Tag Archives: sweetened by dates

Brownie Batter Oatmeal

Cocoa powder is just the best. It’s really one of the few ingredients that can turn anything into a decadent treat without harming its nutritional profile. I think I’ve put cocoa powder in all my breakfasts for the last week and a half. I used to save that only for weekends (so it felt special), but now I’m just throwing it in everything with reckless abandon.

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This is a porridge that’s been ruling my mornings (and a couple dinners…) lately. It actually began when I was making my favorite Fudgy Banana and Peanut Butter Oatmeal, but I used Country Choice Organic quick-cooking steel-cut oats instead. I noticed the consistency and flavor was highly reminiscent of brownie batter. Thus, the idea was born.
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Oatmeal-Raisin Cookie Baked Oatmeal

Okay, let me be upfront: Oatmeal-Raisin Cookies do not rank high on my cookie list. I’d much rather have a Snickerdoodle. Or a Peanut Butter. Or a Chocolate Chip. But not an Oatmeal-Raisin.

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But I still felt like it was wrong to have an oatmeal blog without an Oatmeal-Raisin Cookie recipe, so here it is. Humble, but with the earthy comfort of cinnamon.
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Overnight Tea-Steeped Oatmeal

Coffee or tea?

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Six years ago, I would have responded, “Neither.” I started drinking tea toward the final months of my senior year of high school as a way to calm my ever-tormented digestive system. I wasn’t crazy about it at first, but I learned to tolerate it. Now, I drink a glass of tea almost every day. (I’ve also learned to like coffee, too, but that’s beside the point.)

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Candy Cane Cookie Dough Oatmeal

There will be two reactions to this post. Half the people will rejoice the festive nature or “special treat” aspect of it. The other half will be appalled that I just put candy on top of my breakfast. To both of these camps, I say: happy holidays?

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I couldn’t resist doing something with candy canes, despite the fact that I would consider myself in the second aforementioned camp. I would never crumble up a Snickers bar over my oatmeal, after all. However, once this idea came into my head, I just couldn’t ignore it. It had to be done.
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Eggnog Oatmeal

Sadly, my family was never an eggnog family. It wasn’t until I was in high school that I asked my mom what it was, so she bought me a carton of the store-bought variety so I could try it. I’ll admit now that most of it ended up being poured down the sink two weeks later (i.e. I was unimpressed). I’ve never had homemade eggnog, but it’s never been high on my priority list for foods to try, either.

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Now that I avoid dairy, I have even less desire to try the real stuff. However, I was exceptionally curious to try the dairy-free varieties after reading some reviews. I saw the rice ‘nog appear in Whole Foods even before Thanksgiving, but it wasn’t until a week ago that I finally captured the coconut ‘nog! As soon as I spotted it on an obscure refrigerated shelf in the corner of the store, I snatched a jug up in less time than it takes for my roommate to complain whenever we play Christmas music. 😉
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Cookie Dough Overnight Oatmeal

Edit: I have new pictures!! I remade this recipe this weekend, and I snapped some better shots for the blog. Enjoy!

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Another lazy blog week. And I promised myself I’d be better in December! The sad thing is, I actually had recipes I could have posted. In my defense, they were terrible pictures that I wasn’t desperate enough to publish. Seriously. You try taking good photographs at 5:30 am.
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How to Make Any Stove-Top Recipe in the Refrigerator

Remember eight months ago when I got a kidney stone? Yeah, well, it happened again. I won’t bore you with the details, but the pain was awful enough that I couldn’t bother to work on a new post yesterday/today.

I did, however, manage to come up with something. If you haven’t noticed, the baked oatmeal recipes have been much rarer lately. That is because I’ve been making refrigerator oatmeal instead, which essentially allows me to enjoy stove-top oatmeal without waiting for the oatmeal to cook on the stove!

It also occurred to me that I’ve been taking all my favorite recipes and just making them in the fridge. I figured instead of posting each of them as overnight recipes, I would just post a how-to for how to take ANY of my stove-top recipes and convert them to an overnight masterpiece.
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French Toast Overnight Oatmeal

There are some recipes that take me forever to get right. Then, there are others that turn out exactly as I had imagined on the first try (like my Carrot Cake Oatmeal and Peanut Butter Cookie Baked Oatmeal).

Add this one to the list!

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Admittedly, I spent a while mentally concocting this one, but after I bought some pitted dates, it all came together. This is the first time I’ve used dates in a recipe (let alone oatmeal), and I must say, I’m impressed! Letting it soak with the oatmeal overnight softened it up and let the oatmeal absorb the sweetness. It was the perfect amount of sweetness, especially when I added a touch of maple syrup on top.
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