconut and coconut sugar (or other unrefined granulated sugar as desired).

Bake at 180C for approx. 20 mins until the topping is golden. Serve immediately.  This also tastes good cold the next day!

*my oven dish was approx. 20x10cm in size and I had a little mixture left over that wouldn’t fit in so I filled a silicone muffin case as well.

What Vegan MOFO means to me.

For further guidance on making gluten free choices please see this post.

For tips and info on recipe measurement conversions, ingredients, substitutions and the methods behind how I do things.... check out my 'baking tips' tab at the top of the page.

DAY EIGHT: Mantra for Monday no. 41

As a continuation of Vegan MOFO, todays mantra bridges the two element of holistic wellness with a plant based mentality. I loved this quite by Michael Pollan for its beauty and simplicity.

The garden, whether it be the small square of land outside our back door or the wide fields and meadows beyond, all point to place where nature and man can be at one. The green of our world is often underappreciated, especially for those outside of the city centres and high rise flats for whom grass and green space is the norm.

Our impact on the land around us is direct and can reap huge rewards. By this I mean on an individual scale as well as a commercial one. This apple was grown on a tree in the corner of the garden, with a little nurturing the tree gives plentiful apples each year. Similarly with my vegetable patch at work, with its bountiful fruit and veg…all the reward of a little care and attention.

What is a Mantra for Monday?

I'm taking part....Vegan MOFO 2012!

October marks the beginning of Vegan MOFO 2012.

This year I will be taking part in the action…for the first time. Excited, apprehensive, nervous…maybe a little?  Well I don’t want to disappoint now do I!

Having a little browse on the PPK Mofo forum it seems that many people get down with themed posts for the month. I liked the sound of that idea, a change from the norm giving the challenge an individual twist. 

But what should my theme be?

Then it came to me…Oats!!

You know how much I love my oats and how versatile and healthful they can be…well what better way to celebrate with a whole month of oatyliciousness.

Oats are cheap, healthy, versatile and they are the perfect comfort food for all times of day…perfect for the chilly weather slowly creeping upon us.  Check out my Recipage here for oat based recipes to date.

So here we have the grand plan:

Sunday: “Summary Sunday…what’s going down in MOFO land?” a collection of inspiring links.

Monday: ”Mantra for Monday” following the theme of my usual ‘mantras’ but with a vegan twist.

Tuesday: recipes with an oaty theme

Wednesday: recipes with an oatytheme

Thursday: recipes with an oaty theme

Friday: recipes with an oaty theme

Saturday: “Surprise me Saturday” going freestyle with a non-oat based recipe that taken my fancy.

I figured I’d throw in Saturday as a freestyle day for other recipes that have taken my fancy through the week…as even I might go insane with that many oats…!

So the challenge is set. Roll On MOFO!!  Annoyingly I am actually away on holiday for the first week on October, so I'm busy prepping my posts to be scheduled for next week...I will do my best to find an internet cafe and check in as often as I can next week! After that you will have my full attention.

super sized oatmeal breakfast bowl...oh yeah!!
(ok this was actually a breakfast/lunch in one combo)

A brief side note to put you on the picture. As regular readers will know, whilst I do not have a gluten intolerance myself, the recipes on the blog are typically wheat free or gluten free as I believe that we could all do with less wheat in our day to day diets.  I appreciate that for those with serious gluten intolerances, oats as also a no no due to gluten cross contamination. However there are brands of GF oats available that I understand most people can handle, so I hope that you can all join in with me and get some oaty inspiration along the way to carry you through into these chilly winter months to come. For further guidance on making gluten free choices please see this post.