The Ultimate Breakfast Hack: Frozen Fruit Baked Oatmeal

I try to buy local, in-season produce when I can, but last-minute plans and little energy after a long day of work and a post-work yoga class can easily sabotage my efforts to use fresh produce in the proper amount of time. While exaggerated, that meme of the avocado that's ripe at 6:00pm and rotten at 6:02pm explains my frustration of buying and using fresh produce, especially fruit!

Life hack? Stock up on frozen staples for future meal-prep ease! Buy frozen fruits like berries, and veggies like peas and broccoli florets. I love adding frozen berries to smoothies and frozen peas to any stew-like dish I make. Frozen produce helps make meal prep easier because you're not running to the grocery store for those select, fresh items. You'll save a little money too, as frozen produce can be purchased at any time during the year, and fresh, out-of-season produce is often quite expensive. 

By no means am I suggesting you replace all fresh fruits and vegetables with their frozen counterpart. Fresh produce, when locally grown and in-season, contains important vitamins & minerals to support health. However, if you're in the middle of a long winter, grabbing frozen produce can help save money and still add some of those vital nutrients into your diet, like vitamin C to ward off that pesky cold.

Here's what you need to make my Mixed Berry Baked Oatmeal (makes 4-6 large breakfast servings)

Wet:

• 1 ripe medium banana
• 2 cups frozen, mixed berries, split into 1 cup portions
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 1/2 cup almond milk (or nut milk of choice)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 eggs

Dry:

• 2 cups rolled oats
• 1/2 cup coconut flour
• 1/4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8x8 baking dish with ghee (you can also spray non-stick cooking oil) and set aside.

In a blender or food processor, puree banana, 1 cup frozen berries, maple syrup, almond milk, and vanilla until smooth. Pour into a large mixing bowl. Add eggs and whisk until thoroughly combined.

Add in all dry ingredients—oats, coconut flour, shredded coconut, cinnamon, baking powder, salt—and mix until thoroughly combined. Finally, add in remaining 1 cup of frozen berries and mix until they're evenly distributed throughout mixture.

Pour mixture into baking dish, making sure mixture is level. Bake for 35-40 minutes, until edges are slightly browned and middle is no longer soft—you can lightly touch top of oatmeal to determine if it's still "gooey" inside.

Serve immediately for a sweet snack, topped with coconut yogurt or a scoop of almond butter, or store in air-tight containers for your weekly breakfast meal prep. Oatmeal will last 3-5 days in the fridge.

End-of-Summer Blueberry Tart

If you love blueberries as much as I do, then this tart will knock your socks off. Every bite is saturated with bursting blueberries and flaky, sweet crust.

Inspired by the lovely Baer family recipe, I made this tart my own by removing the dairy- and gluten-filled ingredients and making my own additions and substitutions.

Here's what you'll need to make one beautiful tart (serves 8-10):

• 9" or 10" springform pan (these have removable centers)
• Crust:
  • 1 1/2 cups gluten-free flour (I used Bob's Red Mill) - or flour of your choice
  • 1/8 tsp salt
  • 3 T sugar
  • 1/2 cup Earth Balance non-dairy spread
  • 1 TBS apple cider vinegar
  • 1 tsp lemon zest
• Filling:
  • 2 pints fresh blueberries
  • 3 TBS gluten-free flour - or flour of your choice
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1 tsp lemon zest
• After baking:
  • 1 to 2 pints fresh blueberries

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees F.

Start with the crust:
Grease pan thoroughly with Earth Balance spread. In a food processor, combine flour, salt, sugar and lemon zest and pulse until combined. Add Earth Balance spread and vinegar, and pulse until combined. There should be pebble-sized pieces formed (see below)

Pour flour mixture into greased pan and press with your hands to make an even crust.

Next, the filling:
In a large mixing bowl, combine 2 pints of berries with flour, cinnamon, sugar and lemon zest. Toss with two large spoons to coat the blueberries as much as you can. Pour berry mixture over the crust. Shake the pan gently to spread the mixture evenly over the crust. There will be quite a bit of flour and sugar not coated onto the berries.

