When breakfast could be a healthy snack, or dessert, you know you’ve found a warm and delicious way to maintain balance with Ayurveda.
Oats are great for breakfast as they are considered to have a sweet taste, with soft, heavy, sticky, warm, and slightly oily qualities, making it ideal for Vata dosha, and balancing for Pitta. To make this dish work for Kapha, consider hemp or pumpkin seed milk, omit the banana and double triple up on the cinnamon and ginger.
Recently at our Ayurveda Retreat I made this with 1/4 cup of fresh ground flaxseed, baked it a little longer and made it into Oat Bars to go with afternoon tea.
Prep it the night before, keep it overnight in the fridge, and let it bake while you get your day started. Offering sweet nourishment for sattvic energy, it is a joy to make.
CRISPY BAKED OATMEAL
Ingredients
1 cup dried cherries, apricots, cranberries – any or all
4 medjool dates, finely chopped
1 cup rolled oats
1/3 cup pecans, or almonds, chopped
1 tablespoon flaxseed
2-3 hearty shakes cinnamon
1-2 good shakes of dried ginger and/or cardamom
1 great pinch salt
1 cup non-dairy milk
1 apple or banana, or both, chopped into bite sizes
Instructions
Soak the dried fruit. Let sit overnight or at least while you prep your ingredients. Even 10 minutes is better than nothing. Or make everything the night before and store in the fridge overnight.
Preheat your oven to 375F.
Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl and mix well. Stir in milk and fruit, both dried and fresh, and let sit for 10 minutes.
Pour into a lightly greased 9×9 baking pan. Bake for 35 minutes, or until cooked through with a slightly golden crispy top. Slice and serve warm with a drizzle of raw honey or maple syrup.
Enjoy!
What dosha are you?
I wanted to let you know that I have a newly designed Dosha Quiz which helps you determine your current dosha (dosha v prakriti), and follows that up with unique, nurturing wisdom about your dosha and how best to care for it – which is essential, because caring for your dosha is caring for the energy of life itself. I would love your feedback.
Thank you!
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*Top Photo: Marta Greber, Getty Images
It’s been a while since I’ve made baked oatmeal and this looks so good! Love the pecans and ginger in it. I’ve taken your quiz twice now and scored Vata both times. But I identify most with Pitta. Over the years, I’ve consistently scored highest for Pitta in John Douillard’s quiz on lifespa.com. Also Pitta from your book quiz. Happy to share those results if you want to cross reference or discuss further via e-mail/phone.
Thanks for your feedback Katie, both on the oatmeal and the dosha quiz. It may be that on my quiz your totals for Vata and Pitta are really close but one point more in the Vata column. That is the next thing to develop is a VP, VK, PK response. I’ll be in touch via email.
I’d be interested in the VP, VK, PK responses for both myself and clients. Look forward to continuing the conversation via e-mail. Curious to hear your take on scores changing over time. I’ve consistently remained a predominate Pitta but leanings toward Vata and Kapha have varied over time. Thanks for following up!
I love the baked oatmeal. I think it will be my go-to breakfast for winter! I just took the quiz and came out Vata. I will look further at the suggestions. It was very difficult to answer all the questions because in many cases none of the choices fit me at all, such as skin type. I had to put something, so it was often eliminating the two things that didn’t fit at all rather than choosing something that really describes me. I loved the pictures! It was interesting to see that lemon ginger tea was suggested. I have an integrative doctor who is Indian and ayurvedic-leaning and she had suggested that very thing to me! Thank you for the suggestions. I always strive to make healthier choices and one thing for sure, we are all different!!
I made this last night and had some this morning with homemade plain yogurt and a splash of maple syrup. I used what I had….dried mango, dried pineapple, dried papaya, dried apricots, and a fresh pear from my tree. It was SO GOOD! Lovely and warm for breakfast. Definitely saving this recipe…and if your cookbook is like this, I think I need to buy it!
It should be delicious; it’s something I can be addicted to…
Thanks for sharing