Healthy Caramelized Banana-Pumpkin Oatmeal

I wanted to make something low sugar, low gluten, with pumpkin, so did a quick search this morning. With only one student to school today, I've got tons of time on my hands!

I chose a recipe from Annie's Eats and modified it. Her link is at the bottom which uses more traditional ingredients.

This is delicious and could easily work for company, though the banana is a taste that seems more suited to adults. My husband and I devoured this, the kids ate it but weren't in love...not sure how that is, probably the texture of the bananas (heavenly!). The amount of banana doesn't look like it will be enough, but it is. The pumpkin, well, that is a different story. I don't really taste the pumpkin, so think you could add a full cup, reducing another liquid by same amount to accommodate. It does add a subtle, rich undertone in the recipe as written below. If you don't like banana, try apples, peaches or pears. YUM!

Healthy Baked Caramelized Banana-Pumpkin Oatmeal-this can easily be adapted to be completely dairy free, just substitute olive oil or margarine for the butter. If use olive oil, reduce hot water for steel-cut oats by a scant 1/4th cup.

Yield: 10-12 1 cup servings. Pictured below are 4 ramekins with about 1 cup each. The casserole dish shows how much is left after taking this quantity out. (note the place mat made by my daughter!)

Ingredients

1 cup steel-cut oats
6 tbsp. unsalted butter, divided--does not have to be soft
4 cups very hot water
2 medium bananas, sliced into discs

3 cups old-fashioned oats
¼ cup sorghum, can do scant and fill rest with maple syrup or add 1 tsp maple extract if desire maple flavor
1 tsp. salt
1/4 cup stevia (any cup for cup blend), plus 1 tbsp. stevia blend for bananas                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            1/4 cup sucanat, plus 1 tbsp. sucanat (for bananas)

2¼ tsp. ground cinnamon, divided

¼ tsp. ground nutmeg
Dash each ground cloves and cardamom
½ cup pumpkin puree
½ cup vanilla rice milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract

**If desired, sprinkle 2 tbsp. dark brown sugar and a little maple syrup on top before baking.

Directions

• Preheat the oven to 350˚ F.  Place the steel-cut oats in a large bowl with 4 tablespoons of the butter.  Pour the hot water over the oats and cover the bowl.  Let stand for 20 minutes.


• Meanwhile, make the caramelized bananas.  Melt the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter in a non-stick skillet over medium-high heat.  Add the bananas, 1 tablespoon Stevia blend, 1 tablespoon sucanat, and ¼ teaspoon of the cinnamon to the pan.  Toss gently and cook briefly, about 2 minutes.  Remove from the heat and let cool.


• After the steel-cut oats have finished soaking, stir in the old fashioned oats,  ½ cup sucanat , sorghum, salt, remaining 2 teaspoons of cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom and cloves.  In a small bowl whisk together the pumpkin, rice milk and vanilla.  Stir the pumpkin mixture into the oat mixture.


• Spread the bananas over the bottom of a lightly greased 2 quart baking dish.  Pour the oatmeal mixture on top of the bananas.  Bake for 40-45 minutes.  Let cool in pan with oven door ajar before serving.

Note:

• If you want this crispier and thinner, you can likely use a 9 x 11 baking dish as for a regular baked oatmeal, only you won't have banana to cover the entire bottom. Would be a good size if you only want banana on half. Reduce baking time to 30-35 min and remove when knife comes out nearly clean. It might have to go up to 40 mins.


• For more fiber, add 1/4 cup ground flax seed prior to baking.