Tasty Snack Tuesday - Banana Bread Baked Oatmeal

So today's feature is less of a snack and more of a meal, but that's okay right?

I love oatmeal in any way, shape, or form - baked, cooked in the microwave (which is usually what happens), boiled on the stove - I just love it!  So many recipes are for serving several people, so when I came across this single serving, I knew I had to hang onto the recipe.  It only takes 20 minutes to bake - you could mix it up, pop it in the oven, and run around after a crazy little guy enjoy your coffee while its cooking like I did.  And it makes quite a generous serving, which is always a plus in my oatmeal-book!  Here's the recipe:

Banana Bread Baked Oatmeal

1/3 cup oats
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon brown sugar
1/2 to 1 teaspoon cinnamon (I used an entire teaspoon and it was perfect for me)
pinch of salt
1/3 cup milk of your choice
1 egg white
1 mashed ripe banana
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
sugar-free syrup for topping, optional

This could not be any easier.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and grease a small oven-proof dish (I used a 16 ounce corning ware ramekin).  Then its as easy as mixing the dry, mixing the wet, then combining these two sets of ingredients (though, if you don't have a super-ripe banana like I didn't this morning, I used my immersion blender to really incorporate it into the milk at first).

fresh from the oven

....and stirred up a bit

What I really liked about this recipe was that it truly didn't need any extra sweetness, though I did add just a touch of sugar-free syrup, but it would have been fine without it.  One very important tip - DON'T FORGET to add the baking powder, which is what I did!  I had to laugh at myself when my oatmeal only had 5 minutes of baking left and I realized I forgot that.  I NEVER do that!  Oh well, it still came out great, but I can only imagine how much fluffier it will be when you add that important component.

Now go make yourself some yummy oatmeal!  And side note, sorry I skipped out on Sweet Sunday.  I actually baked up a couple of great things this weekend, but we were enjoying a wonderful grandparents visit, which also meant quality time for Chris and myself, sooooo..... it will be back this Sunday!  I hope you are off to a great week so far!

Recipe adapted from Healthy Food for Living