Healthy Soaked and Baked Oatmeal

Did you all see the whole Gwenyth Paltrow $4/day food debacle going down on the internet this past week or so?  Oh the horror of having to survive on only $4...despite the fact that the "S" in SNAP stands for "supplemental" and not "this should provide for everything you need."  Anyways, this made me curious about our budget so I did some quick math and discovered that Aaron and I eat for approximately $4/day.  Perhaps a little more but only because we purchased a 1/4 of a cow last year and we are privileged to get to eat a fair amount of high quality beef that we would not otherwise afford.  If you give us an additional $4/day for the 2 1/2 year-old, then we would definitely be well under the $4/day.  I have a whole list of tips and tricks that help us to stick to our budget but today I wanted to share an easy and healthy breakfast recipe.  I generally make us soaked baked oatmeal about once a week.  If you read healthy cooking blogs at all, you've probably heard of soaked grains.  I'm really bad at remembering to soak things but I do usually get around to soaking my beans and my oatmeal.  If you're new to soaking, here is the low down on the health benefits.  

I was going to copy and paste the original recipe (which you can view here), but then I realized that I made so many changes that I might as well write up my version of this recipe.

Healthy Soaked and Baked Oatmeal

Soaking the Oats:

The day or night before you plan on eating the oatmeal, put 4 cups of oats into a 9 x 13 in pan with one of the following combinations:

2 cups of yogurt and 1 c of filtered water

3 c filtered water and 3 T of whey, vinegar or lemon juice

Let the oats sit overnight.  In the morning, mix together the following ingredients in a big bowl.

4 eggs

1/2 C sugar

1/3 c butter or oil (preferably coconut)

2 t vanilla

1 T cinnamon

1 T baking powder

1/2 t salt

1 mushed up banana or 1/3 c applesauce or 1/3 cup more of the butter/oil

1 c milk

Dried, fresh or canned fruit of your choosing such as raisins, peaches, blueberries more bananas, even chocolate chips and coconut. 

Pour the wet mixture in with the oats and combine.  Bake for 40 minutes at 350.  Now this isn't very sweet so feel free to add either more sugar to the oatmeal or honey on top.  I also prefer to eat it warm with milk.  

This will last us several days and I just reheat a bowlful each morning in the microwave and then add milk.  Aaron prefers to eat his cold and without milk.  

Don't let this small portion deceive you.  Since I'm still nursing through the night, I can eat at least 1/4 of the pan in one sitting. 

Kira is a big fan especially when I let her eat out on the deck so we can watch the baby rabbit.