Baked Pumpkin Oatmeal

Fall is upon us, and one of the only good thing about fall (in my  mind, since it leads directly to winter!) is the ready availability of pumpkins!
This is when I try out all the pumpkin recipes I can find or think of!
I was surfing around Budget Bytes website after making Crockpot Taco Chicken and came across Baked Pumpkin Oatmeal! It sounded so good I had to try it right away!!

Very simple, very tasty and very filling!

Ingredients
2 Cups Pumpkin Puree
1/2 Cup Brown Sugar
2 Large Eggs
1 Tsp. Pumpkin Pie Spice
1/2 Tsp. Salt
3/4 Tsp. Baking Powder
1/2 Tsp. Vanilla
1.5 Cups Milk (any type of milk will work if you are a dairy free house)
2.5 Cups Rolled Oats (Do not be tempted to use Steel Cut Oats...it turns out awful, trust me!)
Optional: Add 1/2 Cup Yogurt (leaving milk at 1.5 cups), or reduce milk to 1 cup and add 1 Cup  Yogurt. I added 1/2 Cup of Greek Yogurt for some extra protein :)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk together the first 7 ingredients. Add the milk (and yogurt if using) and whisk until smooth. 
Mix the dry oats into the mixture. Grease an 8x10 pan. Pour the mixture in. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake for another 15-30 minutes. It is cooked when it starts to crack on top and the edges start to brown.
Eat hot right out of the oven, or refrigerate until ready to serve. Can be eaten cold or reheated. Top with milk, maple syrup, whipped cream or nuts. I like mine heated up with cold milk on top. Sooo good on a cold, damp fall day! 

Smoothies!!

Mmmm smoothies! So yummy, cool, refreshing and yes, healthy! My 1 year old has decided she is a smoothie lover so I have been throwing them together a little more often. Really you can throw any type of fruit in, pretty much any quantity you want and add extras to it, but if you like to have a recipe to follow, this is one that I have concocted that we like :)



Ingredients

2 Bananas

2/3 Cup Blueberries

1 Cup Mixed Frozen Fruit (mine had melons, grapes, strawberries, mangos etc. in it)

1 Cup Coconut Milk (I used canned)

1 Cup Plain Yogurt

1 Cup Milk

1/4 Cup Ground Flax Seed (optional)

1/4 Cup Whey Powder  (optional)



My blender isn't the best,  so I blend a bit after every addition, and I had to thaw my frozen fruit first, but it turned out yummy! If you don't like bits in your smoothie then I suggest you leave out the flax, but it does add a lot of health benefits! If you think it's too thick, just add some extra milk and re-blend.



It's like a tropical smoothie. You can taste the coconut, but it's not overpowering, you can taste the banana but it's not a 'banana smoothie'. All the flavours flow together and compliment each other nicely!



Bottoms up!

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Organic Milk Selection

I have been on the hunt for a better place to buy organic milk then Safeway (nothing against Safeway it's just really out of my way!), and discovered that Superstore, Walmart and Save On Foods all carry it! Save On Foods and Walmart actually carry 4L jugs too, and have skim, 1%, 2% and homogenized . Yay!!
The prices are pretty close, but Save On Foods actually has the cheapest price (they have 2 brands, I cant remember what the names were), followed closely by Walmart and then Superstore and bringing up the most expensive end is Safeway. Don't get me wrong, it's still not 'cheap', but it's cheaper.
Save On Foods has 4L for $8.49 (ouch!), BUT they have a sale on right now that if you cash in 1,000 points you get it for $5.99. Not bad when a regular 4L jug of homogenized milk is around $4.50. Their 2L's are $4.99. They also have a WONDERFUL selection of organic yogurt! Still not super convenient for me, but I do pass a Save On Foods more often then a Safeway.
Walmart had plain organic yogurt and they do have a pretty good selection of milk as well and I go there more often, so it's looking like Walmart may be the winner in this one just to avoid an extra stop just for dairy.
Superstore has 2L jugs of 1%, 2% and homogenized, but I didn't see any yogurt.
Safeway does have plain yogurt (which is on sale this week!) but not flavours.

I have been drinking so much more milk since finding out how much better organic tastes! I find myself sitting down at lunch and supper with a glass of it because I enjoy it so much. I've never been a milk lover, and usually if I have milk in the evening I feel quite sick. Not with organic!! Because I've been drinking more I've decided to go cold turkey and bought Skim (0%) milk for myself. It's not bad, and because it's got that great flavour it's easier to handle the no fat! Although I may cut it with the kids homogenized just a little until I get fully used to it!

I noticed that Save On Foods carries Hemp milk...anyone tried that? I'm also waiting for So Nice to bring their Coconut milk to Canada! I like the tinned stuff for smoothies, but a drinkable one would be nice. Friends of ours only use Almond milk, and I got to try that recently and it's actually pretty tasty. And to think I've spent all these years thinking 'milk is milk'. There's a whole world of milk out there!!

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Yogurt Biscuits

My kids love these for breakfast, snack, lunch...pretty much anytime they are available! The best part is that you can make them with whatever yogurt you have on hand :) A good way to use up ready to expire yogurt.They have a refreshing 'cool' taste to them and go well with butter, jam, peanut butter or just plain.

Ingredients
2 Cups of Biscuit Mix (Recipe)
1 Cup Yogurt

Preheat oven to 450 F
Mix together and drop portions on a greased baking sheet.
Bake for 8-10 minutes until bottoms are brown and tops are starting to brown. Enjoy!