I am all about PB2 lately, but I’ll admit that almond butter is unbeatable. I haven’t had it in months, but I still remember its glorious taste…
I tend to not use it much in my recipes because…well…every time I buy a jar, it’s gone a few days later, so it doesn’t make it into many recipes. đ
So for those of you who DO love using almond butter…here are ten recipes that want dat almond butter!!!
If you cannot tell from my intermittent posting this month, my hours have been pretty tied up lately. I began my grad school classes two weeks ago, and the workload that accompanied them has stolen all my free time. Although the classes themselves recharge me during the week, the readings and assignments just burn me out more.
I’m like black toast. Charred broccoli. The crusty black layer of oatmeal that sticks to the bottom of the pan.
The easiest thing to give up would by my blog, considering it’s the one with the lowest stakes. I’m not paying thousands of dollars for it (unlike my grad school classes), and no children are relying on it for the quality of their future (unlike teaching). However, I refuse to do that because it also happens to be the thing that brings me the most joy.
It should be no surprise to anyone who reads my blog that peanut butter cookies speak to my soul. Chocolate chip cookies are great, and snickerdoodles are another great choice, but I just can’t pass up a peanut butter cookie!
This is similar to my Peanut Butter Cookie Baked Oatmeal. I think the baked version tastes more like the actual cookie, but this recipe is lovely when you don’t feel like waiting 20 minutes for oatmeal to bake (which is how I feel 80% of the time).
As you saw last week, Claudia (aka the Breakfast Drama Queen) and I are doing a little experiment. She agreed to take one of my oatmeal recipes to inspire a non-oatmeal recipe, and I would take one of her non-oatmeal recipes to inspire an oatmeal recipe.
Here is my creation! It was inspired by Claudia’s PB&J smoothies, which does not actually contain jelly, but instead, has raspberries in the “jelly” layer. Claudia often creates multiple flavors for her smoothies and layers them together, so in honor of her, I did the same with my oatmeal.
Hello, oatmeal devotees! Iâm Claudia from The Breakfast Drama Queen and Iâm delighted to share a recipe with you. No, itâs not oatmeal â bear with me here, people â but it does contain oats. And peanut butter!
So, why am I here? Well, imagine this: The Oatmeal Artist contacts you with an exciting idea. Sheâll take one of your recipes and turn it into oatmeal. Then youâll take one her oatmeal recipes, and turn it into a different breakfast food. Was I about to say no to that?
It’s my birthday month, everyone!! Hooray for February. Recently I was browsing #oatmealartist photos on Instagram, and I came across some bright, lovely aerial shots from a user that I had not seen before. I was instantly in love with her shots and couldn’t wait to ask her if she’d be February’s Enthusiast!
Hello, everyoneâfrom oatmeal lovers to those who have yet to see the light!
Iâm Queena, hailing all the way from the Philippines, who is in love with music, art (I wouldnât call myself artistic thoughâIâm more of a viewer) and literature. With just one semester left, Iâm about to graduate with a degree in secondary education, majoring in special education. After a year of work experience, Iâll be entering law school. I know my bachelorâs degree doesnât really match with being a lawyer, but to be one has always been a dream, yet I wanted to spend college dealing with kids and people in general, to do something that would help me get out of my shell before I bury myself in thick, massive books on constitution. Basically, I just wanted to make the most out of everything. And I guess thatâs already a sneak peek into the kind of person I am.
I have to admit, I wasnât very athletic in the past. I didnât care about physical activity except for the good olâ games Filipino children typically played on the streets. Later on, in high school, I stopped playing with neighbors; I focused on academics and reading for pleasure. It was also during this time that I discovered all sorts of stereotypes through the Internet, and from this, I learned that I was, for all a labelâs worth, an introvert. I lived up to that since I enjoyed the quiet and being on my own anyway, but I still belonged in a circle of friends, except that when I got in university, it was literally a whole new world. I saw all kinds of people there, and that was when I became too self-conscious, constantly thinking that Iâll never be as attractive as that girl across the cafeteria, and wondering when I, too, will have someone walk me to class and make after-school plans with me. Along with the heavy academic load came the realization of all my flaws, particularly how I have always been a chubby girl. I then remembered all the times I was teased about my baby fats and my round cheeksâI guess I just didnât care at the timeâand without even any preparation or notice, I started to go on a diet. What type, you ask? Starvation diet.
To read more about Queena’s struggle with an ED, click here (TRIGGER WARNING).
