Baked Oatmeal

Yum! A couple of weeks ago Kim told me about baked oatmeal, thank you Kim!  It sounded yummy, so I started trying different recipes.  I finally found a recipe I kind of liked, then changed it to my liking.  I now made this recipe a couple times.  I make a full recipe with makes about 9 servings, then I eat it throughout the week.  The original recipe had a full stick of butter, so I substituted half of it with applesauce, and love the substitution.

Ingredients:

-3 cups oats

-1 cup packed brown sugar (you could probably reduce this some, especially with adding the applesauce)

-1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder (the original recipe called for 2 tsp., but that was a little much for me, so now I use 1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons)

-1 teaspoon salt

-1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

-2 eggs

-1 1/2 cups milk

-1/4 cup butter, melted (half a stick)

-1/4 cup to 1 cup applesauce (this last time I used a cup, and it was delicious, though I think next time I would decrease the brown sugar with adding that much applesauce)

-Walnuts (optional) (I love walnuts in this)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Ina large bowl combine oats, brown sugar, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. In another bowl whisk eggs, milk, melted butter and applesauce.  Stir into oat mixture until well blended. Mix in walnuts.

Pour into a greased 9 in. square baking pan. Bake 40-45 minutes or until set. Serve warm with milk.