Monday Meal Planning and a Baked Oatmeal Recipe
I’ve always been really good about planning out dinners for the week but breakfasts and lunches have always been things that get thrown together last minute. For the past few months, I’ve found myself rummaging through the cabinets after dinner trying to figure out what to pack for our lunches the next day.
Last weekend I decided to put an end to this madness and started prepping a few things for breakfast and lunch on Sunday to save myself the time throughout the week. It worked out so well and freed up a lot of time for reading and spending extra time with Henri in the evenings! What I’ve found works really well is to prepare enough food for a few breakfasts and lunches throughout the week, which leave a little wiggle room in case we feel like a bowl of cereal in the morning – or end up with enough leftovers from dinner to have for lunch the next day.
Here’s what I prepped for this week!
- 8 hard boiled eggs
- Mixed Berry Baked Oatmeal
- 4 small purple potatoes, sliced and pan fried in olive oil
- 4 medium-large sweet potatoes, chopped and roasted with olive oil and rosemary
- 8 chicken tenders
- 4 cups of broccoli crowns, steamed
Food prep is one thing but actually using the things that you prep is essential. I don’t want to end up with a bunch of unused food at the end of the week! Here are a few photos to give you an idea of the meals that I put together from the prep above.
Breakfast – 1 slice of baked oatmeal (1/9th of the pan) with two hard boiled eggs and an 8 ounce glass of milk
Lunch – Chicken with sweet potatoes, broccoli and apple
Afternoon snack – Peanut Butter-Dark Chocolate Kind Bar and Peach Chobani
All together, the food prep that I am referring to in this post (along with a little prep for dinners this week) took about 2 1/2-3 hours. But to me it is well worth that time when these things are ready to eat in our fridge! Having healthy options easily available helps us to steer clear of “convenient” alternatives.
__________________________________________________
Baked oatmeal has been on my “recipes to try” list for a long time. Henri and I have oatmeal for breakfast almost every day so when I decided to start prepping breakfast items too I thought it was the perfect opportunity to make baked oatmeal for the first time! I looked over a few recipes but didn’t find anything that was exactly what I wanted. So, instead I put together the following recipe. I made sure to taste it (and Henri too) before sharing and it got two thumbs up from both of us! It is really easy to make, perfect when you’re in a rush in the morning and has the perfect amount of sweetness from the maple syrup but isn’t overly sugary. I hope you like it!
- 2 cups old fashioned oatmeal
- 1/2 cup almond meal
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 2 cups milk
- 1 eggs
- 1 TBSP melted butter
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup maple syrup
- 2 bananas, mashed
- 1 cup frozen blueberries
- 1 cup frozen raspberries
- In a large bowl stir together oatmeal, almond meal, cinnamon, salt and baking soda.
- In a medium bowl whisk together milk, eggs, butter, vanilla, maple syrup and bananas
- Pour wet ingredients over oatmeal mixture and stir until well combined.
- Stir in blueberries and raspberries. Mix until evenly distributed (but stop before the batter turns blue from the berries)
- Pour into a greased 9×9 inch baking pan and baked at 350 degrees for 35-45 minutes or until center is set.
- Enjoy fresh from the oven or keep chilled in fridge and warm in the microwave before eating
Makes 9 servings
Ingredients
- 2 cups old fashioned oatmeal
- 1/2 cup almond meal
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 2 cups milk
- 1 eggs
- 1 TBSP melted butter
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup maple syrup
- 2 bananas, mashed
- 1 cup frozen blueberries
- 1 cup frozen raspberries
Directions
- In a large bowl stir together oatmeal, almond meal, cinnamon, salt and baking soda.
- In a medium bowl whisk together milk, eggs, butter, vanilla, maple syrup and bananas
- Pour wet ingredients over oatmeal mixture and stir until well combined.
- Stir in blueberries and raspberries. Mix until evenly distributed (but stop before the batter turns blue from the berries)
- Pour into a greased 9×9 inch baking pan and baked at 350 degrees for 35-45 minutes or until center is set.
- Enjoy fresh from the oven or keep chilled in fridge and warm in the microwave before eating
Printable Recipe: Mixed Berry Baked Oatmeal
Do you meal plan/food prep on the weekends?
What is your favorite make ahead breakfast recipe?