We had a lovely and HOT weekend here in Vancouver, WA! And as Monday begins, the rain and thunderstorms have hit! It has been pretty wild. I spent Friday morning picking yummy organic blueberries in the area. They are delicious and I have been craving blueberry muffins and blueberry pancakes since, so they are on the menu this week! Last night we topped vanilla ice cream with fresh blueberries and sliced peaches…I love fresh fruit! It was fabulous. Great little treat! Blackberries are on to here…and our backyard is full of them. Made a delicious berry crisp with some for dinner guests the other night. Will have to get out there for more picking while the weather is a bit more milder. 
Keeping a simple menu plan and loving it!I am way behind on my baking, so I am going to complete some monthly baking here while the weather is not so hot as well. Homemade bread, blueberry crumb muffins (substituting the bananas for blueberries), homemade crackers for Karis, and kamut tortillas (using kamut flour for more variety in our grains), here we come!
Monday
Prep: Soak bread, muffins, crackers & tortillas, soak oatmeal for Tuesday
Breakfast: Egg & Salsa Wraps (with green peppers from the garden, onions, bacon and grated potatoes)
Lunch: Tomato Soup, grilled cheese sandwiches (going to try this one with the apples -sounded interesting!)
Dinner: Grilled Veggie Sandwiches (can’t get enough of these!), fresh corn on the cob
Tuesday – baking day!
Breakfast: Baked Oatmeal
Lunch: Leftovers
Dinner: Burritos (refried beans, and all the fixings) – this didn’t happen last week, so it is on the menu again!
Wednesday
Prep: soak oatmeal, thaw ground turkey for dinner, soak and cook rice for dinner
Breakfast: Kefir Smoothies, blueberry muffins
Lunch: Quesadillas with Tues leftovers
Dinner: Crock Pot Ragout- an easy meal with lots of veggies (adding rice, fresh green beans, corn, peas)!
Thursday
Prep: soak pancakes
Breakfast: Oatmeal, apples, raisins
Lunch: Egg Salad Sandwiches, raw veggie tray (carrots, celery & peanut butter)
Dinner: Dinner at friends house
Friday
Breakfast: Blueberry pancakes, oranges
Lunch: Hmm…peanut butter and jelly anyone?
Dinner: Spaghetti Sauce over brown rice pasta, stemmed veggies (green beans, corn, zucchini)
Saturday
Breakfast: fruit salad, yogurt & granola, muffins
Lunch/Dinner: Hot Dogs, green salad or veggie tray
For more menu planning ideas, visit Organizing Junkie.
Baked Oatmeal
-Submitted by a anonymous reader – thanks!
6 cups of rolled oats
3 very ripe bananas
3 or 4 cups of buttermilk/kefir/yogurt (reader recommended a combination of buttermilk
and full fat balkan style yogurt)
2 eggs
1/4 cup of honey
1/4 cup of chopped walnuts
2tsp of baking powder
1/2 cup of coconut oil
Soak oats in 2-3 cups of yogurt/buttermilk/kefir of your choice overnight or as long as it takes to get rid of the phytates. Then mix in the rest of the ingredients. Place in a greased baking dish, bake at 350 for an hour.
Bridie- baked oatmeal should come out of the oven crisp and light brown on top, sort of like a cake, the consistency could be said to be midway between bread and pudding. When cooled it is definitely like a soft, dense bread. The recipe above says to bake it for an hour, but I find that it only needs to bake for 40 minutes.
This is one of my favorite breakfasts, I find it best made with grated apple, raisins, and organic vanilla. Sometimes as a treat I like to have it piping hot and topped with a scoop of healthy ice cream- yumm, can't be beat with a stick!
Hey I come from little old NZ and I’ve never heard of baked oatmeal!! I’ve just learnt about soaking (which I’ll be trying this week thanks Lindsay
) but I’m curious about baking it. Does it turn out like a cake?? How easy would it be to preprae in advance and use for breakfast? I want something quick and healthy for my hubby to eat before he leaves for work since he has a very early start and doesn’t want to be messing round in the kitchen.
Thanks in advance!!
Does the baked oatmeal stay liquid-ish to eat with a sppon or is it cut-able like bars ? Just curious before I try it out ~! Lora
I’m going to try the baked oatmeal this week, and I’d love to know the answer to this question!
I honestly have not tried the baked oatmeal yet.
<<< Reader who submitted the baked oatmeal recipe
Let me know how you like the baked oatmeal! Sometimes I use real maple syrup too! *I usually use the real maple syrup when I drop in some dried apple slices, cinnamon and rasins*
Also, if the mixture is too dry, add a little kefir to it. Should be the consistency of a pudding when you pour it into the dish.
It sounds like you’re getting your appetite back! Good for you. It was always a great day when food started sounding good again. Anyway, I’m going to pester you for another recipe again if that’s all right. You mentioned in your menu a baked oatmeal. I have a WONDERFUL recipe of my own but it’s chuck full of sugar and oil. I’ve substituted some of the oil with applesauce and simply cut back on the sugar, but it just isn’t as tasty. I would love to take a look at your recipe. I’m sure it’s much more healthy than mine! Thanks!
I just got the recipe this week from a reader. I will try it and pass it on if it meets my tastes.
Sweetened with honey and coconut oil, so it would definitely be more nutritious.
We eat apple chicken wraps all the time. They are really good. I think you will like the grilled cheese with apples. Let me know if you want the recipe for my wraps.
I’m a bit jealous of all your berries… enjoy!