When I moved all my stuff into my fiancés house we found out we had a lot of “duplicate” household items. Take for example, the cleaning supply closet:

Between the two of us, we have every cleaning product on the market. This is only some of the cleaning supplies. We have more under every sink in the house (4 sinks) plus more in the garage. And I’m not sure if you can tell in the picture but we have toilet cleaner stacked 4 deep. We were obviously meant to be together since we share a love for cleanliness. 🙂 Nerd alert!!

Anyway, we have a similar situation going on in the kitchen. We have about a 2 year supply of oatmeal so I’ve been trying to think of ways to use it up. I thought it would be so nice to have a “portable bowl of oatmeal” we could just grab out of the fridge for mornings on the go. Now I’m wishing I would have baked these in muffin tins…because everything looks like a legit breakfast food when it’s in a muffin paper. Right? How else do chocolate muffins pass as breakfast food?

These actually are a legit breakfast food. Yes, there is a small amount of agave nectar and brown rice syrup in them, but this recipe makes about 34 servings so that’s not much sweetener per serving. They do have a strong banana flavor so banana haters should pass on this one. You could try substituting 2/3 cup applesauce instead of the bananas but then you might have to add more syrup. Just sayin’.

Oatmeal Peanut Butter Breakfast Bites

2 small ripe bananas, mashed
2 tablespoons ground flax seeds
1/4 cup almond milk
1/4 cup canola oil
1/4 cup brown rice syrup
1/4 cup agave nectar
1/2 cup natural peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups whole rolled oats

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. In a large mixing bowl combine the mashed bananas, flax, milk, oil, brown rice syrup, agave nectar, peanut butter and vanilla. Add in the flours, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda and salt. Last, fold in the oatmeal and note the dough will be very stiff and a little dry. Scoop about 1/4 cup of dough up in your hands and roll into a ball. Place the ball on the baking sheet. They won’t change shape much so if you want more of a cookie shape, flatten it out a bit. Continue that process, leaving about 1.5 inches between each piece of dough. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until slightly browned.
Makes about 3 dozen. Keep some in the refrigerator for this week, freeze the rest for later. Best served warm.

It’s been cold in Salt Lake lately which means we have to get the heat dish out for Lilly, otherwise she cries at us because she believes we control whether or not the sun shines.

She puts her face almost directly on the heat dish! What a nut.

Have a great week!