I love when we start a new week off with a breakfast recipe. It feels like we’re starting off on the right foot—similar to how having a delicious breakfast prepped and ready feels on a Monday morning. That’s how I know it’s going to be a good week.

I used to be Team Savory or bust when it comes to breakfast, but I think I’m slowly creeping over to Team Sweet. Between overnight oats and baked oatmeal, there are so many possibilities! And while I’m always going to love egg muffins in the morning (we have 3 recipes—here, here and here), microwaving oats is definitely less offensive. Especially these oats. Just wait ’til you guys smell this freakin’ recipe.

Baked pears with cinnamon are easily one of my favorite sweet treats, and this oatmeal bake is like what would happen if a baked pear procreated with an oatmeal raisin cookie (another one of my favs). It’s delicious on it’s own, but it would also be great topped with some yogurt (Siggi’s Vanilla is my favorite).

Hope and I are always looking for ways to sneak extra protein into our recipes, so we snuck some protein powder into this oatmeal bake, making this come in at around 15g of protein per serving! If that’s not your thing, you can totally try swapping the protein powder out for some flour (white, whole wheat, or gluten free) and add 1 tsp vanilla to the wet ingredients.

Spiced Pear Baked Oatmeal

Dry ingredients:

• 2 cups rolled oats; we used Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Rolled Oats.
• 1 Bosc pear, peeled and diced
• 1/2 cup vanilla protein powder; we used Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard 100% Organic Plant Based Vegan Protein Powder.
• 1/4 cup raisins
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp salt
• coconut oil or cooking spray
• optional: 1 Bosc pear, sliced thin

Wet ingredients:

• 1 very ripe banana
• 2 large eggs
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease an 8″ x 8″ baking dish with coconut oil or cooking spray.
2. Combine oats, protein powder, baking powder, and spices in a large mixing bowl.
3. In another mixing bowl, mash banana. Add remaining wet ingredients and whisk until thoroughly combined.
4. Pour wet ingredients over dry ingredients and stir to combine. Fold in diced pear and raisins.
5. Add oat mixture to prepared baking dish, using a spatula to spread evenly. If desired, top with thin slices of pear.
6. Bake for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Yield: 6 servings

290 calories per serving • Fat: 5.1g • Carbohydrates: 47.3g • Protein: 15.4g