Baked Oatmeal

What memories does the word oatmeal bring to your mind? As a child, I grew up on oatmeal and I knew it as the cereal in the round can. At my grandmother’s house it came in tiny packages, all different flavors – just add water and those tiny pieces of fruit would plump up. As I got older, that same oatmeal was in every hotel in the continental breakfast room in those same tiny packages. Fancy hotels still had oatmeal – but now – it was it a big pot steaming with lots of toppings with silver lids and spoons. Yes, oatmeal has been a part of my life forever. My parents used to tell me, “It will stick to your ribs and you won’t get cold when you walk to school.” Of course, I believed them. I even told my daughter the same story. I even have gotten my granddaughter to eat oatmeal by putting frozen blueberries in the hot oatmeal and turning the oatmeal purple. I told her that it was Frozen Oatmeal from the movie and that the princesses eat this delicious dish. We have renamed this wonderful purple dish, “Castle Cereal!!”