Meyer Lemon Blueberry Baked Oatmeal

I’ve had a lot of hit-or-miss recipes for breakfast lately. My carrot-ginger muffins were a surprise because I wanted lemon-ginger muffins, but they were actually pretty good. I adapted a recipe for pull-apart cinnamon sugar muffins a while ago, because we had a bunch of cinnamon sugar left over from one of the Engineer’s cookie recipes, but it was really sweet and, overall, not to my taste. I also tried pancake squares, but found them too fluffy and quite bland, really not as good as regular pancakes. But then I stumbled upon this Meyer lemon blueberry baked oatmeal recipe on Prevention RD and it hit the spot! It’s made with whole grains, so it’s filing and healthy, and it’s delicious on its own or with maple syrup drizzled on top. It only calls for one Meyer lemon, too, though you won’t taste it much and could use a regular lemon without changing the quantities of the other ingredients. The recipe makes 6 reasonable servings.

This recipe used up the 10th lemon from our dwarf tree in the backyard (three for Meyer lemon frozen cream, four for a Shaker pie and two for a loaf cake, plus one for this oatmeal). I’ve still got a few lemons to use up, so maybe I’ll try a coffee cake next.

1 Meyer lemon, zested and juiced
2 cups lactose-free milk (skim milk is fine)
2 ½ cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. kosher salt
½ tsp. nutmeg
½ tsp. cinnamon
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil (I used safflower oil)
1 egg
1/3 cup sugar
2 cups blueberries (fresh or frozen)

Preheat oven to 375 °F. Spray an 8-inch square baking dish with non-stick spray.

Zest lemon; set lemon zest aside. In a bowl, combine milk and juice from the zested lemon to make “buttermilk”.

In a medium bowl, combine the oats, baking powder, salt, spices and lemon zest.

In a small bowl, whisk together the “buttermilk”, oil, eggs and sugar.

Spoon half the oat mixture into the baking dish, then half the blueberries. Add the remaining oat mixture and scatter the remaining blueberries on the top, pressing them in slightly. Pour the milk mixture over the oatmeal-blueberry mixture and place the dish in the oven.

Bake for 35 to 45 minutes, or until the mixture is a light golden brown along the edges and the center has set up. Serve warm ideally, but cold if you must.