baked apple oatmeal!

i was up earlier than usual this morning and wanted something a little different for breakfast. enter: baked apple oatmeal.

i found it the other day while doing a search to incorporate apples into breakfast, and i'm glad i did. it was pretty easy to make - you just have to be willing to wait for it to bake...

step one...the apples. you won't get very far without them:

chop them up and throw them in a bowl. while you're at it, take a cup of oatmeal and throw it in there, too. when i was little, i thought the quaker oats dude was william penn. don't ask me why, because i don't have an answer.

to clear up any mass confusion, your bowl will now look something like this:

i love one-bowl recipes. need some maple syrup? no problem - in it goes...

i also added some milk (in this case, some light soy milk that needed to be used up)...

and some chopped walnuts. which started out whole but were 1) placed in a plastic baggie and sealed...

2) and then pounded with the bottom of the measuring glass. genius.

anyway. along with some spices - here it is - one bowl:

and, after a good mixing, one baking dish:

here is the baking dish out of the oven and ready to eat. it does not look much different from before the baking period, although, i assure you, it tastes different. this was a lovely breakfast - rather like healthy apple pie filling. i would definitely make this again. this was TOP CHEF baked apple oatmeal.

and speaking of top chef, this week's challenge was all about pleasing natalie portman with vegetarian food; and, was it just me, or did they do all do a fairly disappointing job. and i don't mean with cooking techniques - they are clearly all better than i will ever be. i mean - they were all stunned as to what to do. they all just kind of made glorified salads or side dishes. nobody really made an actual meal. for shame, top chef, for shame.