Place the tart on lowest shelf of the oven and bake for 1 hour, or until the berries bubble and the flour has begun to brown slightly.

Remove tart from oven and immediately sprinkle remaining 1 or 2 pints of berries on top (I used a little over 1 pint). Allow to cool completely before removing outside rim of the pan.

Finally, prepare to have purple fingers trying to get the perfect piece out of the pan. I suggest cooling the tart in the fridge to allow the filling to completely set. This will make cutting pieces easier!

Here's to blueberry-stained hands and teeth: an indication that you're making the most out of the end of this season!

Nina's Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free Banana and Zucchini Bread

Banana bread is one of those treats that usually passes as the "healthier" option. I hate to break it to you, but the banana bread you're ordering at your favorite cafe is most likely very high in fat and sugar. Hey, I'm all for indulging once in a while, but I'm here to give you this fool-proof banana bread recipe that will allow you to indulge in this treat more often. I see you over there wincing a little at the zucchini. Do not be alarmed! The zucchini has a very mild flavor, gives a little more texture to an otherwise soft bread, AND gets you to eat some veggies. Everyone should incorporate veggies into their desserts.

Since I started my new job, I've been inspired to get more creative in my cooking and especially my baking, something I've never really gotten into because it requires true patience and measurement. I know, ME? NOT patient? NOT into precise measurement? Who knew. I also wrongly assumed that you couldn't bake anything worth eating without dairy. I've obviously proved myself wrong and I am loving taking classic treats and making them both healthier and dairy-free. The original recipe used whole wheat pastry flour, but I wanted to accommodate all of my co-workers' dietary needs (I tested this out on them the first time, needless to say it was a HIT), so I swapped the whole wheat flour out for brown rice flour. I've never used brown rice flour before, but I am a convert! It gives this bread such a lovely nutty flavor and smooth texture.

I truly believe that the simpler the recipe, the better. No need to pull out the electric mixer or 12 different mixing bowls or having to scramble to do the dishes. You will need just one large bowl (see above) to mix your wet and dry ingredients together. 

By now, you might have caught onto the fact that I love blueberries. I would put them in everything if I could, but that would be weird... right? The beautiful blue/purple color oozes out into the bread and, if you're lucky, you bite into a whole, warm blueberry that bursts with a fresh sweetness. You totally want a piece now, don't you?

If this couldn't get any better, this recipe yields TWO loaves. Keep one out, freeze one for later. Take the frozen loaf out for unexpected guests, a lazy Sunday brunch, or even a last-minute potluck.

Here's what you'll need (yields 2 loaves; 1 loaf serves 6-8)

• 3 eggs
• 3/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 1/3 cups raw, organic cane sugar
• 1 1/2 cups zucchini, grated (2 small zucchini)
• 3 large bananas, mashed
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 3 1/2 cups brown rice flour (or your gluten-free flour of choice)
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 TBS cinnamon
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a medium mixing bowl, combine eggs, oil, sugar, zucchini, bananas and vanilla. Mix with a spatula until thoroughly combined.

In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Whisk until combined.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry, and stir with a spatula until thoroughly combined. Make sure you get all of the flour off of the bottom and sides of the bowl - you don't want dry spots in your bread! Add blueberries and fold in softly, trying not to break the blueberries. 

Spray two 8x4 loaf pans with non-stick cooking spray (I used olive oil spray - gives the bread a beautiful golden color). Pour the batter evenly into both loaf pans, and bake for 45-50 minutes. Check the bread at 45 minutes, stick a toothpick in and if it comes out clean, it's done! Once done baking, remove the bread from the pans and let cool on plate or cooling rack. If you're like me, you'll want to cut into it right away while it's still steaming. But, I recommend letting it cool for 15-20 minutes before serving.

Cut yourself a thick slice, pour a cup of coffee, and you're going to have the perfect Saturday morning.

-N