Then leading to the last quarter of 2014, through Pinterest, I was introduced to Laurenâs blog. I was amazed. I didnât know that you could do all this stuff to the oats I only used to drench in water! At first, I kept it to myself, without taking it to Instagram (@queenamarticio), even though I ate a different, beautiful bowl every single morning (and sometimes even for dinner!). I think it was because I did not want to tamper my identity as a foodie, deceived by the thought that being one meant trying out every restaurant in the city. But then, December came and so did the the traditional Misa de Gallo that transpired on the nine days before Christmas, and I âmonitoredâ my attendance by posting a photo of a different oatmeal recipe everyday. To my surprise, friends whom I feared would criticize me for being obsessed with healthy eating actually said that they would love to have breakfast with me! (My niece once slept over just so I could make oatcakes for her.) I also recently became fond of yoga, and it was beautiful. I learned to listen to my body, and I got back to healthy eating. On the 23rd of December, I took it up a notch by going vegetarian (lacto – ovo), inspired, of course, by the likes of Lauren and other people over the Internet as well as a couple of people I recently made friends with, which made me believe it was possible in a country like ours. What I like about it, as opposed to all the other restrictive diets I tried (i.e., 3-day military diet, 7-day fruit, veggie, chicken and turkey diet, juicing, etc.) was that I could still eat food I liked such as pasta and fancy desserts sans the carb coma and sugar rush.
On the first day of the new year, seriously, I woke up feeling good in my own skin, which I havenât done in a long time, and I attribute it to the lifestyle I have chosen, among others. So far, so good. Although my family is not 100% okay with vegetarianism because aside from the fact that the Philippines is not exactly a haven for people like me (excluding a few select specialty places that I love, which include vegetarian / vegan restaurants and a really accessible grocery), they think itâs my way of going back to my underweight self. Also, I read an article on the science of simplicity, explaining why successful people such as Steve Jobs didnât spend that much time with supposedly simple decisions like what to wear and eat. But I am glad about my choices, and honestly, I have learned in this crazy and long process of finding myself that it doesnât matter what other people say about you, as long as youâre happy. Good thing my mom and my grandmother would choose that over my self-starvation in the past, so yes, I cling to them for support. With that, hereâs my week of oats for you! Everythingâs from Laurenâs blog since I intend to try everything I can from there before I start experimenting on my own. Itâs a long way to go, what with her gazillion ideas, but so what? Each and every bowl is always wonderfully delicious.
Day 1: Tropical Oatmeal
Living in a tropical country has its perksâwe are famous for our sweet mangoes! I used to prefer Laurenâs dessert-like oatmeals, but now theyâre in a tie with all the others just like this refreshing bowl! Every time it says coconut milk in the recipe, I use coconut water. Iâll probably get my hands on coconut flakes right after I finish this pack of desiccated coconut.
So you love my Fudgy Banana & Peanut Butter Oatmeal, eh?
Well, what if you want to make a steel-cut version?
…Or what if you want to feed a friend (or a “friend” đ ). Or maybe a whole crowd. Or yourself…for a week!
Here you go. The ingredients are shown for two servings, but it will work perfectly to double everything for four servings. Yay!
ALERT!!! It’s orange season! It’s cara cara orange season! It’s blood orange season!
This might surprise you, but oranges are one of my absolute favorite fruits. I don’t eat them much in my oatmeal (I find their flavor is muted in porridge), but they are one of my favorite fruits to eat as a snack.
 With beautiful blood oranges back in season, I was determined to make another recipe. This time, I discovered the trick to making better citrus oatmeal: zest.
I should have known this was true, considering how much I love lemon extract, which is imitates lemon zest far more than lemon juice. I’m not sure why it took so long for me to figure this out. All I need to do was zest one of the orange halves into the oatmeal, and it changed the game.
Remember my angst against apricots?? How they are basically just wannabe peaches? Well, I have discovered one perk they have over peaches: they have a more powerful flavor than peaches, making them more enjoyable in oatmeal. Peaches tend to “disappear” when mixed into oatmeal, but apricots are still pretty in-your-face.
As a result, I used apricots for this recipe even though I originally envisioned it with peaches. Of course, you could use either.
Did you know that they only real difference between yellow cake and a regular “white” cake is just the use of egg yolks? My mom is a cake decorator (in addition to her full-time job as my best friend an accountant), so I’ve seen her make many a white cake. I remember her telling me once that the recipe used only egg whites because the yolk would turn the cake yellow…so I guess it makes sense that a yellow cake uses the whole egg.
Thus, when I decided I wanted to make this recipe, it left me puzzled. How would I recreate it without eggs (not vegan) or food coloring (too many chemicals)? And how could I make it without it tasting like bananas?
