Friday, August 21, 2009

Fruity Nutso Baked Oatmeal

Warning: This post contains the words breastfeeding and milk. It also contains the word oatmeal, which is delicious.

When I knew I was going to breastfeed, I researched foods that would be good for me to eat to help with milk supply issues. So far, I have had success drinking fennel tea and chamomile tea, especially when North was a newborn (thanks Sabine!) Gripe water often contains ginger, fennel, chamomile and bicarbonate. So it makes sense that drinking these teas would have a calming effect on a breastfed baby. Or maybe it's all placebo effect. I'm no scientist.

Beer is also said to help with mom's milk supply. Or at least that's what I tell myself when I'm sitting in my inflatable pool drinking an icy beer on a 95 degree day while North naps inside the house.

Another food that I use for its magical breastfeeding properties is oatmeal with fruit and nuts. The oatmeal and nuts are fantastic sources of protein. I have found that most of the extra calories I need for breastfeeding are best found in protein rich food.  Starting off your day with so much protein can help to curb your appetite later in the day too.

As a matter of fact, two night ago, I forced Dave into a Wendy's drive thru at gunpoint because I needed a bacon cheeseburger at 9:00 PM. Cravings can be just as bad as the ones felt during pregnancy, especially if your child is going through a growth spurt.

But back to delicious oatmeal. I eat it almost every day. This recipe is so much better than the kindergarten paste oatmeal I sometimes have to eat at work. Once you try steel cut oats, you may never go back to quick oats again. You could use all steel cut oats in this recipe (increase the milk 1/4 cup if you do). I tweaked the recipe a bit so that I could get rid of some reserves of rolled oats in my pantry. Steel cut oats are also a bit expensive, but worth it. In case you have a hard time finding them, they are also called coarse-cut oats, Irish oats, or pinhead oats. The latter is kind of mean though.

I would recommend using peaches or pears for the fruit and almonds for the nuts. So so good! Dave even ate it with ice cream last night because he is trying to increase his milk supply too. Anyway, I'll shut up now, here's the recipe.

Fruity Nutso Baked Oatmeal

1 1/2 cups steel cut oatmeal
1 cup rolled oats
3 cups milk
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
3/4 cup fruit (can be fresh, canned or dried)
1/2 cup nuts (walnuts, pecans and almonds work great)

Combine ingredients and let sit for 15 minutes. Pour mixture into a 9 X 13" glass baking dish. Bake for 45 minutes at 350 degrees. Leftovers can be refrigerated up to a week or frozen. Best served warm with milk. Serves 9.

1 comment:

Jessica Swesey said...

Hey so I baked this on Sunday because like Dave, Mekuria is also trying to up his milk supply. I used the steel cut and also a blend of rolled oats, wheat and barley instead of plain rolled oats (mainly because the store I went to was out of plain old rolled oats). Anyway, YUM!! thanks for sharing. This feels like a nice way to start the day as I now battle shedding some pounds.