Pumpkin Baked Oatmeal

The impending colder weather this week (and it's arrival yesterday) have put me in the mood for baking.  I'm not sure what it is about the change of seasons (if you can call it that here in Texas) that makes me want to mix up and bake all kinds of yummy things.  Obviously, this can be a huge detriment to my healthier goals right now.  Fortunately, I came across a recipe on Pinterest for baked oatmeal.  It seemed healthy and my hope was that it would be something that I and my girls would enjoy for breakfast.

I tried this original recipe with a substitution  I didn't have any silken tofu (and wasn't in the mood to haul a sick 2 year old to the store for it), so I put in some plain greek yogurt.  I wasn't sure exactly how much a 1/2 a block of tofu would be so I used 3/4 c. yogurt instead.  It worked pretty well.  They came out tasting okay but not fantastic.  I went for less brown sugar, so with the yogurt, it had just a bit of a bitter flavor.  Next time I will use a bit more sugar.

On to my recipe though.  I got to thinking how great these would be in different flavors.  They are easy and inexpensive to make, so my idea was to make batches of different flavors and freeze them.  I decided to honor fall and try my idea for pumpkin baked oatmeal first.  I think they turned out pretty darn good.  I don't normally like to eat breakfast right away, even though the experts say you should.  These are great to have on hand because they taste yummy with my coffee, and at only 122 calories each, I can eat one right away and then have some eggs later in the morning to balance it out.  I haven't tried them out on the kidlets yet, but my suspicions are Eliza will like them and Evie won't. 

So here's the recipe.  Forgive me, I'm not a pro blogger who has beautiful step-by-step pictures.  Here is my attempt at a somewhat attractive picture.  They taste good anyway. 

Pumpkin Baked Oatmeal Bars

2 c. old-fashioned oats
1/2 c. brown sugar (I ran out on the original batch, and used 1/3 c. agave nectar.  If you use it, put in the blender with wet ingredients.)
1 tbsp pumpkin pie spice
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
3/4 c. milk
3/4 c. pureed pumpkin
1/2 c. applesauce
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350.

In a bowl, combine oats, brown sugar, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, and salt. In a blender, combine milk, pumpkin, applesauce, and vanilla and blend until smooth.  Pour into the bowl with dry ingredients and mix well.  Spread into a sprayed 8 x 8 baking dish.  If you are baking it right away, cook for 40 minutes.  Otherwise, you can let it sit overnight and bake it for 30 minutes as the oats will have absorbed more of the liquid.  Slice into 9 squares and serve.  Each square has approximately 122 calories.

For the next batch I want to try putting some apples in.  I'll let you know how it goes.