Breakfast Oatmeal, Peanut Butter Style

I can't stand those packets of flavored instant oatmeal. They are often tasty, but not truly filling. I also can't stand plain oatmeal, even when it's cooked with milk (heaven forbid the calorie count on that!) and topped with brown sugar or some such decadence. So I scoured the internet and discovered a baked oatmeal recipe containing, among other things, applesauce and chopped fruit. At last! This satisfied for several years but eventually I started to crave a different option. So after many recipe trials and many, many bowls of oatmeal for breakfast, I am please to share a wonderfully luxurious peanut butter breakfast oatmeal!

Baked Peanut Butter Cookie Oatmeal (my version)

2 cups rolled oats
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup peanut butter (I use creamy, but if you like the crunchy kind, why not use that?)
3/4 cup milk
2 T melted butter
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla

Optional:  Banana, chocolate chips, nuts or seeds, and whatever else may strike your fancy

Mix the oats, sugars, baking powder, and salt until well integrated.

Then I make a little hollow in the dry ingredients and add the peanut butter, the melted butter, milk, egg, and vanilla (I'm so lucky to have an egg from my personal chicken, homemade vanilla, and peanut butter my mom made!). Stir it very well. Then, I put the mixture in a  sealable container and keep it in the fridge. Of course you could cook the whole thing right away in a greased, oven safe pan, at a preheated 350 degrees F for 20-25 minutes or longer if necessary. Personally, I prefer to cook it just before I eat it instead of reheating it every morning, so I preheat the toaster oven, grease a ceramic bowl, and sometimes add 1/4 of a cut-up banana, then 1/2 cup or so of the mixture, and top it with a few chocolate chips and bake if for the same amount of time, about 20-25 minutes, and voila! It's hot, fresh, delicious, and homemade! Sometimes I add the banana after I cook it, instead. If you like nuts or seeds, those could also be tasty toppings. My cousin adds chunks of energy or protein bars to top her oatmeal, I may try that soon too.

As is, for 8 servings in a batch, the nutritional information comes out to about 266 calories, 13 grams of fat, 17 grams of sugar, 8 grams of protein, and 3 grams of fiber, without adding the banana and chocolate chips, and using 2% milk. I'm going to try bumping it up to 3 cups of oats and keeping the rest of the recipe the same, because it IS quite sweet and yummy, and I'm actually trying for a more healthful recipe. But I haven't done that yet, so it may not turn out, although I'm hopeful it will *fingers crossed*!