Sugar-Free Vegan Baked Oatmeal and More

I’ve been eating a lot of baked oatmeal lately. It’s so satisfying and easy to make that I decided I’d share the recipe with you. Of course, this meant that I needed to get a blog-worthy picture of oatmeal, a tall order.

I did the photo shoot on Saturday morning, heading out early, before it was even quite light, to set up the scene. The air was refreshingly cool at this early hour as I squatted among the oxeye sunflowers by the breezeway, tinkering with china plates and my vintage orange-juice set painted with oranges, trying to get everything just right. Pretty soon, Famke, my little stray-cat friend, joined me. I went inside to get her some Fancy Feast, and in a moment she was nibbling and purring beside me. She’s so cute, probably only about nine months old, dainty, with a tiny pink nose and tiny pink mouth. She’s white with silver tabby splotches. On Monday or maybe in the wee hours of Tuesday, she had kittens. They were hidden somewhere, and I hadn’t seen them yet.

I kept fiddling with my photo props, squatting near the little table I was using and moving a plate or a glass a fraction of an inch. When Famke was done eating, she came and stood very close to me so that her warm side was touching my thigh. She purred and rubbed against me.

Then another friend entered the scene. Shelby, my favorite box turtle! She’s small, very petite, a yellow stripe running down the center of her shell. Her face is sunny yellow and always has a little smile! I rushed inside to get her some organic blueberries. She ate those, even though I was right there, watching. She wasn’t scared of me. But what she was really interested in was Famke’s cat food (Famke hadn’t quite finished it). I went inside to get her some more blueberries, and when I came back out she was stuck in/on Famke’s bowl! She was truly stuck, her head in the bowl and her butt on the edge of the bowl. She was flailing all her limbs, including her adorable little tail. She was flailing them in the air, trying in vain to get out of her predicament.

“Oh, no! Shelby!” I cried. And I rescued her from the bowl. She started eating the new blueberries I’d just fetched.

I made a mental note to serve Famke’s cat food on a plate from now on, just to prevent any more mishaps with turtles, and to try to remove the food as soon as Famke is done eating. Turtles shouldn’t be eating cat food. I’m sure it’s not healthy for them.

Later, I told my sister Bunny about Shelby getting stuck.

“She was flailing her little . . . “

“Oh, her little flippers?” Bunny said.

“Yes!” I said. “It was sad but so cute. She was even moving her little tail! She was trying every tool at her disposal to help herself get out of that pickle.”

“Luckily you were there to save her,” Kris, my other sister, said.

Anyway, after rescuing Shelby, I went back to taking pictures of my baked oatmeal as Shelby ate her blueberries and Famke rubbed against my thigh. Then Famke ran off. I kept taking picture after picture because I wasn’t satisfied with the lighting. I kept hoping a sunbeam would hit the little table and add some razzle dazzle to my shot. (None ever did.) I was snapping away when I saw something out of the corner of my eye. It was Famke with something in her mouth! A little gray fuzzy ball! It was one of her kittens!

She was coming toward me with a kitten! But as soon as I realized what was going on, she froze, then turned around and started running away! By the time I got to my feet, she was gone and I couldn’t find her.

I think she had wanted to show me her kitten but then got scared and changed her mind. I had to leave (I was going shopping in Monticello with Mom, Kris, and Bun), but I was so excited and happy. As soon as I got home, I’d find her kittens, I thought. I’d spend time with Famke and take care of her and she’d show them to me.

The morning had been so wonderful and so eventful. I love going outside very early, when the air is still cool and fresh. The early morning is a magical time in the yard, and I’d felt marvelously un-lonely hanging out with my little friends Famke and Shelby.

I was terribly excited about Famke’s kittens. All day I was extra giddy, because . . . because I felt I’d been witness to a miracle—a kitten, a brand-new being, a precious thing. I was full of awe at the great mystery of birth. And I felt special because Famke had trusted me and had been about to show her kitten to me until she got scared. I made happy plans to win her full trust.

Anyway, it was the most delightful few hours out in the yard. It set the tone for my whole day. When I got to Mom’s house (where we were all meeting before going to Monticello), I announced, “Oh, my gosh, you will not believe the sh*t I’ve been getting into this morning!”

Oh, well, here’s the recipe for the oatmeal:

Leslie’s Sugar-Free Vegan Baked Oatmeal

Ingredients:

3 very ripe bananas
1 cup almond milk
1 tablespoon melted coconut oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups rolled oats
1 tablespoon ground flaxseed
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup sliced almonds or chopped walnuts
21/2 cups fresh blueberries

Directions:

Mash the bananas in a large bowl. Then add the almond milk, coconut oil, and vanilla and stir to combine. In a separate bowl, mix together the dry ingredients—the oats, flaxseed, salt, cinnamon, baking powder, and nuts. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and combine. Then stir in the blueberries. Grease a 9-inch square baking pan and pour the mixture in. Bake for 30 minutes at 375 degrees.