Day 269 - Baked Blueberry Oatmeal

I LOVE this!!

It's that time of the month again!!  Time for that all important reveal of the Secret Recipe Club.
For those of you who are not yet familiar with it, The Secret Recipe Club was started just 18 months ago by Amanda at Amanda's Cookin', and only had 19 blogs participating.  There are now over 300 and because it is so big we are now divided into 4 separate groups with each having its' own reveal day!  How awesome is that?!
The fearless leader of my group is Angela from Big Bear's Wife.  Angela was actually assigned to "stalk" my blog last month - go here to see which of my recipes she chose to make.
The idea behind the Secret Recipe Club is like Secret Santa.  Each month a food blogger chooses to participate, they are assigned a blog from which they may choose any recipe to make and then blog about.
BUT...
You have to keep it a secret until it is your reveal day.  So, there is no telling the blogger that you've been assigned to that you are pleasantly stalking them.
It is SO much fun!!
It is also a great way to meet fellow bloggers and experience new recipes.

So, without further adieu...

May I present to you...

Inquiring Chef!!!

Jessica is a transplanted American now living in Bangkok, Thailand with her husband.

I've always been fascinated by Americans who are living in other countries and the experiences they have.  To be immersed into another culture is at the same time, exhilarating and scary.  I think it's on my Bucket list, but it's written in pencil, not pen because I'm not sure I could jump in with both feet.

Jessica has a lot of wonderful recipes on her site, especially some of the Thai foods that I'm dying to try.

Today's recipe is of course, a baked one and one I was really excited to try.  I am forever preparing this dish stove top, so I was very interested in both the flavors Jessica used and how it would taste baked.

Unfortunately, my presentation is not as pretty as Jessica's.  I went to two different stores in search of 4 oz. mason jars, but was unsuccessful in my search and had to quickly return home to feed the masses.  :-(

The recipe I chose to make was...

Baked Blueberry Oatmeal   - serves 4

1 1/2  cups rolled oats (not instant)

1/2 cup pecans, coarsely chopped

1 1/2 cups blueberries (I used frozen and thawed them)

1 1/2 cup milk

1 egg

2 tablespoons honey

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350ºF.

Prepare an 8 X 8-inch baking dish by spraying it with cooking spray.

Toast pecans by placing them on a baking sheet and roasting them for about 5 minutes or less. (I did this in the toaster oven and they only needed a few minutes since I put the first batch in, left them in for too long, and burned them!  SO, watch your pecans!)
In a medium bowl, beat egg.  Add milk, honey, cinnamon, and salt.  Mix well.

In a small bowl, combine oats, toasted pecans, and blueberries.

Place oatmeal mixture into prepared baking dish.

Pour milk mixture evenly over the oats.

Bake for 25-30 minutes until bubbly and lightly browned.

I rate everything I bake on a scale of 1-4 with 4 being the best and this Baked Blueberry Oatmeal earned 3 rolling pins.
I really liked the blueberries and the pecans in this.  I don't think I want to go back to our boring way of cooking oatmeal again.
It was just sweet enough and the blueberries were so big that they literally exploded in my mouth with flavor.  They were so yummy and the nuttiness of the pecans were a great addition.
They oats were not as mushy as when I make the oatmeal on top of the stove, which I liked.
I'll definitely be making this again!
There were a few changes I made to Jessica's recipe.  I substituted milk for the apple juice since that's the only way I ever make ours, and used the 8 X 8-inch dish instead of the (sniffle) 4 oz. ramekins.
Thanks, Jessica for sharing this recipe!  I can't wait to try other recipes on your blog!

I give you BIG baking hugs and muffins!!