Gluten-free Oatmeal Breakfast Bars

I think breakfast is the hardest meal of the day to pull off at my house, for several reasons. It's got to be fast on school days, it's got to be something that my son will eat, it's got to be something that won't mess up his blood sugar (like cold cereal!), and it needs to be reasonably healthy. Shortly after he was diagnosed we started buying oatmeal from GlutenFreeOats.Com. and for a long time he ate regular oatmeal, happily, several days a week. But then he just got tired of it. So I started looking around for alternatives and I came up with this recipe. It's my version of baked oatmeal. I cook it the night before, slice it into bars and wrap them up, and then just warm them in the microwave for 10 seconds or so. It isn't overloaded with sugar, and it has lots of fiber and some fat in it, so it burns nice and slow and doesn't mess up his blood sugar, and he really likes it. It makes a cake-like bar that isn't overly sugary, but reminds me of oatmeal cookies.



Gluten-Free Oatmeal Breakfast Bars
Makes 6 bars

2 eggs
1 1/2 c. gluten-free old-fashioned oatmeal
3 T. sugar
3 T. Splenda
1/2 c. milk
1/4 c. oil
1/4 c. chopped nuts
1/4 c. raisins
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon

Combine ingredients and mix well. Pour into a greased 8" pan. Let it sit for a few minutes while you are preheating your oven. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. It is delicious warm, but it slices better if you let it cool.

This is a very flexible recipe. If you can find GF quick oats, they make a slightly cakier version. You can use all Splenda or all sugar. You can also use any variety of dried fruit, the nuts are optional. I like it cinnamony, but you can reduce it to 1/2 tsp. or try other seasonings like nutmeg. Happy Breakfast!

Note for diabetics: Slice it into 6 bars, and it has 25 g of carbs per bar.