Double-Chocolate Mango Oatmeal with Toasted Coconut

What kind of recipe-creator would I be if I didn't take some risks? Chocolate and mango are not often paired together, but it has been done. For example, there's chocolate-covered mango, this chocolate-mango loaf cake, this coconut mango cashew chocolate bark, or Oatgasm's Chocolate Chili Mango Baked Oatmeal.

I was in the mood for peanut butter when I made this, so I found a way to include that as well. I actually made Happy Herbivore's Nutty Spread, but instead of adding cinnamon, I added cocoa powder. I love Nutty Spread because it gives me less of a tummy ache than pure peanut butter, and it can be supped in for peanut butter in most situations.

Tiramisu Oatcakes for One

You know my oatcakes always feature some sort of fruit or veggie, whether it's mashed banana, pureed peaches, apple butter, or pureed beets.

Can you guess the produce packed into this one?

It's zucchini! Now, I have experimented with using zucchini in the past, but it has often failed to serve the purpose I needed it for. I usually want it to be a "tasteless filler" in an otherwise "nutrition-less" recipe (see: any cookie recipe). However, it never worked as nicely as I would have liked. Just recently, I used it to make a brilliant recipe (you will just have to wait until I "nail it" to see what it is!), but I could taste the zucchini. As low in flavor as it is, it does leave some sort of flavor, particularly when paired with cinnamon, as it was in that recipe.

20 Ways to Take Your Porridge to the Next Level

Oatmeal has a tendency to seem pretty humble. It's traditionally a peasant food, after all. If you really want to impress your breakfast guests, here are some tricks you can stun them with!

1. Use vanilla bean paste (or even a fresh vanilla bean) instead of vanilla extract. 

[Strawberry Vanilla Bean Oatmeal]

2. Toast your coconut just before topping your oatmeal.

[Tropical Oatmeal]

Spiced Brownie Baked Oatmeal

It may look like a calm, traditional brownie (or at least the baked oatmeal version of one), but this brownie is feisty. He's maybe even a little vicious.

Of course, you have control over his viciousness. You could just give him a little bit of bite. OR you could be like me and drop three generous pinches of cayenne pepper into the batter. It's up to you.

Ambrosia Overnight Oatmeal

Ambrosia reminds me of my high school days working in the deli of my hometown grocery store. Yes, your dear Lauren used to stand behind a counter and weigh super thin slices of smoked turkey, bread and fry chicken, and gobble down leftover chicken thighs at the end of her shift. I was basically a walking tub of grease for two years. To this day, I can't stand the smell of a deep-fryer...and most fried foods, actually.

However, our deli counter also offered a variety of salads. The standards were, of course, potato salad and macaroni salad, but there was also always a couple "sweet salads." The Midwest is infamous for its...erm...salads (Exhibit A and B). I think Ambrosia is actually "a thing" outside of the Midwest, but it was definitely one of the occasional offerings at my humble little deli.

Any excuse to take out my martini glass, yes?

The key ingredients for Ambrosia are mandarin oranges (blegh), pineapple, marshmallows (obviously), cherries (the faker, the better), and coconut, all mixed together in a creamy base. I have a strong disdain for mandarin oranges, so I used good ol' navel. I skipped the cherries because I'm too cheap to buy them. I omitted the marshmallows because...you know...breakfast. And finally, I subbed So Delicious yogurt <3 for the cream.

5 Back-to-School Oat-tastic Solutions for Students & Teachers

Some people think students and teachers live a different world. WRONG. I became a teacher because I wanted to be a student forever, and it's the closest I could get.

Either way, both students and teachers have some early mornings and long days. And both groups are known for skipping meals--particularly breakfast!

Here are 5 solutions for enjoying your oatmeal during that dreaded morning rush!

Mocha Almond Fudge Overnight Oatmeal

I need to confess my feelings. My strong, unwavering feelings.

I'm in love.

...with the So Delicious brand.

I've been eating their yogurt for a couple years now, but their pints of ice cream are a new world for me. I stopped buying prepared desserts and snacks several years ago--for a few different reasons. 1) Michael Pollan says to eat as much junk food as you want--as long as it's homemade (the result being you want eat that much junk food because it's hard work to make your own french fries, desserts, etc.). 2) I cut junk food from my budget to help me afford organic produce. 3) IBS, of course. Always.

