How To: Healthy Breakfast – Carrot Cake Baked Oatmeal

I go in breakfast waves.

Overnight oats one week, pancakes the next, good old peanut butter & toast another. But right now I’m riding the baked oatmeal wave.

If you’ve been following our blog for sometime now, you may have noticed I have a little crush on baked oatmeal. Okay, a major crush. We’ve got a pumpkin & apple version, an overnight version, a plum version, and the ever popular peanut butter and apple version. And now a carrot cake version. Our baked oatmeal repertoire is finally complete, for now.

Carrots? In oatmeal? I can see all your skeptical faces. But this isn’t the first time we’ve brought you such a crazy idea. Remember those carrot cake steel cut oats of 2014? No? Well take a look. And then you can begin to nod your head in agreement and trust that this  baked oatmeal version will be just as delicious.

Carrot cake is one of my favourite desserts. Along with ice cream, cheesecake, and pretty much anything containing peanut butter and chocolate together. This is not dessert. If you want a piece of carrot cake, eat a piece of carrot cake. If you have a craving for the flavours of carrot cake infused into the doughiest piece of baked oatmeal, than eat a piece of this.

The best part about baked oatmeal, and one of the reasons we are in a slight love affair, is the make once, eat all week trait. Add this baked oatmeal to your weekend meal prep, and you have breakfasts set for the week. Double it, and you’re set for pretty much ever.

And double it you should. Because it’s delicious. And loaded with all sorts of fun stuff like ground flaxseed, raisins, & walnuts. Oh, and carrots, obviously. And it’s vegan. On that note, you can up the protein by eating it topped with some Greek yogurt. Or mix up some yogurt, cream cheese, and splash of maple syrup and you have a breakfast worthy cream cheese frosting. It wouldn’t be vegan, but it would be delicious.

Why am I only thinking of that now?! Time for another batch!

Dara

Carrot Cake Baked Oatmeal

Print recipe

Serves	4-6
Meal type	Breakfast
Misc	Freezable, Pre-preparable
Website	Adapted from Oh She Glows

This baked oatmeal is slightly sweet and delicious with a nice crunch from the walnuts.

Ingredients

• 2 Cups rolled oats
• 1/4 cup ground flax seed
• 1 1/2 Tsp baking powder
• 1 1/2 Tsp cinnamon
• pinch salt
• 1 1/2 Cups grated carrots
• 2 1/2 Cups unsweetened almond milk
• 1/3 cup maple syrup
• 1/2 Tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1/2 cup walnuts (chopped)
• yogurt and peanut/almond butter (for serving)

Note

I love topping this oatmeal with a dollop of plain Greek yogurt and a drizzle of peanut or almond butter. It is not too sweet, so if you like your oatmeal on the sweeter side feel free to serve with some additional maple syrup. You could change up the raisins for any other chopped dried fruit and the walnuts could be omitted or substituted with pecans or almonds.

Directions

1.	Preheat oven to 375 degrees and spray a 8 x8 inch pyrex dish with cooking spray.
2.	In a large bowl combine oats, flaxseed, cinnamon, baking powder, ground ginger, and salt.
3.	In a small bowl whisk together almond milk, maple syrup, and shredded carrots. Add wet ingredients to dry and stir until combined. Add raisins and stir again to evenly distribute.
4.	Pour oat mixture into prepared pyrex and press down lightly with a spoon to make sure all the oats are submerged in the liquid. Top with walnut pressing them down slightly.
5.	Bake for about 35-40 minutes until brown and set. Let cool for 5-10 minutes before serving. Serve topped with plain or vanilla yogurt and some almond or peanut butter, if desired.
6.	Once the oatmeal has completely cooled in the fridge, it can be easily cut into squares and portioned out to enjoy during the week. It also freezes great if you have leftovers.