Good morning everyone – happy Monday to you!
I had a serious case of the snuggles today. It was so cold outside the covers and I did not want to get out of bed for my morning Mom walk! Knowing full well that I couldn’t leave the poor woman hanging, I got out of bed, bundled up and headed out the door. It actually wasn’t too bad out – 45 degrees to be exact! Ay yi yi, you know you’re from the Midwest when 45 degrees is considered “not bad” 
What can I say, they breed us tough here in Iowa!
So yesterday was a scary day…I polished off the last of my pumpkin ice cream, which left me wondering when and where I would get my next pumpkin fix from! Problem solved: I made Baked Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal for breakfast!
I’m loving baked oatmeal more and more these days. It’s so simple, has a great fluffy, yet chewy, texture and can be made ahead of time. I made this yesterday, then microwaved for 1.5 minutes this morning for an easy, almost instant, breakfast.
In today’s Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal mix:
- 1/2 cup oats
- 3/4 cup milk
- 1/4 cup pumpkin puree
- 2 teaspoons brown sugar
- splash of vanilla extract
- dashes of pumpkin pie spice, nutmeg & cinnamon
Topping mix:
- ~2 Tablespoons sliced almonds
- ~1 teaspoon brown sugar
- ~1/2 teaspoon butter
Bake for 10 minutes at 375, remove from oven and top with almond mixture. Bake for 10 more minutes and it’s all ready to go. Yummy! I could seriously eat this every single morning. I need to experiment with some different combos!
Unfortunately, there was a lack of veggies in my diet yesterday, so I’m bringing them out in full force today. I packed a monster-sized salad for lunch.
In the mix:
- Romaine lettuce
- Carrots
- Celery
- Feta Cheese
- Capers
I just love feta and capers – so salty and perfect to add zing to any salad. I also packed some Italian dressing with a splash of balsamic vinegar to jazz it up even more.
A Honeycrisp apple is destined to be my afternoon snack. 2:00 “snack time” is something that I look forward to everyday and honestly makes the afternoons go by faster. Hey, whatever works, right? 
So with Halloween coming up this weekend and trick-or-treaters hopping around this Friday evening, I thought I’d share this quiz about partially hydrogenated oils found in your favorite Halloween candies – yikes!
Partially hydrogenated oil is another word for trans fat, which raise your “bad” cholesterol levels (LDL) and lower your “good” cholesterol levels (HDL). Basically it’s really nasty stuff, mostly man-made and linked with heaps of health problems. I was so bummed when I recently found out that my favorite Jiffy corn bread mix has partially hydrogenated lard in it! :O
Do yourself, and those little trick-or-treaters, a favor - take this quiz and find out what those popular Halloween candies are hiding! Do any of the answers surprise you?
Have a super day back everyone!
~~~~~
Speaking of Halloween and scary things…
Do you like scary movies?
I used to live for scary movies – the scarier, the better! Now I find that every year I get older, I get that much wimpier! I can’t even watch scary movie trailers on tv anymore! 
Yummm just polished off a honeycrisp as we speak! I always have a morning snack when I get into work, even though I eat a big breakfast… don’t know where it all goes haha.
I am a big wuss with scary movies, I hate them in the theater and can only tolerate them at home when someone is with me
Your breakfast looks fantastic!!!
Scary movies… scare me. haha, I guess they do their purpose well!
Nice breakfast, I’m having pumpkin oats too
LOVE scary movies – but not scary enough so that they’ll give me nightmares! I’ve been known to turn them off and watch them during the day if they’re too scary.
I’m confused – if Halloween is Saturday, should I be expecting trick or treaters on Friday night? I wasn’t prepared until Saturday!
Love the pumpkin oats. I have them almost every day.
I’m a wimp with scary movies!
I’m also a wimp with the cold weather…. i prefer to snuggle in the covers
Have a great day!
YOU ROCK!! I love scary movies “the scarier the better” as well
i love scary movies! i don’t get that scared so i yet to find one that does!
i love the idea of baked oatmeal, sort of like a morning casserole!
Hooray for pumpkin!
Yes, a lot of candy has trans fat (ick). I guess it’s a good thing Halloween only comes around once a year?!
I HATE scary movies unless they’re JUST psychologically scary. Give me Silence of the Lambs any day, but I can’t handle monster scary! 45 is SO not bad
I still need to make that! Heading to take the quiz right now. I always make sure to check the label for Partially Hydrogenated Oils. But sometimes treats are worth it
I like the IDEA of scary movies – but can’t stand actually watching them myself! My roommates just TOLD me about a scary movie the other night, and I’ve been freaked out for days! hehe
Great quiz! That oatmeal looks awesome. I’ve never baked oatmeal before, but I must try it. Your pumpkin pie pancakes were so good too! I made them a while back, and can’t wait to make them again!
ohh honey crisps are my fav apple by far!!
those pumpkin oats look KILLER, I need to try baking mine!! what a genious idea!!
