Cinnamon Apple Oatmeal Bake #BrunchWeek

This post is sponsored in conjunction with #BrunchWeek. I received product samples from sponsor 

companies to aid in the creation of the #Brunchweek recipes. All opinions are mine alone.

This healthy and simple Cinnamon Apple Oatmeal Bake is the perfect brunch recipe! 
It's warm and comforting and is a great way to start your day!

Hello friends! It's day two of #BrunchWeek and I'm so excited to share with you this Cinnamon Apple Oatmeal Bake! Oatmeal bakes are my new best friend. They are so easy to make and also very customizable. You can swap out the fruits and spices with some of your favorites if you like. The combination of cinnamon and apples reminds me of my childhood, when I used to eat the little packets of instant oats for breakfast. My kids loved those too when they were little. {Actually, Evan still does!} This dish is perfect for breakfast or brunch as it feeds a crowd. Don't worry though, if you decide to make it for just your family and have leftovers, it's equally delicious warmed up!

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies + Paying It Forward in the New Year

These soft and tender Oatmeal Raisin Cookies are filled with brown sugar, cinnamon, oats, 

and plenty of chewy raisins! Plus they are simple to make, which is the best part.

This post was created in partnership with Stonyfield, King Arthur Flour, Silpat, and Dreamfarm. 

All opinions, as always, are my own. Thank you for supporting the brands that make this blog possible!

I recently realized that although I post a lot of desserts and baked goods, I really don't have that many cookie recipes on the blog. I tend to share cookie recipes around the holidays, but that's it. My dear friends, that is going to change! I love cookies, and so does my family, and I do make them frequently. Instead of keeping my favorites to myself, I am going to spread the love!

Growing up I baked a lot with my mom and grandmothers, and Oatmeal Raisin Cookies were always a staple. I like mine soft and tender, with lots of raisins and cinnamon. Not only do they taste good, but they make the house smell amazing as well! I decided to revamp my recipe to make these cookies even softer, by using Stonyfield Greek Yogurt in place of some of the butter. Boy did they turn out incredible! The combination of the Greek yogurt with my favorite King Arthur All-Purpose Flour made these cookies light and tender. And I found it quite hard to stop eating at just one or two. 

Banana Blueberry Oatmeal Bowl

This delicious and simple oatmeal bowl is topped with bananas, blueberries and sliced almonds, 

and will help you start the day off right!

This post was sponsored by Milk Life on behalf of Influence Central.

One of my goals for 2016 is to up my breakfast game. It's not the weekends I worry about, it's the weekdays. Too often I grab a granola bar or cup of yogurt to go with my cup of coffee and call it good. Now there's nothing wrong with a bar or yogurt, but that's not enough to sustain me or give me enough energy to power through my morning. I definitely need more protein. 

Did you know that many nutrition experts now recommend getting 25-30 grams of protein before noon for the best daily nutrition, yet Americans get, on average, only 13 grams at breakfast? I know personally I don't even get close to that amount! So I've been on a quest to up my protein intake not only all day, but especially at breakfast. 

Strawberry Oatmeal Breakfast Smoothie

Loaded with fruit, yogurt, and oats, this delicious breakfast smoothie will boost your energy and keep you full until lunchtime!

My family loves smoothies. They are by far one of my favorite go-to after school snacks to make. Packed with flavor and nutrition, smoothies are a healthier choice than some of the other options out there. 

I love trying different fruit combinations, but my youngest son pretty much sticks to the strawberry banana variety. He's not the adventurous type. My older son and I both love all sorts of fruits in our smoothies, from mangoes to blueberries to raspberries, there isn't one we don't love.

Oatmeal Pancakes

Start your day off right with these hearty and healthy Oatmeal Pancakes!

Did you know that National Pancake Week existed? I didn't until now, but it's actually the last week of February! In addition, February is also National Heart Healthy Month and National Hot Breakfast Month. So many good things to celebrate!

The timing is perfect for all of these as the United Dairy Industry of Michigan (UDIM) just happens to be celebrating the combination of oats and your favorite dairy foods with their "We Heart Oats" campaign. Did you know you can get over two and a half times the protein by making your oats with milk instead of water? Check out the infographic below for more fun facts!

Oatmeal Banana Bread

A twist on your everyday banana bread, this recipe is filled with oats and makes a hearty breakfast or snack! 

I've professed my love for banana bread many times. It's pure comfort food to me, and always reminds me of my childhood. My mom made homemade meals for our family almost every night, and she is the one who taught me how to cook and bake. Between her and both of my grandmothers, I learned a lot of family secrets!

Now this bread is no family secret, just something I came up with recently when I discovered I had too many overripe bananas sitting on the counter. I wanted to do something a little different, and the oats are a perfect addition to the standard recipe. They make the bread hearty, which is perfect for breakfast on a busy day or an afternoon snack when you need a pick me up.

Oatmeal Banana Bread
Recipe written by The Chef Next Door
Print this recipe

Ingredients:
1 cup light brown sugar
1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
3 medium ripe bananas, mashed
1 cup oats (I use Bob's Red Mill Thick Rolled Oats)
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a loaf pan with non-stick baking spray and set aside.

In the bowl of your stand mixer, beat the brown sugar and butter until combined. Add the eggs, one at a time, then the vanilla. Next add the mashed bananas.

In a medium bowl whisk together the oats, flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Alternately add the dry ingredients and the milk to the mixer, in about two additions each. 

Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 60-70 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the center of the bread comes out clean. Cool the bread in the pan on a cooling rack for about 20 minutes, then remove it from the pan and allow to finish cooling on the rack before serving.

Bon Appetit!

Oat Bars with Walnuts & Bittersweet Chocolate

It's back to school in our house, which means it's time to start packing lunches and having after school snacks on hand. Like many other families, I struggle to make lunches less ordinary. I don't want my boys to get bored with what they're eating, plus, I want them to eat healthy!

The last couple of weeks I've been scrounging through magazines and cookbooks looking for inspiration. Luckily, I have a lot of reading material to choose from. (I'm a certified cookbook-aholic!) :)

I came across this oatmeal bars recipe in a Williams-Sonoma cookbook and knew it would be perfect for our family. I changed the recipe just slightly and the bars are absolutely delicious.

These bars are a cross between a cookie and a cake, in my opinion. They are thick and hearty and full of stuff that's good for you.