Acorn Squash Baked Oatmeal – It’s YUMMY!

Squash in my oatmeal? you say. Yes, believe it or not this squash adds nice moisture to the baked oatmeal, but doesn’t impact the flavor too much. (Plus, you can trick your kids into eating vegetables by hiding it in their oatmeal. We like it so much that I make it almost every week and then store it in individual portions in the fridge for quick delicious morning breakfasts!

You can definitely get creative and add in additional fixings if you like. We use nuts and occasionally some Craisins too.

Acorn Squash Baked Oatmeal

• Servings: 4-6
• Time: 1 hour 45 mins (10-15 min hands on)
• Difficulty: easy
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Ingredients

1 acorn squash

2 1/4 cups rolled oats

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt (I use sea salt.)

2 1/2 cups milk of choice (I use unsweetened almond milk)

1/3 cup pure maple syrup

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Nuts (optional) – to taste (We use a lot of nuts and I use walnuts, sliced almonds and pecans)

Craisins or Raisins (optional) – to taste

Directions

1. Preheat oven to  400 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Stick the acorn squash in the oven and let it bake for an hour. A knife should easily go in the squash when it is done.
3. Wait for the squash to finish baking before starting to prepare the oatmeal. Once it’s done, set aside to cool down a bit so you don’t burn yourself.)
4. Lightly grease a large 2.5 quart/10 cup baking dish (I used a glass casserole pan) and set the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
5. Get out two good size mixing bowls. Place all of the dry ingredients (oatmeal, cinnamon, baking powder and salt) into the large bowl and mix.
6. Combine all the wet ingredients in the other bowl. Pour in the milk, maple syrup, and vanilla.
7. Now, remove the peel and the seeds at the squash’s center. Mash the squash up and add it to your bowl of liquid ingredients. (Note: It is important to mash the squash well – otherwise you will have chunks of squash in your oatmeal.) Mix the liquid ingredients well.
8. Add the liquid mixture to the dry bowl and mix well.
9. Pour the mixture into the prepared dish. Sprinkle the nuts and Craisins on top.
10. Bake in the oven for 32-37 minutes until lightly golden brown along the edge.
11. Let the oatmeal cool for 10 minutes before serving. Serve as you wish – you can add more syrup, use whipped cream, etc. Use your imagination!
12. Leftovers should keep about a week. I imagine it would be fine to freeze the cooked oatmeal for later recipes – but we usually eat it all within a few days to a week.

This recipe is my own but it is heavily based on two other recipes. The first is another Baked Acorn Squash oatmeal oatgasm.blogspot.com. The second is the Heavenly Carrot Cake Baked Oatmeal (which was I enjoyed, but it was a lot of work grating those carrots and the rest of my family wasn’t in love with it) Oh She Glows – Carrot Cake Oatmeal.