I am terrified of scary movies, I sometimes even have a hard time watching previews LOL
I have got to try that pumpkin oatmeal, looks great!
I do like scary movies but I’m not sure why….I close my eyes and cringe during the scary parts and then won’t go down into my basement for at least a day afterwards! If you’re looking for a good movie that isn’t scary but sounds like it would be, go see Zombieland. It’s great! It’s not too scary at all and is actually pretty funny.
I love the OLD scary movies! You know…Vincent Price & Bella Lugosi movies. Black & white gems! And I’ve discovered The Alfred Hitchcock Show is on the RTV chanel….GREAT! AND…I bought a small spaghetti squash yesterday. I assume you just bake it like an acorn squash, and scrape out the insides with a fork?
I was happily surprised that Reese’s don’t have trans fat. My fave candy!
I hate scary movies. Hunni went to see Saw VI last night and I went to see Where the Wild Things Are.
I love baked oatmeal too
Ahhhh Kristin, I polished off my tub last night too!!! And when I was at the store, they were all out. Probably good, because I should take a rest for a week. But next week, Pumpkin Ice cream is BACK On! This stuff won’t be around too long, you have to enjoy it while it lasts.
Baked oatmeal sounds like such a fantastic fall breakfast!
You should check out this guys blog since you love pumpkin so much
He always has great recipes!!
http://closetcooking.blogspot.com/
[...] I was sooo ready for breakfast after I got ready - Baked Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal! [...]
[...] on to breakfast! A couple of months ago I made pumpkin oatmeal based on Iowa Girl Eats’s recipe and my parents could not stop raving about it. Therefore, I thought it would be nice to [...]
I made that pumpkin pie oatmeal this morning and it was the best! I used vanilla soy milk instead of skim milk. It is now my favourite oatmeal by a mile!
[...] had a hot cup of tea and started catching up on some blog reading. I came across a recipe at Iowa Girl Eats for Pumpkin Pie Baked Oatmeal , and decided to give it a try. I’ve had a can of pumpkin [...]
Came across your baked pumpkin oatmeal recipe while signing into my own blog. It looks incredible–can’t wait to try it, along with your other pumpkin recipes. (This on the heels of scarfing down the world’s simplest peach cobbler ever–a gift from Zoe at New Hampshire’s Fitzwilliam in and at my own blog’s RECIPE CENTRAL (www.joannaaislinn.wordpress.com). Your workouts and other pages on your blog look quite interesting–I’m sure I’ll be back!
Joanna Aislinn
Dream. Believe. Strive. Achieve!
NO MATTER WHY
The Wild Rose Press
http://www.joannaaislinn.com
http://www.joannaaislinn.wordpress.com
I made the pumpkin pie oatmeal this morning – holy cow! I don’t know why I would ever make anything ever again for breakfast. The SHIZNIT.
[...] edition of You Know You’re From the Midwest When… (here’s editions one, two & three!) You know you’re from the Midwest when you don’t say “Maid who??” when I [...]
Made the punkin’ oatmeal yesterday and we had leftovers today… delish!! I am loving your recipes, thank you so much!
[...] (Iowa Girl Eats) oatmeal recipes that looked too amazing to pass up: Baked Banana Bread Oatmeal and Baked Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal. I am a sucker for any breakfast that sounds and tastes like dessert. I’ve always enjoyed a [...]
I love pumpkin baked oatmeal! Great idea to make the individual serving! I wrote a post today about baked oatmeal and linked to your pumpkin version. Here’s the link…love your site by the way!
http://www.kitchymamameals.com/2011/05/apple-baked-oatmeal.html
I’m sitting here with a bowl of that oatmeal right now. AMAZING. I didn’t have any almonds for the topping so I used pecans which are also fantastic. And I love that it is an individual serving! Thanks for the recipe!
Glad you enjoyed it! I’ve been making it a lot recently too!
[...] pumpkin oatmeal was adapted from a recipe that was on Iowa Girl Eats. For the Biscoff topping, I just thinned about a tablespoon of spread with a teaspoon of skim milk. [...]
[...] world. The idea for Saturday’s oatmeal, Baked Pumpkin Oatmeal, came from Good Life Eats & Iowa Girl Eats. I have incorporated pumpkin into oatmeal before, but never have I baked oatmeal [...]
[...] Recipe adapted from Iowa Girl Eats [...]
[...] way into our breakfast menu on a weekly basis. I do switch it up a bit here and there by adding pumpkin or blueberries and now that my daughter is old enough to eat peanut butter, I’ve been wanting [...]