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! 
Related posts:
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/
[...] told you yesterday’s Mom walk temps were “not bad,” but today’s were “frigid!” We were tromping through a 26 degree wind [...]
[...] 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 [...]