Chocolate Strawberry Oatmeal

For some people, weekends mean making elaborate breakfasts with pancakes, bacon, eggs, and glugs of maple syrup. ("Glugs" is a word, right?)

For me, weekends mean adding chocolate to my oatmeal.

This week was extra special for me because I had strawberries. I generally try to stick to the produce that's in season, and I usually avoid all conventionally grown berries because of the pesticides. However, I was dying for strawberries, and after several weeks of thinking of them constantly, I gave in. So thanks for the strawberries, California!

Throughout the week, I ate them diced up in my oatmeal along with some mashed banana. It was quite delightful, but when Saturday came around, I was ready to amp it up. My original plan was simply to swirl in some chocolate chips at the end, but then I convinced myself to use cocoa powder instead to avoid the extra sugar (not to mention how expensive that bag of chocolate chips was!). To keep it from being too bitter, I used half a mashed banana. Perfect!

Chocolate Strawberry Oatmeal

by The Oatmeal Artist

Prep Time: 1 min

Cook Time: 5 min

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Ingredients (serves 1)

• 1 cup milk of choice, or water
• 1/2 cup rolled oats (I use Country Choice Organic)
• 1/2 an overripe banana
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 4-5 tsp cocoa powder
• handful of fresh strawberries
• pinch of salt

Instructions

1. Bring milk (I use an equal mixture of almond milk and water) to a boil, add oats, and reduce heat to medium.
2. Next, mash half (or even less!) a banana well, and stir that in.
3. Once more of the liquid has absorbed, add a pinch of salt, a splash of vanilla extract, and two spoonfuls of cocoa powder.
4. Stir, and watch your oatmeal transform into fudgy goodness.
5. If you'd like to add any additional ingredients (coconut oil, sunflower seeds), do so now.
6. When you're pleased with the consistency of the oatmeal, dice in 4-6 strawberries and transfer to a bowl. Serve with another splash of your milk of choice and any additional toppings (shredded coconut, more strawberries, sliced almonds, banana butter).

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**You can also find hundreds of other oatmeal recipes (as well as tons of other meatless recipes) on my Pinterest account!  You can also like The Oatmeal Artist on Facebook. Thanks!