Popular Porridges
Author Archives: Lauren Smith
Oatmeal Enthusiasts: Meet Kelsey!
Does Kelsey really need an introduction? ? You may know her from her two guest posts, Cookies N Cream Overnight Oatmeal and Spiced Parsnip Oatmeal, or perhaps from her frequent appearances in the “This Week in Oatmeal” series. I have collaborated with her so often that I just assumed I had already featured her as an Oatmeal Enthusiast–turns out I hadn’t! Thus, it is my great pleasure to pass the keyboard to Kelsey and let her tell her story.
Hi there!
My name is Kelsey, but you might know me as @fortheloveof_pb on Instagram. I’m beyond thrilled to be your Oatmeal Enthusiast for February!
At 23, I’ve finally gotten to the point in my life where I’ve made health and fitness a priority. I exercise daily (swimming with a masters’ group, Blogilates videos, and hot yoga are current favorites), and I eat an incredibly “clean” diet: vegan, unprocessed foods with minimal added sugar and oil.
It wasn’t always that way. My favorite food used to be boxed mac and cheese, and for the first two years of college my fridge was regularly filled with frozen mozzarella sticks, cookie dough, and chocolate frosting. And you know I wasn’t baking those cookies.
Right after I turned 21, I contracted an H. Pylori infection, but I wouldn’t know that for almost four months. It was like, overnight, my digestive system just turned on me. I was battling constant heartburn and nausea that kept me up every night. It took four months to figure out what was wrong, but even after the infection was eradicated, I spent another year dealing with the lingering symptoms from this infection.
I realized, in order to combat these lingering symptoms, I needed to overhaul my diet.
Over a couple months, I cut out most processed foods and started eating more fiber. One of the first swaps I made was eating oatmeal for breakfast in place of frozen waffles. I can’t tell you how many bowls of strawberry and peanut butter oatmeal I ate my senior year of college because it was about the only thing that never made me feel ill.
This past May, I decided I was tired of taking medication to manage my symptoms. I had heard stories about people with digestive issues that were cleared up by a vegan diet, so I decided to try it. And it worked. I no longer take any medication and have been symptom-free since July.
Throughout my recovery, oatmeal was a constant in my diet because it was one of my “safest” foods; no indigestion or nausea here, ever. Over time I began to expand my oatmeal repertoire and discovered Lauren’s blog. From there I got inspired. There was so much more you could do with oatmeal than just add strawberries. It was something you could put vegetables in!
And I do – every day. Oatmeal is actually where I get a lot of the veggies into my diet. I love that oatmeal offers the opportunity to “sneak” more fruits and veggies into my diet in delicious ways. Sometimes I think about how ridiculous it is that I’m having, say, chocolate carrot cake oatmeal for breakfast. It tastes like dessert, but its really just fruit, veggies, whole grains, and of course some peanut butter.
The funny thing is, even though I eat more adventurously than I ever have, I still eat oatmeal more than anything else. Although, let’s be honest, my oatmeal is often pretty adventurous too. It’s easily my favorite food, and I’m so excited that I get to share it with my family (my Dad posts about my oatmeal on Facebook every time I come home to visit), my friends, on Instagram, and with you all this week! With that in mind, I tried to line up a week of oatmeal that highlights everything I’ve ever considered to be a favorite. I hope you enjoy it and get inspired to try out a new oatmeal flavor!
Saturday: Strawberry PB Oatmeal with Parsnips
I figured I would start the week off with my first oatmeal love, strawberries and peanut butter. Back in the day I would have made this with instant oats and frozen strawberries in the microwave, but today I stepped up my game. I still made instant oats, but I added some shredded parsnips to add some volume and cooked everything on the stovetop. And, because I’m excessive, I made some PB2 to stir into the oats and then topped them with my all time favorite peanut butter from Trader Joe’s. Side note: look how beautiful those berries are! I mean, its January, how did this even happen?! (more…)
Blueberry Pineapple Overnight Oatmeal
Apparently it’s pineapple week on the blog. This occurred for no reason besides me realizing I had numerous bags of frozen fruit being ignored in my freezer. I guess that means you should expect lots of berries and pineapple in your future. ??
Sadly, I also realized that I’m not a huge fan of yogurt in my oats. Perhaps it’s because I prefer to eat my porridge warm. However, I also find the flavor of yogurt in oatmeal to be less cozy and earthy and wonderful. That being said, I know it’s popular, so I will do my best to provide recipes like this occasionally.
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Cherry Pineapple Oatmeal
I learned after making Carrot Pineapple Oatmeal that adding pineapple to anything is a game-changer. It’s a way to add great flavor and sweetness to something that wouldn’t be sweet or flavorful otherwise. ? Cherries on their own have great flavor, but not so much in oatmeal.
I’ve been trying to return to simpler porridges lately. Brownie Baked Oatmeal with Matcha Cashew Filling is great, and Yellow Cake Baked Oatmeal with Chocolate PB2 Frosting is grand, but there’s a reason why I just make Fudgy Banana & Peanut Butter Oatmeal every day instead of those elaborate concoctions.
(It’s probably the same reason I have avocado toast for lunch 5 times a week. ?)
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Apple Oatmeal with Chocolate Tahini and Coconut
Friends, I have two important hacks to show you today.
The first involves my never-ending search for apple perfection.
I have written before on the perfect way to cook apples in oatmeal to get a creamy porridge and not a chunky and disjointed one. Now, I have a new method.
