My girls are starting Kindergarten at the end of the month, so school will be five days a week (as opposed to every other day like preschool). So I needed to come up with some alternatives for breakfast that are also quick to serve during the morning rush.

I found this muffin recipe from Keeping Up with the Joneses, using oats, yogurt and bananas (and no flour). I thought I’d also try adding blueberries, which I had on hand. But what I loved the most about this recipe was that you can prep the few ingredients it requires in the food processor or blender.

I reminded them not to touch the blades in the food processor (or even put their hands inside…a blender may be safer to use!) and had them pour the ingredients right in.

Good job, girls! No shells!

Why do we have two sets of measuring spoons? These were from the NICU, to measure Neosure to add to my breastmilk to help them grow, and we ended up taking the spoons home along with the girls! Today, we’re using them to measure baking soda and baking powder.

It’s surreal to think of them back then, and how they are now.

Blend the ingredients together until the oats are broken down and it starts to look smooth.

I then divided the batter, pouring half into a bowl, and keeping the other half in the food processor. We added blueberries to the half in the bowl, and added a banana to the other half in the food processor and blended it further. BUT, if I were to do this again, I would add banana to the whole thing…I don’t think the blueberries alone were sweet enough! The banana would really have helped with that.

So in one bowl we folded in the blueberries, and the other half we added a ripe banana and blended the banana in. Then I poured out the banana batter in another bowl, so each of the girls were in charge of their own batter. At this point I thought, why not add chocolate chips to the banana batter? MMMMM.

It was recommended to use silicone or foil cupcake liners but do not use paper liners because this flour-free batter would stick to paper. Or, you could pour the batter directly into a regular non-stick muffin pan. I love these flower silicone cups we found at the craft store. We put them in a baking dish and the girls spooned in the batter. They decided to put the blueberry batter in the pink flowers, and the banana/chocolate batter in the yellow ones. Ready for the oven!

And all done.

After they cooled, I was able to pop them out of the silicone cups really easily.

The inside of the banana chocolate muffins: The oats give it a nice texture, and the yogurt makes it really moist.

And the inside of the blueberry muffins. Again, they would have been a bit sweeter (and better) with banana blended in. And I think I would add a pinch of salt as well, to further bring out the flavors of the fruit as well as the oats (as oatmeal tastes better with a pinch of salt so why not try it here too?).

Hope this gives you an idea for back-to-school food, whether you serve this as a quick and hearty breakfast, packed as a mid-morning snack, or for a fun little dessert (with a dollop of whipped cream) on school nights.

Oat Breakfast Muffins

  • 2 1/2 cups old fashioned oats (not quick-cooking)
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 cup plain Greek yogurt
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/4 tsp salt (optional)
  • 2 ripe bananas
  • 1/2 cup fresh or frozen/thawed blueberries (you could also try chopped strawberries, peaches, raisins or other fruit that you would bake)
  • 1/4 cup chocolate chips (optional)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Spray silicone muffin cups with non-stick cooking spray or use foil cupcake liners (do not use paper liners as the batter is flourless and may stick to paper). Combine all ingredients in a food processor or blender, except for blueberries and chocolate chips. Blend until smooth. Add blueberries and/or chocolate chips (divide the batter first if you want to make separate flavors). Pour into muffin cups about 3/4 full. Bake at 400 degrees F for 20-25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Allow to cool for 10 minutes before serving. Makes 12 muffins.

Here’s one more muffin-y school morning breakfast idea from the past: Breakfast in a Cup!

Enjoy the rest of the summer, and I hope that back-to-school goes smoothly for all of you!