Baked Oatmeal

Today is the first day of school for Courtney!!   In what world is it acceptable for kids to start a brand new school year in JULY???  Believe it or not - the school board did not ask ME what I thought about a July start date - so I'm doing my best to just roll with it - but, just for the record - I'm completely against it. 

The start of the school year means early morning alarms and just general chaos and grumpiness (mostly from me) in the mornings.  So the challenge is to come up with quick and nutritious breakfast ideas to feed my family before they head out the door while maintaining some sense of morning pleasantness.

Lucky for me, one of Courtney's favorite breakfast foods is oatmeal.  What could be easier than oatmeal?  Whether it's one of my homemade oatmeal packets or a Quaker instant oatmeal packet - let's face it - oatmeal is one of the quickest and easiest things that I can make in the morning. 

This summer Courtney and I learned a new way to enjoy oatmeal and I am super excited to share it with you.  Ben's cousin Tyler whipped up a batch of peanut butter chocolate chip oatmeal for and Courtney and I while we were visiting his family in Illinois this summer.  We came home and made his recipe to share with Ben and Ryan.  Needless to say - we are all huge baked oatmeal fans now.

It's no secret that I add chocolate chips to just about anything that I can so it should not come as any surprise that I even eat them in oatmeal.  The addition of peanut butter makes this oatmeal all the better.   I'm sure that this would be a healthier breakfast without peanut butter and chocolate but lets face it - it wouldn't be nearly as good.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Baked Oatmeal

• 1 1/2 cups quick cooking oats
  
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 tablespoon butter, melted
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/4 cup peanut butter
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips
  

Combine dry ingredients. 

Combine milk, butter, vanilla and peanut butter.

Add wet ingredients to dry and stir to combine. 

Stir in chocolate chips.

Scoop filling into a greased 8 inch square pan.

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Bake 20 minutes at 350.

Slice and serve warm. 

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Crumble squares into oatmeal and pour warm milk over oatmeal. 

This yummy breakfast is our new favorite AND it took me less than 30 minutes - start to finish.  Thank you Tyler for sharing your recipe. 

Even though it came way to soon for my taste - we all survived the first morning of school 2015.  There were awkward first day pictures, backpacks full of school supplies, a new lunch box and of course there was peanut butter chocolate chip baked oatmeal. 

Now that Courtney is off to school and Ben is off to work - its just Mia and I left at home to console ourselves with the rest of the baked oatmeal - this is not going to end well.

Click here for a printable version of this recipe