WildFlours GF Group… Meaningful Morning Ideas #2: GF Oatmeal Breakfast Casserole

Gluten Free Oatmeal Breakfast Casserole

Some mornings I find it so hard to manage to get a good breakfast on the table in time for my crew to be able to sit down and eat before rushing out the door.  Do you find yourself with this dilemma?  If so, the following recipe adapted from Bob’s Red Mill should help with that!

Gluten Free Oatmeal Breakfast Casserole

Baked in the oven... gluten free oatmeal smells so great!

Ingredients:

• 2 cups GF Rolled Oats (certified Gluten Free Oats are available from Bob’s Red Mill, Trader Joe’s, Gluten Free Oats Company)
• 1 Apple, chopped
• 1 cup raisins, currants, dried cranberries, or other dried and diced fruit
• (optional) 1 cup sunflower seeds or walnuts
• 4 cups milk of choice
• 1/4 – 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2 Tbls butter
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1 Tbls ground cinnamon

Method:

1. The night before, mix the first four ingredients together in a bowl and pour into a greased oven safe casserole dish.
2. In a saucepan, stir together the last five ingredients until the butter melts and the sugar begins to dissolve.  Cool to room temperature.
3. Once the liquids are cool, pour over the dry ingredients in the casserole dish, cover and refrigerate until morning.
4. When you wake up, preheat your oven to 350 degrees and then take the casserole dish out of the refrigerator and let it sit on the counter while your oven is pre-heating.  If the oats have soaked up all the milk, add a little more to the casserole dish for baking.  You do not want it to be runny, but it does need a little left over moisture for baking so the oats do not burn.
5. Once the oven is ready, bake the gluten free oatmeal casserole uncovered for about 15-20 minutes, or until the rest of the moisture has been absorbed.
6. Cool slightly.  You can serve this with plain yogurt or additional fruit if you like.  It is great on its own!

The awesome thing about this recipe is that you are free to go about your morning routine while breakfast is baking!  And… the smell of the cinnamon and oatmeal will bring everyone to the kitchen ready for something great to eat to begin their day.  You could even do this in your crock pot overnight.  I set mine to “low heat” for 7-8 hours and fill it with everything, stirring well, just before I go to bed.  The crock pot automatically switches to “warm” once the time is up and when we get up all we need are bowls and spoons!  It makes a great leftover dessert topping for sundaes too.  

Are you one whose digestive system cannot handle even certified gluten free oats?  Try this same recipe with brown rice instead!  You will need one cup of brown rice for the 4 cups of milk called for in the recipe and it turns out best in your crock pot!  If you wish to bake it in the oven, be sure to use the soaking method I described above.  Also, cover your baking dish while baking and you will probably need to adjust your baking time to be up to a half hour longer for the rice to fully cook.

Check back at the end of the week to find my third Meaningful Morning Gluten Free Breakfast Idea!  I hope we are helping you to create good breakfasts to fuel your day.