Garden Berry Baked Oatmeal

Gord and I got back from New Orleans, where we attended and Annual Business meeting, late Monday night. Any time I return from a trip without the boys it's always family time the next day or night where we do whatever the kids want to do (within reason). Fraser woke up on Tuesday morning and informed me right away that we needed to go pick the berries right away! He was right! The berry patch in the back garden was full of golden raspberries and sweet blueberries. While we would likely have eaten many of them fresh, some little 4 year old decided that it would be fun to stir the bowl full of berries soaking in water with a stick while I watered the garden!!

While he had fun making berry soup, some of the delicate golden raspberries were squished. I fished several out while washing them again but seeing all these berries in the bowl, I decided to just make something with them rather than keep them in the fridge to eat fresh.

Obviously I love Baked Oatmeal and since I'm starting a new meal plan next week that doesn't allow for any grains (yikes) I figured I would make a batch of baked oatmeal with all of these beautiful garden berries!

I have posted several baked oatmeal recipes here on the blog including Peanut Butter Baked Oatmeal, Cranberry Apple Baked Oatmeal, Blueberry Almond Baked Oatmeal, Raspberry Almond Baked Oatmeal because I love to play with different flavours and I find that baked oatmeal is an excellent breakfast on the go!

This one is extra special because in has the sweetest golden raspberries grown fresh from my garden, but if you want to replicate it and aren't sure where to get golden raspberries, I have seen them at costco but you could also check the local farm market for them or swap them for any other berry! This recipe is versatile so use what you have on hand or growing in your own garden!

Garden Berry Baked Oatmeal

Ingredients

2 cups whole or almond milk
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons olive or avocado oil

1/2 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1/4- cup honey
4 to 6 cups mixed berries , divided in half

2 cups rolled oats

⅛ cup chia seeds

1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
pinch of ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/4- cup slivered almonds

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Lightly grease a 2-quart baking dish with olive oil or coconut oil. Set aside.
In a mixing bowl, whisk together the milk, eggs, oil, vanilla and honey; set aside.
Arrange half of the berries on the bottom of the dish and set aside.
In a mixing bowl, combine oats, chia seeds, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and sea salt; mix well.

Add milk mixture into the oat mixture and stir until thoroughly incorporated.

Top berries with the prepared oat mixture, then arrange remaining berries on top.
Add slivered almonds over the entire mixture.
Bake for 40 to 50 minutes, or until the oats have absorbed all the liquid and the top has browned slightly.
Remove from oven and let stand several minutes.
Serve immediately OR cool it completely, transfer to a plastic covered containers and keep in the refrigerator for 4 to 5 days.

Recipe Notes

Top oats with plain greek yogurt for added protein.

You can also prep the baked oatmeal the night before and pop it in the oven the next day.

Easy Grilled Fruit Kabobs

I've had a big watermelon sitting on my counter that was left over from our Lacrosse team wind up party last week.  We had so much food we just never got to slicing it up.... but I can't let it go to waste and I leave for New Orleans in less that a week so I need to use it up! 

I've been wanting to grill some of it and came across a photo of grilled watermelon kabobs on pinterest with no back link to a recipe so I decided to just got for it and have some fun grilling fruit Kabobs!

In our move I know I packed up all the Skewers but I truly can't find them or haven't reached that box yet... although I'm pretty sure I've unpacked all the kitchen boxes.  So I had to pick up a new package of wooden skewers at the store before I could make them. I thought pineapple would also be a nice compliment on the kabobs so I cheated a little and grabbed the pre cut and sliced pineapple from costco.  Then I was all set and ready to get grilling! 

I keep reading how important it is to soak the skewers before grilling and I did soak them for at least 20 minutes while I prepped all the fruit, and dealt with the dinner craziness but I guess it wasn't long enough cause they got pretty toasty and one even caught fire!! So I'm saying soak for 30 minutes and hopefully that will help!  

This was such and easy recipe to put together and fun for the kids too!  Fraser was so excited and Asher thought I was a little nutty for BBQing Fruit!  But the end result was a pretty tasty and very healthy dessert!  

Grilled Fruit Skewers

Ingredients

Fresh pineapple

Fresh watermelon

Skewers

Instructions

Soak wooden skewers in water for 30 minutes and preheat grill to 400 degrees.

Chop fresh pineapple and watermelon into chunks and slide on soaked skewers.

Grill 3 minutes on each side or to taste.

Grilled Avocado Taco Bowl

I published a blog post last week on 8 veggies to grill this summer and that theme inspired me to run a free 5 day group in July with a Clean Grilling Meal Plan for summer!  

I've just finalized the meal plan and grocery list and I'm so excited to have a small group test out the meal plan with me!  One of the recipes on the plan is this Grilled Avocado Taco bowl which I threw together this week for dinner.  I grilled both the Avocado and cucumber and then topped the bowl with a dollop of plain greek yogurt!  It was so good yet super simple!!

If you would like to get in this exclusive test group and promise to participate and provide constructive feedback on the meal plan, just click here to request your spot!

Grilled Avocado Taco Bowl

Ingredients

1lb ground turkey

2-3 TBSP homemade taco seasoning

1 cup brown rice

Sliced cherry tomatoes

1 avocado

2 mini cucumbers

Plain greek yogurt

Olive oil and sea salt

Lime juice

Directions

Cook Brown rice in rice cooker according to directions.

While rice is cooking, brown the ground turkey in a frying pan. While ground turkey is cooking, mix 2-3 TBSP homemade taco seasoning with water and set aside.  Once ground turkey is cooked through add the taco seasoning mixture to it and let it simmer until it boils down.

Cut each cherry tomato lengthwise in half and set aside until you are ready to prepare your bowl.

Grill the Avocado: Preheat grill or griddle to high heat. Cut the avocado in half lengthwise and carefully remove the pits. Do not peel the avocado. In a small bowl, whisk the lime juice and oil. Brush the cut side of the avocado with the lime mixture and sprinkle with salt to taste. Place the avocado cut-side-down on the grill until grill marks appear. Turn the avocado over and continue to grill until the skin is charred and the flesh has softened. Transfer to a plate and let cool for 5 minutes. Cut each half in half again to make ¼ avocado pieces for each bowl.

Grill the cucumbers: Cut the cucumbers across its length and into thirds. Then cut along the length of the cucumber to produce four spears per third of the cucumber.

Turn the grill to medium heat.  Place the cucumbers on the grill with one of the cut sides touching the grate. Grill for 2 to 3 minutes.Flip to the other cut side and grill for 2 to 3 more minutes. Remove the cucumbers from the grill.

Prepare the bowl: Add cooked rice to the bottom of the bowl, in one corner of the bowl place sliced cherry tomatoes, in another corner add in the ground turkey meat, then you can either slice up the avocado and place it in another corner or place the ¼ avocado with the skin on right into the bowl (I personally like the look of the whole piece).  Now place a big scoop of plain greek yogurt into the center and add in two pieces of grilled cucumber.  

Enjoy!