It’s no secret that I have a serious oats obsession. I have oats for breakfast pretty much everyday of the week, be it in overnight oats, porridge, or a baked recipe of mine! With Autumn well and truly here, and winter not far away, I was craving a warm oats-tastic breakfast this week. Something different to my beloved Overnight Oats! And hello Banana Bread Baked Oats! I’ve created this recipe using a new Alpro Unsweetened Soya Drink – I was delighted to be asked to be part of their ‘Finding the Sweet Spot’ Sugar Awareness Campaign this month, with the launch of their new Unsweetened Oat and Soya Milk drinks, and a new Unsweetened Soya Yoghurt! You guys know I’m a MASSIVE fan of Alpro, and have loved creating recipes with them this year. I’m also a big fan of promoting education and awareness in the population of what’s in the foods we buy and consume, and food label awareness is a key part of this. Importantly in this campaign, Alpro’s message is that we learn where our sugars come from, the difference between the different types of sugars in foods, and avoid demonisation of any foods! Always a positive message in my book! So, let’s bake gang!

Recipe (Serves 4)

Ingredients

• 1/2 ground ginger
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tbsp whole chia seeds
• 1 tbsp of honey (or maple or agave syrup)
• 200g of quick cook oats
• 300ml of milk (or split it 200ml milk + 100ml water)
• 2 bananas
• 1 handful of mixed nuts, roughly chopped (I love cashews and hazelnuts!)

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 175C (fan oven), and line a square baking dish with grease-proof paper. If you don’t have a square one that’s fine, just remember this batch makes 4 portions! If you have ramekins, you could bake the mixture into four of those, but I haven’t done this so the cooking time wouldn’t be the same!
2. Take a large mixing bowl, and add the dry ingredients – oats, mixed nuts, spices and chia seeds – and stir to combine.
3. Mash one and a half bananas into almost liquid-like consistency in a separate bowl.
4. Create a well in the center of the dry ingredients, and pour 200ml of liquid in, followed by the mashed bananas. Saved half of one banana for slices to go on top of your bake!
5. Stir the mixture, and depending on how dry it is at this stage, add the remaining 100ml of liquid, or most of it. This can vary depending on what size oats you use.
6. Pour the mix into your baking tin, and arrange the banana slices on top, as artfully as you like!
7. Bake in the oven for approximately 30 minutes. Check the center at 25 minutes by inserting a toothpick or fork into it – if it comes out 99% clean you’re good to go!
8. Allow to cool for about 15 minutes before slicing up into four squares!

Enjoy guys! Tag me if you try this one out as always – @theirishbalance on Instagram/Twitter/Facebook!

Ciara 🙂 x