I’m sharing our favorite baked oatmeal recipe. It was given to us by a very good friend.

There are those friends who have just been there forever.

They may not be part of your life every single day but they are in your heart.

Such is life with my friend, Sheryl.

More than 20 years ago, she was part of my little church.

Paul and I were a young couple in a church full of other couples who had been married much longer. Having come from a divorced family, they were such an encouragement to Paul and I.

She helped plan the baby shower for my oldest son, Joshua.

Like so many of her nursing students, she taught me to quilt. I’m not even exactly sure how many quilts I have made over the years. With each one, I think back to being such a young woman and learning a skill that is still one of my absolute favorite things to do!

Sheryl played piano beautfully! She was a home health nurse, and taught obstetric nursing for years and years. I remember thinking at times there was probably nothing she tried that she could not do.

At some point, most of the families attending that little church migrated over to another church in the area. Paul and I ended up attending there for a while and then moving to a church that was a little closer to our home.

We lost touch for a while but as the Lord so often works, Sheryl happened to be at our local hospital with nursing students for more than half of my babies being born. She had the most delightful nursing students helping with my care. She would stop and chat so often and when she left, well, I just had that feeling I had been with one of my dearest friends and I knew the Lord gave me that time with her.

The days of facebook came along and we found each other online again!

I was thrilled to find out she only lived about 20 minutes from my house. She began to attend our monthly ladies fellowship. She came to see Jonathan when he had surgery. I was so grateful for her sweet face as I greeted people who were in line at my mom’s funeral.

She has been one of my dearest friends. She has moved to be closer to her own family now and she is missed. I still write when I have a question about motherhood or some struggle I seem to be having. She is always an encouragement and prays for me any time I ask. She has some pretty serious struggles of her own right now. Please say a prayer for her.

Sheryl, among all the other things listed above, is also an amazing cook.

I found myself constantly asking her for recipes when she would bring food to our fellowship meeting. Every single dish she made was delicious.

Baked oatmeal is one of the meals she brought to my home. We cook this at least once a week. I do try variations- adding applesauce, taking out some of the oil, adding fruit, adding nuts….it’s very versatile and freezes pretty easily.

We have added this to our regular breakfast rotation. I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!