Healthy chocolate chip chia oatmeal cake

I love chocolate chip oatmeal cookies. I think they might be my favorite. I also love oatmeal in general, though until now there haven't been very many oatmeal fans in our house. Z has always liked oatmeal... I was sad when he stopped calling it "opee-mo", but Jay and Mimi aren't big fans. Until now.

Since I'm breastfeeding and wanting to keep my milk supply up, I was looking for less tired and time consuming oatmeal recipes online. I stumbled onto a chocolate chip baked oatmeal recipe that seemed good, but it was a bake-for-one thing by a single girl who clearly had more control over her mornings than I do. I need something good and fast.

So I messed with her recipe... Doubling/tripling it, adding things... Cutting out a lot of the sugar... And came up with something so good that I look forward to eating it every morning. And all I have to do is unwrap my little frozen tin foil square and microwave it for 1min 20sec. And my oatmeal hating husband loves it too... And pickiest of all, Mimi, will eat it (though few things tear her from her morning bagel and cream cheese)

The most recent batches have added in chia seeds for health reasons, but I've found they add some nice crunch too. 

Here's the recipe:

LibbyDibby's chocolate chip chia oatmeal breakfast cake

Preheat oven to 400 (I use the convection setting)

1 1/2 c. Milk

3T chia seeds

1 1/2 t vanilla

2T maple syrup

1 1/2 c applesauce

4T margarine

3 c rolled oats

1/2 c chocolate chips (I use mini- semi sweet)

3/4 t salt

Soak chia in milk for five minutes while you combine all of the dry ingredients. Then mix it up really well since the chia tends to clump.

Then mix all the wet ingredients into the dry ones. Pour them into a greased 9x13 pan.

I cook at least 30 minutes in my convection oven until done.

After the oatmeal has cooled (I usually eat one serving while it's hot, because it's so yummy, I can't wait) I usually cut it into little squares wrap it in tinfoil and put them in the freezer then I can pull out one serving of cake for breakfast every morning I usually microwave it for one minute and 20 seconds. I find the recipe makes about 9-12 servings, depending how you slice it  ++UPDATE! - I'M NOW MAKING THIS IN A SILCONE MUFFIN TIN - WAY EASIER TO GET PORTIONS EQUAL AND EASIER TO CLEAN UP. I GET ABOUT 15-16 LITTLE SERVINGS++

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