use strict;
use warnings;
use XML::Simple qw( :strict );
my $xml = '<foo><bar>blah&amp;blah</bar></foo>';
my @opts = (KeepRoot=>1, KeyAttr=>[]);
my $data = XMLin($xml, ForceArray=>1, @opts);
use Data::Dump;
dd($data);
print(XMLout($data, @opts));

##</code><code>##

{ foo => [{ bar => ["blah&blah"] }] }
<foo>
  <bar>blah&amp;blah</bar>
</foo>