Serenity Fruity Oaty Baked Oatmeal #FireflyFeast

The other day, Jessica posted a fantastic Firefly themed cake for this month's Fandom Foodies theme, hosted by Fictional Fare.  I couldn't resist getting on in myself before the end of the month.

The challenging part for me is that this month, my husband and I have been doing a slow reintroduction of foods after a month of Whole30.   This means that most days we're still strictly Whole30 but every few days we can have one food family along with our meals to see how it makes us feel.

The catch is - ONLY one. So on dairy day, you can have dairy products, but still no grains, or on non-gluten grains day, you can't have sugar, etc.

I had some baked oatmeal on my mind for our non-gluten test day.  It's something we've both always enjoyed, and while I would normally add some maple or brown sugar to it, I thought we would enjoy it fine just lightly sweetened with fruit.

And that's when I had a thought - in the movie Serenity, River Tam is triggered into some insanely skillful violence by a subliminal message inside an animated commercial for a snack called Fruity Oaty Bars.  The movie snack would be full of sugar, rainbow colors, etc - things we can't eat!

But if this was a popular snack inside the 'civilized' region of space, you can bet that Kaylee might find a way to make something sort of like it - especially if she managed to get ahold of some actual fruit!

So - unsweetened, homemade Fruity Oaty Bars it is!  I used this recipe from The Real Kitchen and Beyond as my starting point.  And if you want it a little more sweet just drizzle a bit of syrup or honey on top, and enjoy.

Serenity Homestyle Fruity Oaty Bars
makes 8' x 8' pan

2 cups old fashioned rolled oats
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp five spice powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup unsweetened chunky applesauce
3 cups water
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups total diced fruit and nuts, as desired
(I used fresh strawberries, blueberries, and walnuts)

Preheat oven to 375F.
Combine all dry ingredients in a large bowl.  Add applesauce, and stir to combine (It will be thick).
Mix in water and vanilla, and stir.  Add fruit and nuts and stir again to combine.
Turn into an 8' x 8' baking pan and cook for 30 minutes or until settled and lightly browned.
Let sit for at least 10 minutes to cool before serving.

This reheats nicely and even tastes fine cold.  If desired, serve with a little milk of your preferred type and a scant drizzle of honey or maple syrup.

Guaranteed not to cause your genius teenager to turn into a lethal yet graceful killing machine. Probably.

Happily sharing with Fictional Fare's #FireflyFeast : Celebrating the Food of Firefly and Serenity.