Lauren and I love to start our mornings with a hearty bowl of oatmeal.
And when we say oatmeal, we mean the real deal– made with rolled-oats, fruit, homemade almond milk, chia seeds, and a dash of cinnamon–not the Quaker oatmeal packets of sugary mush, stuff.
At this point, I don’t even think I could stomach one of those.
It’s a perfectly filling meal and that will gladly coat your belly, sustaining you until lunchtime.
Now, if you simply can’t make a fresh bowl of oatmeal in the morning, the next best thing is to plan ahead and bake oatmeal bars for an on-the-go snack.
This past weekend, my beau and I trekked up through the beautiful California coast to go camping at Jalama beach. It was the perfect opportunity to bake a batch of these oatmeal bars for a quick and easy travel snack and a no hassle breakfast.
See here, this is the breakfast of the champions {while camping}: French press coffee, banana coconut chia seed pudding, and a yummy Baked Oatmeal Bar.
You can wrap these up, individually, and take them on the go. No mess and easy to nibble on 
.
I didn’t add any extra sweetener in these ones, but if your palate craves a bit of sugar in the morning, then go ahead and add some brown sugar, raw sugar, agave, honey, maple syrup… or one of those alternative natural sweeteners.
These guys are sans nuts, so for all of you nut-allergy people, this one’s for you.
I hope your day will be a little bit fuller now! Enjoy, friends .
Baked Oatmeal Bars with Dried Fruits and Seeds {no nuts}
Makes 9-12 bars, depending on desired size
Ingredients:
2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
½ cup raw pepitas
½ cup apricots, chopped
½ cup cranberries
½ cup shredded coconut, unsweetened
¼ cup raw sunflower seeds
1 ½ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp nutmeg
1 egg, beaten
1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
2 bananas, mashed
1/3 cup milk (non-fat or other preferred type)
*Little Yellow Note: These do not have added sweetener, so if you do desire a lightly sweetened bar, you may add the desired sweetener of choice, to taste (we might use 1/4 cup brown sugar or raw sugar).
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Mix wet ingredients together (mashed bananas, egg, vanilla, milk); set aside.
In a mixing bowl, mix together oats, pepitas, apricots, cranberries, coconut, sunflower seeds, cinnamon and nutmeg. Add the wet to the dry ingredients and mix well to combine.
Transfer mixture to a 9×9 baking dish, either lined with parchment paper or coated with cooking spray. Evenly distribute and level mixture.
Bake for 40 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool in pan before cutting into squares and removing from pan.
Saves for about 1 week in an airtight container.
From the Little Yellow Kitchen,
Chrissy
