Banana Baked Oatmeal

This recipe is adapted from the Baked Oatmeal one on the official South Beach Diet website and cookbook. It is not fluffy like a muffin, but rather dense and chewy like a bar, which is what the original recipe instructs you to make.  You can prepare it in a 9"x9" pan and then cut into bars per the original recipe, or you can use a muffin tin and make individual muffins from it, which is my favorite way to do it because it makes things much more convenient in the long run. The chocolate chips are totally optional. ;-)

I don't have a link to the original recipe because I don't subscribe to the SBD website, but if you do, or if you check out the cookbook, you can easily find it.

Banana Baked Oatmeal
Adapted from the official South Beach Diet Baked Oatmeal recipe.
Yields 12 bars/muffins.

Ingredients:

• 3 cups rolled oats
• 1 cup fat free milk
• 3 eggs
• 1.5 cups ground flaxseed
• 2/3 cups brown sugar (or Splenda if you're strictly SBD-ing)
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 medium (or 2 large) mashed over-ripe bananas
• 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (optional)

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Spray a 12-count muffin tin with non-stick spray.
• In a bowl, combine rolled oats and milk.  Toss it to evenly coat the oats with milk.  Set aside.
• In another mixing bowl, beat eggs with a hand mixer.  Beat in the flaxseed, sugar, cinnamon, vanilla, baking powder and salt, until well combined.  Add in the mashed bananas and chocolate chips and combine.
• Add the oatmeal mixture to the egg mixture and combine with a wooden spoon.
• Divide into the prepared muffin tin.  These hardly rise at all, so don't be afraid to fill 'er up to the top.
• Bake for 25 minutes.