At the end of the day, you can add your apple however you damn well please. However, here’s my new favorite: cut the apple into halves or quarters. GRATE at least half the apple (I grate three quarters), and dice the rest.* The grated apple works on two levels: 1) It is easier to digest for poor souls like me with incompetent intestines, and 2) It creates a smooth and consistently flavorful porridge. You could technically grate the entire fruit, but reserving some of the apple for dicing provides a bit of texture for extra pops of apple now and then.
*I use small apples, so I use the entire thing, but if you’re using a large apple, you may want to only use a portion of the apple and save the rest for later. Use your judgment.
Apricot PB&J Oatmeal (& Basic Apricot Oatmeal)
Is there any fruit I won’t combine with PB&J? The answer is no. I will not rest until every fruit has been PB&J-ified.
Once upon a time, I scowled at apricots. “They are a bad version of peaches,” I said. I stand by my claim that they are inferior to peaches (which are my favorite fruit), but I no longer hate them. This came about after eating dried apricots multiple times a week for my morning snack and added diced apricot to my beloved kale salads. (more…)
Cherry Cashew Oatmeal
This recipe came about from two different needs. 1) More “5 ingredients or less” recipes. 2) I booked a spontaneous flight to visit mon petit ami before my spring semester started, and I wanted to build up my recipe collection before leaving (hence all the guest posts recently).
I bought raw cashews recently to make a cashew cheese log during the holidays. I had some leftover that I’ve just been saving for the next time I want to do something impressive with cashews. After a couple months, I decided that I will never be ambitious enough for that, so oatmeal it is. (more…)
Community Round-Up: Favorite Nut Butters!
It is no secret that I love nut butters, and you all seem to agree with me. (Did you know there are people on this very planet who claim they “don’t like” peanut butter? Is that some sort of medical syndrome? Is it genetic? Is it contagious? I don’t understand.)
I tend to stick to plain peanut butter and just flavor it myself using the spices and extracts in my pantry because it’s cheaper, but I always have major envy of the flavors I see my readers playing with. Thus, I asked all of YOU what your favorites are.
What are your fave kinds of nut butters, & w what oatmeal? e.g. I <3 PB & Co’s Cinnamon-Raisin on Apple PB&J Oatmeal https://t.co/J2qENV5lSA
— Lauren Smith Ⓥ (@lauren_015) January 13, 2016
Your responses had me drooling!
Like me, most of you stick to plain creamy or crunchy peanut and almond butter.
- @hisworkmanship.e210 [Instagram] Peanut Delight makes a natural peanut butter that is good with pears. Basically, peanut butter makes everything peanut better 🙂
- Christina [Facebook] For baked and stovetop oatmeal, my favorites are Smart Balance creamy peanut butter and Justin’s almond butter. I like to use natural nut butters with healthy fats, but do not like that layer of oil that occurs in most kinds. Smart Balance and Justin’s do not have that puddle of oil, plus you don’t need to store them in the refrigerator.
- @healthyhappyeats_ [Instagram] I love the natural peanut butter from Costco and I eat it mostly everyday with baked banana oatmeal!!
- Tiffany [Facebook] My local health food shop makes their own peanut butter – they literally grind it up for you then and there. It’s so fresh and delicious and has no oil, salt or sugar added. Heaven! My go-to oatmeal is Peanut Butter Banana Porridge with fresh berries.
>>Try my Nutty Nana Berry Oatmeal! 
- Anna [Facebook] I love gingerbread&cinnamon oatmeal (+egg whites and sometimes chia seeds) topped with almond butter (Biona) and banana. Also raw cacao oatmeal with PB&banana is awesome!
Spiced Parsnip Oatmeal [Guest Post]
Hi there!
My name is Kelsey Goodin you might recognize me as @fortheloveof_pb on Instagram, or from my guest post back in September. I’m back today to bring you a warm, spicy bowl of oats that stars a special ingredient: parsnips! (more…)
Topping: Quest Bars! [Guest Post]
The first time I saw Kia use Quest Bars atop her oatmeal on Instagram, I immediately wanted to try it myself. Unfortunately, I quickly learned that they contain milk, so I would have to settle for just enjoying them vicariously through Kia. Still, I wanted to share with you the creative way that Kia is using them in case some of you would like to try it!
The world of oatmeal is truly delightful, a food that can have various flavours and combinations that satisfy any hungry mouth. I love my oatmeal and many multiple flavours but to take my oatmeal to the next level, I needed to add topping. My staple toppings are banana, more fruit, and nut butter!! However, as I am an athlete, I needed some extra and also to take my oatmeal to a tasty extreme. To do this I added a Quest Nutrition Quest Bar to my bowl of oatmeal . . . Words can’t describe how my tastebuds felt. The delicious protein bar combines so well with the oats, slightly melting into a gooey deliciousness.
My three favourite Quest Bar flavours are Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough , Cookies and Cream and either White Chocolate Raspberry or Double Chocolate Chunk. I just love those beautiful chocolate chunks !! (more…)
Blood Orange and Raspberry Oatmeal
Every winter, I greatly anticipate the arrival of blood oranges. As soon as they pop up at the market, I buy several.
The problem is, I never know what to do with them. I like eating them plain, and I like putting them in salads, but I also want to use them in oatmeal. Citrus in oatmeal is a tricky task, as they tend to lose their bold, tangy flavor when combined with earthy oats. Plus, because blood oranges are such an underused fruit, I really never know what to combine them with.
So I used FoodGawker. I searched blood oranges to see what flavors other people were pairing them with. There were lots of salads, lots of curds, lots of homemade vinaigrettes. I saved all of them to my Pinterest for future meal inspiration. Finally, I found this Blood Orange and Raspberry Sangria. Perfect. (more…)
