Gluten Free Oatmeal French “Toast”

Alright, things are going to get a little weird. But good. Yeah, yeah – you aren’t surprised, I’m a weird girl, it’s okay. When it comes to leftovers, I am not entirely into eating the exact same meal again. I like to change things up. The other day I made spaghetti squash for dinner, tossing the cooked squash with fresh garlic, basil, shallots, and roasted piquillo peppers. When we wound up with leftovers, the following night I layered the squash with spicy marinara, blanched broccoli, sharp white cheddar cheese, then topped it all off with panko breadcrumbs, baking it until the panko was golden and the squash heated all the way through. It was different enough from the previous night to not feel like I was just eating the same old thing – not that there’s anything wrong with doing that, of course!

When I cook oatmeal, I often make too much. It’s probably because I eat breakfast at lunch time or for dinner, rarely at normal people breakfast times… So typically I am making the oats for my husband and Silas, and way over-guesstimate what they’ll eat. What do you do with a pot of leftover oats? I refrigerate them for later use. Or I feed them to our dogs. Recently I pressed the leftover oats into a square baking pan and refrigerated them overnight. The following morning I cut out the oats, treated them like bread and made “french toast.” While they certainly weren’t bread-y by any means, this gluten-free take on french toast was delicious.

Part of the trick is making sure the oats have great flavor to start with. I generally cook our oats with brown sugar, mashed up bananas, cinnamon, fresh nutmeg, and whatever else we have laying around. Sometimes there’s diced apples, or peaches. Ground ginger, coconut flakes, vanilla bean, pears, etc. You really cannot go wrong. There are these oats or these. Perhaps this is more your style. This is a great way to use up leftover oatmeal. If you don’t have leftovers, you can simply make a pot, pour it into a baking dish, then refrigerate until cold before using the following recipe.

Gluten Free Oatmeal French “Toast”

Serves one.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups prepared oatmeal*, pressed into a baking dish to about 1/2-inch thickness
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk (almond, dairy, soy, whatever you want)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg
pinch of ground ginger
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 cup blueberries, for serving (optional)
warm maple syrup, for serving

* Read the above paragraphs for recommendations about the prepared oatmeal. The oats need to be cold for this recipe, so they stay together while cooking.

Directions:

Cut the refrigerated oats into 2 – 3 rectangular pieces.

In a flat-bottomed dish, whisk together the eggs, milk, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger until completely combined. Gently place the cut slices of oatmeal into the egg mixture.

Meanwhile, heat the oil and butter in a frying pan over medium heat. Flip the oatmeal slices gently in the egg mixture to coat both sides well. You can do this flipping back and forth a few times, being careful so the oats don’t fall apart.

Once the butter has melted and the oil is hot, lay the oatmeal slices in the frying pan. Cook for 4-6 minutes, until the bottom is golden brown. Gently flip and continue cooking until the second side is golden in color, too. Serve immediately, topped with blueberries and warm syrup.