Strawberry Rhubarb Baked Oatmeal

Mornings around our house typically involve a lot of bleary-eyed animal wrangling with infrequent interludes of serene calm involving both breakfast and the news.  Last week, Paul upped the ante when he started classes for his second Masters degree, this one in Public Health.  Between full time work, a 2 hour commute each day and now evening classes, we needed a new weekday breakfast strategy.  Enter Strawberry Rhubarb Baked Oatmeal in jars. In this smartly conceived dish, Strawberry Rhubarb Baked Oatmeal is cleverly baked up in small canning jars, which, when cooled, can be lidded and refrigerated for up to a week for later reheating.  This is a winner breakfast that we warm-up in the morning with a dash of milk, perfect for eating on the go.  For those of you who are unfamiliar with baked oatmeal, it is somewhere between a less sweet fruit crisp and porridge (oatmeal) and thanks to being chock full of whole grains and nuts, it makes for a substantial breakfast.  We found the addition of strawberry and rhubarb at the bottom of the jar to be a good incentive to keep digging into our baked oatmeal.  Warmly spiced with cinnamon and orange, Strawberry Rhubarb Baked Oatmeal is a filling, healthy, and make-ahead way to tackle morning meals for busy week-days.  This recipe is adapted from The Sprouted Kitchen.

Ingredients:

   Fruit bottom:

• 1 1/2 cups washed and diced fresh rhubarb (leaves are not edible and must be fully removed)
• 1 cup diced strawberries
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon orange juice

   Oatmeal:

• 2 cups old fashioned rolled oats
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans (can substitute other nuts) 
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• zest of one orange
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 tablespoons melted butter
• 2 1/2 cups milk (we use 1%)

   Garnish:

• 1 cup chopped strawberries
• 1/4 cup toasted coconut flakes

Steps:

1. Preheat the oven to 375. Set out six small mason jars (1/2 pint or pint size) with their lids.
2. In a small bowl, mix together the fruit bottom ingredients (rhubarb, strawberries, sugar and orange juice) and divide the mixture evenly between the 6 jars.
3. Mix together the dry oatmeal ingredients (oats, walnuts, cinnamon, powder, sugar, salt and orange zest).  Divide the oat mixture between the jars, putting approximately 1/3 cup oat mixture in each jar on top of the fruit.
4. Whisk together the wet oatmeal ingredients (maple syrup, eggs, vanilla, butter and milk).  Pour approximately 1/2-1/3 cup over the oat mixture in each jar, you want to soak the oat mixture completely without excessive liquid pooling around the top.   Pour slowly if your jars are getting full at this point, the mixture will absorb and seep to the bottom.  This is a very forgiving recipe, you can easily use less of the egg mixture if your jars are getting too full, or simply add more milk to the jars if you don't have enough of your egg mixture to fully cover the oats.
5. Place jars on a baking sheet and slide onto the oven's middle rack. Bake for 30-35 minutes.  The baked oatmeal is done when the liquid is absorbed and tops are beginning to brown.  
6. Remove your baked oatmeal from the oven, let cool and sprinkle the tops with strawberries and toasted coconut, pour over any additional milk or maple syrup to your taste and dig in!    
7. Once cooled completely, put lids on any leftover jars and refrigerate for later use.  When we reheated ours we added a bit more milk to moisten the oatmeal.

Note: If you'd like to serve this dish as a breakfast for a crowd, it can be baked in a 9 x 13 baking dish. No other changes are needed.

We like this recipe so much, here are some of our ideas for seasonal variations:

• Peach Blueberry baked oatmeal with coconut
• Raspberry Nectarine baked oatmeal with almonds
• Apple, cranberry and ginger baked oatmeal