I have actually known Victoria for a while now. I met her when she lived in New York for a while, and she recently did a guest post for Sweet Potato and Date Oatmeal. Considering how beautiful her oatmeal is, it’s about time she gets the well-deserved opportunity to be October’s Oatmeal Enthusiast! Yay!
Hello everyone !!
My name is Victoria (@healthymonkey_ on Instagram), I’m 19 and I’m thrilled to be your oatmeal enthusiast this month! I’d like to thank Lauren, because not only has she asked me to write this post during my favorite time of the year (yep, cold weather fan right here), but she’s been an inspiration for my daily bowl of oats for the past two years!
So here’s a little more about me, I recently moved from France to Canada where I am now studying International Development, Anthropology (Omgg this is an amazing subject to study, I highly recommend!) and environment at McGill University. I’m absolutely loving it here; Montreal is such a nice city, and winter being my favorite season, I am beyond excited to finally put my rain boots back on and have snow on my doorstep in a few months’ time .
I also live with my cat, Dartagnan, the cutest little fur ball I’ve ever seen (yes I’m a proud crazy cat lady, but we all know they make, hands down, the best companions ever, so no shame whatsoever).
Anyway, I’m rambling here. We’re here for oatmeal, right?
So my love story with oatmeal started on my path to becoming a vegan and wanting to get healthier, well, just healthy given my past. This was two years ago and I’ve been totally addicted since. Lauren’s posts were the best thing that had ever happened to my breakfasts. It actually got me into cooking, baking and all that fun stuff.
The reason why I fell in love with oats is because of its versatility. You can literally make everything you want with it.
A funny thing I noticed while I was learning Spanish abroad, is how your breakfast can seem extremely unappealing when you explain it to people who’ve never tried it before (and particularly to those who usually eat processed stuff for breakfast, if any). When you start learning a new language, you usually begin with simple conversations like “What did you have for breakfast!?”. And so you try to explain. With basic words. In a foreign tongue. That makes for very confused and skeptical faces from the person you’re talking to, I’m telling you. To be fair, oats and water (or even plant-based milk), a banana and some cinnamon, doesn’t sound really appetizing, I’ll admit.
That’s the only problem with oatmeal, you can NEVER do justice to oatmeal, unless you have an Instagram worthy picture of it, then people start to believe it actually tastes good.
So here’s a week worth of oatmeal in Instagram worthy pictures so you can actually believe oatmeal is delicious. But I guess we’re all oatmeal lovers here so we don’t really need further proof of how incredible oatmeal is.
(Note that I used “oatmeal” 4 times in just two sentences. Can’t-Get-Enough.)
Warning : I’ve been extremely addicted to peanut butter lately.
Monday : Banana-cacao oatmeal
This was a post-workout breakfast, I wanted something quick but still delicious so this did the trick, basic banana oatmeal with a cacao twist! Cooked in half water/half almond milk, some cinnamon because even with cacao I can’t help myself, a mashed (over-overripe haha) banana and I added raw cacao powder at the end of the cooking process! It was a rainy and gloomy day so picture’s not that good but I promise the oatmeal was ! And I may or may not have thrown some PB in…
Tuesday : Apple Pie Oatmeal
I had made homemade applesauce just a few days before so apple pie oats seemed a good idea for a chilly morning just before school. This is one of my favorite recipes ever, I got it from Angela Liddon, the amazing cook behind the Oh She Glows blog and cookbook (cookbook you should definitely buy btw!). This recipe features diced apple, applesauce, almond milk, spices and chia seeds which give it an incredible texture. I really recommend!
Wednesday : Banana-Cinnamon Oatmeal
This is pretty basic I know, but sometimes all you want is cool toppings, right? Cinnamon and banana oatmeal is still the bomb.com don’t get me wrong, but I was feeling like peanut butter in my oatmeal, and strawberries, and banana, chia seeds too, but that was more for the aesthetic haha #thethingsyoudoforInstagram Anyway, this didn’t disappoint, and curiously, cinnamon and PB is super good!
Thursday : Stewed Date and Apple oatmeal
Okay so you’ve got to try this! I’m serious. This oatmeal was born out of despair (don’t ask me why because now that I think about it, I actually had amazing ingredients). I had just arrived in Montreal, and my dad and I were in an Airbnb apartment. Breakfast time arrived and the only ingredients I had were dates, apples, dark chocolate and peanut butter. You’d think those couldn’t go together in the same bowl (…or, maybe yes…) but I tried anyway just for the sake of experiment. And boy! I’m glad I did! So, you stew a diced apple and date pieces in a saucepan until it’s kind of mushy and smells amazing, and in the meantime you cook your oats (add some more date pieces there!). When this is all done, pour oatmeal in a bowl, and top with the stewed apple/date mix, peanut butter and dark chocolate! And voilà ! Delicious.
Friday : Banana oatmeal with maple-nut sauce
Again here, it was mostly about the toppings. The most important one being the maple-nut sauce. I discovered it here on The Oatmeal Artist, I usually put it on my pancakes, and also usually do it properly by making the peanut butter melt in a sauce pan but I was feeling very lazy so that part went a little out the window. I love this sauce though! Maple syrup + peanut butter is a match made in heaven ! But don’t be lazy like me and make it on the stove top it’s worth the extra dish to clean!
Saturday : Grated apple oatmeal with berry coulis
This was actually lunch, but I mean, oatmeal is so good I could have it three times a day so who cares. For this one, I was inspired by Deliciously Ella. She had posted that same day a recipe with berry coulis on top of oatmeal so I thought I’d give it a shot. I must admit I’m actually not a fan of berries in oatmeal because it gives it an acidic taste but this was good, can’t compete with a creamy oatmeal though, but that’s just my taste.
Sunday : SWEET POTATO FUDGE OATMEAL
All time favorite. Hands down. I just HAD to end the week with this. It’s insane how good this oatmeal is and I will never thank Lauren enough for creating the recipe.
Let me emphasize this again. BEST. OATMEAL. EVER.
Learn more information about the Oatmeal Enthusiast series and how you could be featured by reading more here.
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