Baked Dried Fruit Oatmeal Bars

I love oatmeal, but honestly I rarely find the prepackaged stuff all that filling for the points. Now I know what you are thinking, well ok then just make a nice batch of steal cut oats or real oats in the morning before work. However, there is one major flaw with this theory. I'm so not a morning person, especially when I'm running around trying to get out the door to work. In fact if I didn't pick out my clothes the night before I can't be certain I would ever match at work.

This is why I love make ahead breakfast ideas: egg muffins, overnight french toast in the crock pot etc. So when I came across a few recipes for a baked oatmeal from different sources I decided to finally give it a try.

Source: adapted from weight watchers message boards and emily bites

Ingredients

2 cups quick cooking oats
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup fat free milk
1/2 cup egg beaters
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
14 cup brown sugar (either is fine)
1 cup diced dried fruit (I used half golden raisins and half apples)
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp ground cinnamon

Directions

1. Combine all the dry ingredients in one bowl and all the wet ingredients in another. Stir them both to the ingredients are evenly distributed

2. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix to combine. Here you can either to ahead and add in the fruit or you can wait to spread them over the top right before baking.

3. Pour into a greased 8x8 square pan. Then bake in a 360 degree oven for about 30 minutes until set.



4. Cut into portions and either store in tupperware or wrap individual pieces in wax paper and store in ziploc baggie in fridge. Or just eat straight out of the oven. If reheating in the morning just pop in the microwave for 30-45 seconds and enjoy.



For this batch I cut the pan into 8 pieces (which is the serving size you see above) since I was planning on using them for a mid morning snack more then a full meal.

WWPP = vary depending on serving size
8 servings = 4PP each
6 servings = 6PP each
4 servings = 8PP each

Now I use dried fruit from a local farm that has no added sugar which I highly recommend over the commercial ones because the flavor and texture is much better in my opinion. You can also use fresh fruit if you prefer which may effect the pp value. You can also add nuts like in the version from Emily Bites, however I am allergic so you won't see me including nuts in any recipe.

Also, if you like your oatmeal sweeter you can also add some splenda or sugar to the mix just account for the points.

Edited on 5/9/11 to add: I just made this recipe again but this time I doubled the amount of cinnamon and used 1 cup of fresh blueberries instead of the dried fruit. It turned out super delicious and 5PP per serving if you cut into six slices. Please see picture below and enjoy :)