Strawberry Banana Baked Oatmeal (Vegan)

I didn't invent this out of nowhere, but I did veganize it and scale it down. The original omnivore recipe asked for eggs, butter, and milk (easy substitutes for me) and was just too big. So here's one that serves 2-3 rather than 4-6.

This takes a while to bake, but the hands-on time is minimal. I mixed it up before doing my morning yoga and popped it in the oven while I was on my mat. The original recipe used old fashioned oats, so I'm sure you could use those, but I generally just keep quick-cooking oats on hand, and those did fine here, too. (The two are usually interchangeable in recipes. The old-fashioned oats will be less smooth.)

Strawberry Banana Baked Oatmeal
Serves: 2-3

Cooking spray
1 cup quick-cooking oats
3 tablespoons brown sugar, very lightly packed, plus more for optional garnish
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons dried orange peel (or use grated orange zest)
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup chopped walnuts, divided
1/2 cup sliced strawberries, divided
3 tablespoons chocolate chips, divided
1 1/2 teaspoons ground flax seeds
1 1/2 tablespoons water
1/2 ripe banana, sliced
1 1/2 tablespoons vegan butter (I used Earth Balance)
1 cup soy milk (or whatever non-dairy milk you like)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray a loaf pan with cooking spray and set aside.

In a mixing bowl, stir together oats, sugar, baking powder, orange peel, cinnamon, salt, half of your walnuts, half of your strawberries, and half of your chocolate chips.

Put the oatmeal mixture into the loaf pan and smooth out evenly.

Mix flax seeds and water; set aside.

Arrange the reserved walnuts, strawberry slices, chocolate chips, and banana slices over the top of the oats.

Melt the butter in a microwave. Add to flax mixture with milk and vanilla. Stir well.

Carefully pour the liquid over the oats in the pan, taking care to distribute it evenly. Tap the pan softly on the counter and shake it a bit to ensure that the liquid makes it all the way down into the bottom.

Bake for about 30 minutes, or until it appears the liquid has been absorbed.

Optional step: Set your oven to broil. Sprinkle brown sugar over the top of the baked oatmeal. Broil for 45 seconds to 1 minute.

Allow to sit for a few minutes before dishing out.

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