Banana Oatmeal Breakfast Cups with Chocolate Chips

Welcome to the first installment of my new blog feature, Toddler Tuesdays!

While hunting for quick and healthy breakfast ideas that both my soon-to-be toddler and I would enjoy, I came across this great recipe idea over at Green Lite Bites.  I especially loved them because there are no heaping cups or even half cups of added sugar!  They also give a delicious purpose to those almost black bananas sitting on your counter that are otherwise soon to be in the trash.  They're quick, nutritious, taste great, AND they're portable.  Broken into small pieces, they were a perfect finger food for my little one and a great variation on the usual bananas and oatmeal breakfast.  Hubby and I gobbled 'em up just as fast as our little peanut did!

Even better, this recipe is also incredibly flexible and can be tweaked in about a million different ways, so feel free to experiment with using different fruits and add-ins and get creative!  (In fact, if you head over to the original recipe, Green Lite Bites, you'll find plenty of inspiration for variations on this recipe in the comments section.)

Banana Oatmeal Breakfast Cups with Chocolate Chips

Ingredients

• 3 mashed ripe bananas (the more ripe the better)


• 1 cup Vanilla Almond Milk* (you can use skim, 1 or 2%, or whole milk if serving to little ones under 1 year old - I did - but you might want to add a little sweetener like agave nectar, splenda, truvia, etc. if you do; honey is okay too, as long as serving to 1 year olds and up)


• 2 eggs


• 1 Tablespoon baking powder


• 3 cups Old Fashioned or Rolled Oats


• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract


• 3 Tablespoons mini chocolate chips


• Optional add-in ideas:
  
  
  
  • 1 Tablespoon ground flax seed
  
  
  • A few shakes of cinnamon (to taste)
  
  
  • walnuts* or raisins instead of chocolate chips
  
  
  
  

*Recommended for 1 year olds and up, assuming no known nut allergies.

Directions

1.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2.  Combine all ingredients, except for the chocolate chips, in a large bowl and mix together.  Set aside.



3.  Line a muffin pan with liners and spray them lightly with cooking spray.



4.  Add the mini chocolate chips to the batter and mix well.



5.  Spoon the batter into 15 muffin cups, filling them almost all the way.  (A level scoop of an old-fashioned ice cream scoop is actually the perfect amount.)



6.  Bake 20-25 minutes or until firm to the touch and edges start to brown slighly.  (20 minutes was all I needed, but I know all too well that oven temps can vary.)



Note:  As I mentioned above, this recipe is incredibly flexible and can be tweaked in about a million ways, so please experiment and get creative!  And definitely let me know here in the comments if you find a new variation you love.  I'm always looking for new ideas too!

Approx Nutritional Information per serving

Servings	Amt per Serving
15	1 oatmeal cup
Calories	Fat	Fiber	WWPs
115	3g	2g	2
Sugar	Sat Fat	Carbs	Protein
6g	1g	21g	4g

 *Original recipe and nutritional info comes from Green Lite Bites.  A great site I recently came across that is full of healthy and delicious recipes.  Definitely one worth checking out!   (FYI, WWPs stand for Weight Watcher Points.)