Skillet Strawberry Oatmeal

PSA: Seasonal affective disorder is a very real thing.

You’d think being from New York’s Snow Belt, I’d be used to the cold, dark winters. Truth be told, I’m not really cut out for winter. I can’t ski to save my life and in the battle of mind vs matter on the ice rink, my mind has been the reigning champ since 1995. I do love watching hockey but that’s really the extent of my winter activities. Unless hibernation counts?

My true talents, sipping cocktails, eating ice cream and the ability to always fall asleep when sitting out in the sun for longer than an hour are really just more suited for the spring and summer seasons.

And with this weekend’s glorious sunshine, I got to stretch my legs + do a little mental spring cleaning.

Aside from post-work drinks with friends, I realized I really have a pretty set daily routine. Wake up, shower, dress, go to work, work, come home, make dinner, have Netflix on in the background as I work on blog stuff, read + go to sleep. Wash, rinse, repeat.

I even have generally the same breakfasts + lunches.

It hit me that I’m one of those cartoon characters like in Kim Possible where Kim + Ron wear the exact same outfits every single time.

Enter skillet strawberry oatmeal.

Now, I should point out, oatmeal really isn’t in my go-to breakfast foods list. Pancakes, yes. Waffles, absolutely. Oatmeal? A big, hearty bowl of NO. For the longest time, I convinced myself that I just didn’t like oatmeal.

Oatmeal cookies, on the other hand, were totally fair game and I love ’em.

But as it turns out, skillet oatmeal is really just an oatmeal cookie that you can spoon into cute jars and pair with fresh fruit and toasted coconut.

Oh, and a scoop of Trader Joe’s Vanilla SoyCreamy.

I needed to slowly ease myself into the Skillet Oatmeal Camp. And this sort of sensitive therapy requires ice cream.

My ice cream shock therapy worked and I’ve been eating skillet oatmeal for breakfast! I made the oatmeal with frozen strawberries because an unofficial inspection of my freezer showed signs of frozen strawberry hoarding…

Pair the oatmeal with any fresh or frozen fruit you want! Add a drizzle of honey or a spoonful of almond butter.

Buh-bye, boring breakfast! Oh, and hell-o to an extra hour of sunshine : )

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups rolled oats

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Pinch of salt

1/2 cup vanilla almond milk, unsweetened

1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Fruit of your choice (I used about 3 cups of frozen strawberries)

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. In a bowl, whisk together the oats, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt and in a smaller bowl, whisk the milk, melted butter, egg and vanilla extract. Pour the wet ingredients into your dry ingredients and then, using a spatula or wooden spoon, fold the fruit into the oatmeal mixture.

2. Pour the mixture into a seasoned cast iron skillet (or a baking dish that’s been sprayed with nonstick cooking spray) and bake for 25 minutes or until the oats at the top are golden.

3. Let cool for 2-3 minutes and then top with toasted coconut, more fresh fruit or vanilla almond milk, a drizzle of honey, peanut butter or whatever you think would be a grand slam combo. In my case, it was SoyCreamy vanilla “non-dairy frozen dessert.” Their words, not mine. My words are SoyCreamy is dee-licious!