blissful eats with tina jeffers: Baked coconut oatmeal

Now that the weather is changing I’m craving something warm and comforting to start the day with.  Heidi Swanson is one of my favorite bloggers and this is a variation of one of her recipes.  Here recipes are always unique, easy to prepare and free of artificial ingredients.  I basically took two of her recipes and combined them into one.  I loved the idea of coconut, lemon and poppy seeds for breakfast.  It’s nice to bake up a batch of this on the weekend and then I can have a warm breakfast ready in minutes.  The variations for this are endless and you can get really creative.  I think some mango layered into the mixture before baking would be lovely or you can switch things up and try a version with pumpkin and hazelnuts.  I’m sure you’ll see another version or two from me before winter is over.  Visit me at www.scalingbackblog.com during the rest of the week for more recipe inspiration!

Baked coconut oatmeal

adapted from Heidi Swanson 

Ingredients:

1 cup flaked coconut

2 cups rolled oats

3/4 cup toasted pumpkin seeds

3 tablespoons poppy seeds

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/3 cup honey

1 1/2 cups low-fat coconut milk

grated zest from 1 lemon

1 large egg

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

2 tablespoons turbanido sugar

Method:

Pre-heat the oven to 325 degrees.  Spread the coconut flakes on a baking sheet in a thin layer and toast for 5-10 minutes stirring occasionally until fragrant and lightly browned. 

Increase the temperature of the oven to 375 degrees.

In a bowl mix together the oats, half the pumpkin seeds, half the coconut, the poppy seeds, baking powder and salt.

In another bowl, whisk together the honey, coconut milk, lemon zest, egg and the vanilla.  Add the oat mixture to the wet mixture and stir gently to combine.

Pour the mixture into a 9-inch baking dish, top with the remaining pumpkin seeds and coconut and sprinkle with the turbanido sugar.

Bake for 35-40 minutes, until the top is golden brown and the oats are set.  Drizzle with additional honey and milk if desired.