This post is all about the delicious excuses I use to keep my oven working hard when it's super-cold outside. To be precise, it's about oatcakes & "oven omelets." First, the oats.Over the years an uncounted number of people have asked for my oatcake recipe. (Uncounted not meaning it was a large number necessarily, just that I never counted them.) Despite all the requests, I never shared a recipe...because I didn't have a recipe.The first batch was a total experiment, plopping plain cooked oatmeal onto cookie sheets. It did not work well, but I added a bit of this & that until I came up with something like a cross between muffin & pancake batter that produced tasty but unpredictable results.The ultimate goal was oatmeal goodness in a crunchy cracker form. The reality never came out the same way twice. Always tasty, never predictable. The sheer number of uncontrollable variables, from the temperature of the cooked oatmeal to the ambient humidity, all factored in. I don't commit recipe unless I can reproduce the results. I couldn't do that with oatcakes.<cue dramatic music> Until now! Success is mine at last. Fringe benefit of the perfected oatcake recipe is that it skips the one real PITA step in the process. (making the oatmeal first.)  But before I get to that recipe, let me rhapsodize a bit about the second oven-worker I've recently come across: baked omelets.They're not true omelets because they aren't folded, they don't qualify as frittatas because there's no stovetop step, and they lack crusts, so aren't quiches. They are without doubt delicious, easy, and only improve with reheating like a casserole. And as I'm married to someone who is pre-diabetic and needs more high-protein/low carb foods on the menus, I am beyond pleased to have discovered them.And how did that discovery happen? Well. Let me tell you. It started with the big ol' batch of eggs I bought for Christmas baking. Two dozen, because I needed 14. A little finger counting  gets us to the 10 extra eggs I had on hand when I began seeking "oven-on" possibilities.I immediately thought of quiche & frittatas, but they're a lot of work (multiple steps, lots of prep bowls & pans to wash)  and I'm lazy when it comes to food. Oven omelets are the best of all lazy worlds. Below you'll find the recipe I use.Quantities are based on the baking dishes I use (two mini loaf bakers) but eggs are very forgiving. The original recipes I immediately changed to suit myself came from AllRecipes & Genius Kitchen. The differences between them illustrated how flexible you can be with ingredient quantities. You can successfully bump the amount up or down by several eggs as long as you approximately boost or trim down the other ingredients. So if you want to make a big batch, or a thicker result, use more. Want a batch sized for one? That's doable too.Oven Eggs:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• anoint baking dish(es) with non-stick spray
• In a bowl, whisk together until slightly frothy:6 eggs1/2 c milksalt & pepperother herbs & spices of choice
• Stir in: 1/2 to 1c cheeses
• Add 1/2-1c of whatever other additions you want.
• Pour mixture into baking dish(es)
• Bake for...well, it depends.45 min for an 8x8 pan35 min for my two small loaf pans20-30 min for muffin tin snack-sized servings--or "until a knife inserted at the center comes out clean"

Side note: I like my eggs cooked to death (on the dry side) so I cook them even longer, until the edges brown.I've made these with ham & shredded cheddar, Mexican style (shredded colby-jack cheese, garlic & onion powder & salsa as additions) and Mediterranean (feta, basil, thyme, paprika & arrabbiata spaghetti sauce) and both versions came out great.And now, back to the oatcakes. Important caveat: I make mine with old-fashioned steel-cut oats. The old-fashioned or quick rolled oats work fine too, but the texture will be different.4-12 hours before starting, put 1c dry oats & 2 c milk in a container to soak. Those'll keep in the fridge for up to a week as long as the milk is fresh. With traditional steel-cut oats, the mixture will remain very milky. That's okay.When it's time to make the oatcakes:Preheat oven to 375 degreesline baking sheets with parchment paper (or use non-stick sheets)

• In a mixing bowl, sift together:1 c flour2 tsp baking powder1/2 tsp salt
• add inthe oatsa splash of vegetable oil -- up to 1/4 c.
• Stir until very well mixed
• Drop dollops of batter onto baking sheets. (Isn't dollop a wonderful word?) ANYway. Leave 1/2" or more between dollops. The batter is thin, which makes spooning it difficult. A 1/4 cup measure works well for me as a scoop.
• Bake for ~45 minutes, or until tops are dry & edges are starting to brown.

So that's it. A couple of batches of oatcakes & eggs will keep the oven busy for half a day.  If you start a batch of fruit bread rising or peel some apples while the other things are cooking, then you can add another hour of delicious-smelling heat to the house by baking apples or breakfast rolls.The bestest of all best things about these foods is that making them is also writing-friendly. Unlike cookies with 10 minute bake times or stovetop foods that demand constant attention, these are all about quick preps, simple cleanup, and long baking times. All that means less distraction from putting words to page.And that's an important thing for me.