Zucchini Banana Oatmeal Bake

Breakfast is the meal people often skip for a reason. Who has time to make an elaborate breakfast every morning and then sit down to eat it?! I mean maybe you do, and then I want in please! But in all seriousness, breakfast is really the most important meal for so many reasons. If I don’t have a balanced and fueling breakfast, I find myself craving non-energizing food the rest of the day. Then I just feel like garbage, and to top it off I continue to eat garbage. Doesn’t help with productivity whatsoever.

So what’s the deal with breakfast. What should breakfast include? Well, this is not a one stop answer. It very much depends on your day: what you’ll be doing, how much energy you’ll be needing, your individual hormone levels, and a number of other factors. But generally speaking, you want to have some source of protein to keep you feeling full and satisfied, a complex carb to provide the body with energy gradually throughout the morning, and a healthy fat to help with vitamin absorption as well as to regulate blood sugar levels. I know this is the advice you’ll hear dietitians say about every meal, but it’s particularly more important for breakfast because it sets the rest of your day up for success. So if you’re going to put in any effort to meal plan for the week, it really really should be for breakfast! And that’s where this gem of a breakfast comes in. You’re going to love this!

I like to make a dish full of this bake on Sundays, and by Thursday, the whole things is finished.The hubs and the kids love this for both breakfast and dessert alike, and I am so happy having it every morning with a side of coffee. Sometimes when I’m low on time and have this in the fridge, I am so happy to give this to my kids as a dinner with some high fat/protein yogurt. A perfectly balanced and nourishing meal for the littles. So really makes life so convenient and I know I have a meal in my fridge whenever I need it.

Macronutrients

Let’s just talk macros for a second so you see how great this recipe is: in a single serving you get 8 grams of protein, 9 grams of healthy fats, and 25 grams of complex carbs. Top this with a high protein yogurt, and a drizzle of maple syrup, and you legit have a breakfast of champions. Also added bonus: I sneak in veggies to my kids with this one. Best.

Noteworthy Ingredients

All the ingredients are pretty standard and easy to find here. two notes I’d like to make before I get to the recipe though:

• Oats: please please don’t use instant oats. Literally sucks all the nutritional value out of the carb, and will not give you the benefits I spoke about above. So you’re looking for rolled or old fashioned oats. If you want to know a bit more about how to choose your oats, go check out my Grain Guidebook 😉
• Hemp seeds: completely optional, but they gives the recipe an extra boost of protein and healthy fats, vitamins and minerals. I have yet to find hemp seeds in Israel. But the good news is that there are tons of readily available brands on iHerb. I like Manitoba Harvest and find them to always be in stock. If you want to sub with a more readily available seed, just sub with flaxseed or chia, but this will obviously change the macro breakdown.

Ok, enough chit chat. Go get your breakfast prep on with this one.