Easy as Apple Pie Baked Oatmeal

In the continual effort to eat healthier, I'm always on the hunt for ways to work in more fruits and vegetables into our family's daily diet. Try as I might, the one meal that seems to elude me in this quest is breakfast. I'm happy to put berries on a waffle or possibly whip up a smoothie, but my imagination for fruit at breakfast seems to end right about there. So when I realized that baked oatmeal with fruit was a thing, I was pretty stoked. For awhile now I've been making this baked apple-cinnamon oatmeal with great approval from both my kids and my husband. It's basically as easy as baked oatmeal can get--mix all the ingredients in a baking dish and pop it in the oven for 45 minutes. You don't even need a mixing bowl. Fool-proof! Since I don't generally have 45 minutes to wait for oatmeal to come out of the oven on any given morning (who am I kidding, I barely have an extra 45 seconds on school days) I like to make it the night before and reheat individual portions in the microwave. So let's review: easy, unprocessed, filling, and full of fruit? I'll take that any day! 

Easy as Apple Pie Baked Oatmeal

(Adapted from Betty Crocker)

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp. butter

2 2/3 c. old-fashioned oats

4 c. milk

1/3 c. brown sugar

generous 1/4 tsp. salt

1 1/4 tsp. cinnamon

Pinch nutmeg

2 apples, peeled and chopped

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. In a 2-quart baking dish, melt butter in the microwave. Add all remaining ingredients and mix well.

3. Bake uncovered 40-45 minutes.

Serves 6-8.