Delicious and Filling Baked Oatmeal!

I forgot about this awesome recipe that my friend, Theresa, shared with me. I found it in my recipe book this weekend and made it this morning. I'll share it at the end of my post, but first I want to share a little bit about Theresa!

Imagine my excitement when I found out that our trainer that we hired at work, Theresa, used to be a personal trainer at a local gym!! She too used to be a little overweight and unhealthy (I really didn't believe her until she brought in an old picture) but made the decision to get healthy and never looked back! She is so passionate about health and exercise and I have always enjoyed talking to her and getting great tips from her. She ran my second race ever with me. It was a 5k...my first race was a 8k with lots of hills and I did great so I thought the 5k would be easy, breezy! Boy was I wrong! It was much hotter and way, way more humid than the 8k in North Carolina (Tryon). I thought I was going to die but Theresa stuck with me the whole way and encouraged me to keep going!! That same 5k (Race for the Cure) was my first race after I had Jake. Theresa planned to run with me but got sick and unfortunately couldn't make it. But as I came to the hill that was so tough the year before I heard her cheering me on and encouraging me...so she really got me through two of my toughest races and she wasn't even there for one! :) She also told me when I wasn't eating enough calories and encouraged me to eat better and more - especially in the mornings. She has taught me and encouraged me so much more than this, but I just thought I'd share a couple of things about how much she means to me before I share her delicious recipe. She tweaked it from the original to make it healthier.

Ingredients:

• 3 cups rolled oats
• 1/3 cup splenda brown sugar blend
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 3/8 cup sugar free applesauce
• 2 Tsp canola oil
• 2 egg whites
• 1 cup skim milk
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 cup chopped nuts (walnuts or almonds)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Mix dry (minus nuts)
3. Mix wet
4. Mix together
5. Pour into greased bread pan
6. Sprinkle with chopped nuts
7. Bake 30-40 minutes (I think about 32 minutes is perfect!!)

It's a great pre-race meal for me too. Hope you enjoy it as much as I do!