Oatmeal Enthusiast: Meet Sandra!

It’s April! My favorite month of the year. Today I’m happy to introduce you to Sandra, whom I “met” last fall when I did the comment contest. Sandra was one of my top commenters, leaving a response on every post. She continues to be a regular visitor to the blog and leaves the most enthusiastic comments! I could not wait to invite her to be April’s Enthusiast.

Hello Oatmeal Connoisseurs!!  Sandra here.  I’m a 21-year-old college student. Besides school, my life revolves around cooking, nail art, fashion, leisurely walks, celebrity obsessions, scientific curiosity, writing, photography, Cappuccino, my cat/mountain lion, friends, and family. 

In the past, I neither loved nor hated oatmeal.  It was just there, for it was either blandly healthy or chemically enhanced. I lacked the time and appetite for hearty breakfasts on early school mornings, yet I’d long for weekend brunches prepared by my parents or at my favorite restaurants. Daily nourishing breakfasts are pretty new to me because of how my life evolved. Continue reading


Weekend Musings: My Hot Chocolate Recipe! + My Other Favorite Snacks

You all bombarded me with requests for my secret hot chocolate recipe. I stressed over it for days, wondering if it were good enough to share. It felt like this weird thing that I came up with, and I wasn’t sure if it were fit for public consumption (literally and figuratively).

However, I then remembered that I had made it for friends before, and they enjoyed it, so what the heck, right?

Thick, European-Style Vegan Hot Chocolate

And that felt like a great opportunity to discuss my favorite snacks in general. After all, it’s not like I eat oatmeal for every meal. (But sometimes, I come pretty close haha.) Continue reading


Matcha Yogurt Overnight Zoats

In my never-ending quest to acquire a taste for matcha, I came up with this recipe. By pairing the green powder with some sweet and creamy nondairy yogurt, I managed to replicate the qualities of a matcha tea latte.

Matcha Yogurt Overnight Zoats #Vegan #Oatmeal

My other goal with this recipe was to make a larger portion size. Yes, friends, I have heard you: my overnight recipes tend to be small portions. While I stuck with the 1/4 cup oats (which is one serving when using quick cook steel-cut oats, as I did), I bulked up the recipe using both yogurt and zucchini. In the past, I have never used a full serving of yogurt in an overnight recipe, but this time I did. This gave better flavor and creaminess with the matcha powder, eliminated the need to add additional liquid, and created a more filling portion of overnight oats.

You’re welcome! Continue reading


Peppermint Fudge PB2

Shout out to my bulk-sized cocoa powder and PB2! The sad part is that I can finish both in less than a month. I buy the cocoa through the subscription program on Amazon, and it’s delivered to me monthly. I often have to supplement with a small Trader Joe’s container of cocoa powder by the end of the month. See also: my hot chocolate addiction.

Peppermint Fudge PB2 #Vegan #OatmealArtist

I’m such a sucker for mint chocolate flavors. There’s a reason Thin Mints were always my favorite Girl Scout cookie. (Coincidentally, they are also the only vegan version. Hizzah!) If you like Thin Mints, or Andes mints, or any sort of chocolate-mint concoction, you will love this Peppermint Fudge PB2 (as well as my Thin Mints Oatmeal or Peppermint Brownie Baked Oatmeal)!
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Tahini Swirl Brownie Baked Oatmeal

I probably shouldn’t be posting brownie recipes immediately after opening up a contest for brownie recipes. ? I couldn’t resist.

Tahini Swirl Brownie Baked Oatmeal by the #OatmealArtist #vegan

Is anyone else kind of obsessed with tahini? I can’t seem to get enough of it lately. I use it to make salad dressings, in smoothies, on oatmeal. All the tahini, all the time.
Continue reading


Brownie Baked Oatmeal Guide + a Contest!

Brownie Baked Oatmeal has come a long way, y’all.

Brownie Baked Oatmeal with Matcha Cashew Frosting #OatmealArtist #vegan Continue reading


Irish Tricolor Oatmeal Smoothie Bowl

As I said last week, Ireland has a special place in my heart. During my time in Ireland, I fell in love with the Irish flag, which is called the Irish Tricolor, according to Wikipedia. How original. ???

Irish Tricolor Oatmeal Smoothie Bowl by the Oatmeal Artist #vegan Continue reading


Cardamom Fudge Oatmeal

!!!!

After months (literally, months) of having homemade hot chocolate virtually every single day*, I finally figured out how to transfer that love to my morning oatmeal.

*It’s an addiction at this point, TBH.

