Healthy Apple Fritter Baked Oatmeal

I’m am obsessed with apple fritters. I am obsessed with baked oatmeal. So I mashed the two together in a healthy apple fritter baked oatmeal and it is rockstar status!

Our first Saturday morning without an ounce of errands or unpacking and we needed a good, old fashioned family breakfast and surprisingly one of the kiddos had asked for oatmeal so obviously I had to go all out.

Oh dear, so begins another obsession. Get ready, folks because I’m about to start creating 50 different versions of baked oatmeal recipes.

What flavor combination would you like next?

When we had finally settled into a new city back in August I was dragging my feet to get cooking again. I’d barely cooked real meals all summer due to packing and now most of our kitchen stuff is in a storage unit and it’s been hard to find the motivation to get going again. But alas, I also detest not having sit down family dinners or eating out all the time, so I put on my big girl pants and totally eased into it. No jumping in when you’re exhausted from life, am I right?

What better way to ease in than to make breakfast for dinner recipes?

This healthy breakfast recipe is the perfect solution and came about from me winging it with random pantry ingredients. But my goodness, when you have both a 16 and 6 year old raving over OATMEAL you know you’ve found a winner! 

Ingredients for Apple Fritter Baked Oatmeal

In the next section, I’m going to go into how to make this simple breakfast recipe, but first thing’s first, here are the ingredients you will need:

• Old Fashioned Oats – old fashioned really do work the best, instant oats get too soggy and steel cut outs don’t soften up enough
• Eggs – bind the baked oatmeal together
• Milk – you can use any kind of milk you want
• Apple Butter (or Applesauce) – apple butter adds a little extra richness and buttery flavor, but applesauce works just great too
• Maple Syrup – pure maple syrup is preferred
• Vanilla – adds the best flavor
• Cinnamon, Ginger, Nutmeg, Allspice – all the warm fall spices that go so well with apples
• Salt – enhances all the flavors
• Baking Soda – gives the baked oatmeal some rise and fluffiness
• Golden Raisins – regular raisins will work fine too, I just prefer the flavor of golden raisins
• Sliced Almonds (optional) – sometimes I include them and sometimes I don’t, they add some nice crunch and protein
• Minced Dried Apples – be sure to get dried apples

For the Glaze

• Powdered Sugar – all the swe

Weekly Menu Plan – Oct. 2 to Oct. 8

Here is your menu plan for next week!

Monday: Chicken Birria Tacos

Tuesday: Creamy Mushroom Pasta

Wednesday: Thai Peanut Turkey Lettuce Wraps

Thursday: Easy Biscuit Chicken Pot Pie

Friday: Pizza Night! Use our Pizzeria Pizza Dough – NOTE: make the dough in the morning or the night before

Saturday: Leftover Night

Sunday: Lemon Herb Spatchcock Chicken

READ: Weekly Menu Plan – Oct. 2 to Oct. 8

The satisfying crunch of Nutter Butter cookies in creamy homemade ice cream makes this Nutter Butter Ice Cream positively irresistible.

Nutter Butter Ice Cream

When I first started playing with this recipe, I made it with a peanut butter ice cream base. It was good, but I didn’t love it. I wanted the cookies to stand out, and they were kind of just in there.

So, I switched it up to a vanilla base and oh, my gosh, was I sold! Slightly crunchy and chewy cookie pieces are mixed into that creamy frozen ice cream to really capture the essence of this cookie.

Cookie Ice Cream

I scream. You scream. We all scream for ice cream. Listen, my love of this tasty treat goes back more years than my brain really wants to admit. (My brother is quick to remind me that I turned 40 twice, and years before him.)

But, there’s something about the classic combination of cookies and ice cream that simply can’t be topped. I should know. I’ve made more than a few different varieties, even if I limit the results to peanut butter cookie ice cream flavors.

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As tasty as it is nutritious, this Mango Banana Spinach Smoothie highlights the tropical sweetness of mango and the creaminess of bananas.

Mango Spinach Smoothie

I was skeptical the first time I tried spinach in a smoothie. All it takes is a wheatgrass shot at Jamba Juice, and you’d be suspicious of blended greens, too. But, spinach is one of the most frequently used ingredients in our smoothies, now.

It might seem like an unlikely partner in this dance of flavors, but when blended it becomes a wonderful, earthy undertone. It adds complexity and depth to the fruit flavors in a mango spinach smoothie.

Mango Banana Spinach Smoothie

I have always struggled to get my kids to eat their leafy greens. And, if I’m honest, I came pretty late to the salad game as an adult. Smoothies became a surefire way to get them to eat an entire serving of greens in one sitting when they were little.

This spinach mango smoothie is a dream for getting ahead in the vegetable game. If you’re struggling to meet your fiber goals or to get enough spinach or kale into your diet, I strongly recommend it.

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This Broccoli Slaw is filled with crunchy ribbons of broccoli and carrots, paper-thin onions, sweet chewy cranberries, and pecans before being tossed in a light, tangy dressing. You’re going to love all of the different textures in this salad!

Broccoli Slaw

Broccoli slaw served as a side dish makes a nice change from some of the underwhelming mayo and cabbage-heavy coleslaws out there.

I’ve found a great many slaw recipes I like (like this Sweet and Spicy Apple Coleslaw that’s loved by even the coleslaw-averse members of my family) but there’s something extra wonderful about a good broccoli slaw. The crisp broccoli and carrots keep their crunch for days, even after being mixed with the dressing. 

Broccoli Slaw Salad

I like my salad recipes abundant with fresh, flavorful ingredients and lots of different textures. Broccoli Slaw is no different! In this version, I added pecans and dried cranberries for a satisfying layer of crunchy fruity nutty goodness.

The finely sliced red onions bring zest, spice, and a gorgeous color to the salad. Be sure to slice the red onion as thinly as possible to get the right texture and balance of flavors in your broccoli slaw.

I can make this recipe again and again and not get tired of it. That’s how I know it’s a real winner.

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