You see, I have a few versions of my European-style (i.e. THICK AS PUDDING) hot chocolate. One is peppermint. Another is Mexican. Another is almond. And the final version is my personal favorite: cardamom.

Add cardamom to your hot chocolate. You won’t regret it.

Cardamom Fudge Oatmeal by the #OatmealArtist #Vegan

I have considered sharing my hot chocolate recipe many a time on here, but it seemed so irrelevant; there are no oats involved, after all. Alternatively, I tried finding a similar recipe on the internet for me to include in my “Random Recommendations” section, but that has been unsuccessful as well. It looks like my hot chocolate recipe will remain a well-kept secret. For now.

Instead, I have this oatmeal recipe for you. One day for dinner, I wasn’t in the mood to make anything interesting for dinner. I try to avoid doing this, but I decided to be lazy and make oatmeal. As always, I wanted to make my Fudgy Banana & Peanut Butter Oatmeal, but I felt dumb for making that the second time in one day. To make it more interesting, I grabbed my jar of cardamom. Continue reading


Shamrock Oatmeal Smoothie

St. Patrick’s Day is eight days away! Regular readers of the blog will know that Ireland has a special place in my heart. I have only left North America once, and that was a study abroad program in Ireland. You could say it was love at first sight. Green HeartFour Leaf CloverGreen HeartFour Leaf Clover

Thus, every year on St. Patrick’s Day, nostalgia kicks in and I swoon over all the Irish love.

Shamrock Oatmeal Smoothie #OatmealArtist

This recipe is, obviously, a spin off McDonald’s shamrock milkshake. But better–there is no added sugar! Just bananas. I adore the use of oats in my smoothies because the soluble fiber slows down the digestion, so it’s not just one quick, massive hit of sugar. I find oat smoothies to be much easier on my sensitive stomach.

But in addition to being nutritious, it’s minty and delicious! It tastes a bit like mint ice cream, which is what inspired me to add the chocolate chips on top. Smiling Face With Heart-Shaped Eyes No regrets.
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Oatmeal Enthusiasts: Meet Emily!

It’s March! Spring is just around the corner. Like many of you, I did not get into oatmeal until recently, meaning I spent two decades missing out on precious porridges. This month’s Enthusiast has been enjoying oats since she was six–maybe sooner! I must say, I’m a little jealous. 🙂 

My name is Emily and I am an avid biker, hiker, surfer and long distance runner.

I was introduced to oatmeal from a very young age. My first memories of oatmeal are from when I was 6 years old on my family’s 40 mile back packing trip in upstate New York. Me being the picky eater I used to be, survived for a week on peanut butter and jelly and packets of Quaker oatmeal. Every morning I’d wake up to two packets of oatmeal, then hike to the next destination. Once back in civilization, we went to a diner to feast on everything we’d missed out on for the past week and what did I order? Oatmeal. My sisters still like to give me a hard time about this and looking back on it now it’s so silly.

Oatmeal has been a part of my life ever since. I’ve graduated from those Quaker packets to homemade oatmeal concoctions. I love how it is filling, makes you feel good, and is so fun to make. I look forward to waking up every morning and creating a masterpiece consisting of basically anything I want: veggies, fruits, eggs, you name it. It prepares me for everything I love to do and I know it will keep me full and energized.

For me, being healthy is not eating the foods with the least amount of calories, checking the labels for grams of sugar, and all of that nonsense. Being healthy and living a healthy life is having an honest connection between your mind and heart. It is recognizing that a delicious salad and a chocolate chip cookie can be equally as “healthy” depending on what your heart wants. Listening to yourself and being so grateful for food and where it comes from is essential. It is essential to be mindful that food is the product of the earth and designed to fuel you.

I love oatmeal because it makes me happy and that embodies everything I believe to be a healthy lifestyle.

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This is banana, plain oats, original almond milk, flax seeds and honey.

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Apple, banana, plain oats, original almond milk, peanut butter, vanilla protein and nutmeg

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Chia seeds, plain oats, apples, almond butter, vanilla protein, and graham crackers

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Some oatmeal/date/ coconut cookies 🙂

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Hemp milk, plain oats, pears, granola, honey, dates, flax seeds, vanilla protein

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Cashews, sunflower butter, flax seeds, plain oats, granola, vanilla almond milk, protein and banana

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Vegan/sugarless pb and oatmeal cookie w/ a pb cream filling

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Raisins, oats, pears, original almond milk, vanilla protein, honey and peanut butter

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Chocolate protein, granola, peanut butter, plain oats, original almond milk, bananas and chia seeds

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Plain oats, original almond milk, mashed banana, egg whites, chia seeds, granola, sunflower butter, vanilla protein, chia seeds