Blackberry Thyme Oatmeal

Remember less than a week ago when I said that my rosemary plant was the only one still thriving?

Joke's on me! It's dead now.

Shortly after making the Grape Rosemary Oatmeal (which was delicious!), my rosemary plant went from green and robust to brown and brittle. I don't even know...

#FarmFreshOatmeal Update

Remember, the jam/applesauce giveaway will go to the Instagrammer who uploads the 50th #FarmFreshOatmeal post! I am happy to announce that we are over halfway there, and we need just ELEVEN MORE to reach 50 before next Friday!! As I said earlier, if we don't reach 50, I'll keep them for myself. ^_^

Here are some of my favorite uploads from the past couple of weeks.

First of all, I was super pleased to see that someone already made my Strawberry Pretzel Overnight Oatmeal...with farm fresh strawberries!

Lenore made use of her local peaches.

Grape Rosemary Oatmeal

Ugh, you guys... I suck so much at taking care of herbs.

I bought four different herbs from the farmers' market: basil, cilantro, thyme, and rosemary. The basil looked beautiful for nearly two weeks, and then it turned a sad yellow color. The thyme turned brittle after a few days. The tall bush of cilantro collapsed into a  yellow pile within hours. All three of them never fully recovered. I believe the basil and thyme improve a little bit every day, but the cilantro had to be removed from the pot and tossed. The only plant that still looks functional is the rosemary.

Mango-Coconut Overnight Oatmeal with Puffed Wild Rice

Before I share the beautiful recipe pictured below, let me just declare my love and commitment to New York City. I love you, NYC, and there's nobody else for me than you. Please don't be jealous at what I'm about to say. At the end of the day, my rent money goes to you, and it's your beautiful bridges and skylines I drool over.

That being said, there's another city I adore: MSP, better known to the rest of the world as "Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota."

Oatmeal Enthusiasts: Meet Yasmin!

TOA: Happy first day of September! It's also Labor Day, which means I have the day off. :) Today, I'm happy to share with you the work of Yasmin, whom I know better as @binilein from Instagram. While searching through the #oatmealartist hashtag, I was immediately smitten by her gorgeous, cozy photos of oatmeal. She and I share a love for aerial food photography, bananas, and peanut butter. I could not wait to feature her beautiful photos on my blog!

Hello fellow oatmeal lovers,

My name is Yasmin and I am in the proud position to be the Oatmeal Enthusiast for September. I got so excited when Lauren asked me because I have been a fan of her blog for quite a while. I love oatmeal, and breakfast in general is my favorite meal of the day. Let me tell you some facts about myself.

I am German and I lived in northern Germany until the age of 18, when I started to study Journalism which took me to the other end of the country. Since then, I haven’t lived in the same city for more than a year. I finished my BA studies last year and continued with my masters shortly afterwards, which will take me to London this fall. When I am not trying out new oatmeal recipes, I like to run, read and travel.
I don’t really know anymore how I discovered oatmeal, but I remember my first attempt to make oatmeal. Thinking it was enough to just heat up the milk, I ended up having some kind of oatmeal soup with a sliced banana in it. This was in the fall of 2011, and since then my oatmeal skills have improved immensely. How I found Lauren’s blog I don’t know anymore either, but it has been bookmarked on my list of favorite websites from the day I found it.

You have to know about me that I have suffered from an eating disorder for years and years. But no matter how bad it was, I always would have breakfast. Breakfast was the only meal I never ever skipped. Days ahead I would plan what I would eat for breakfast (and lunch and dinner) and I always would look forward to my morning oats. I would come up with new combinations and would add more fruits, nuts, and nut butter after a while. Oatmeal became and still is to this day my favorite breakfast. There are so many flavors to add, different kinds of fruits to put into it, that it never gets boring. Luckily, today, I am way better and healthier.

I am a firm believer that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. It gives you fuel to get through the day. I could eat breakfast foods all day long, to be totally honest with you. Oatmeal is so nutritious, healthy and filling that it makes the perfect breakfast. Especially on cold winter mornings, a hot bowl of oatmeal is the best way to start a busy day.

For the week I documented I decided to try out a lot of new recipes. I always bookmark new and interesting looking recipes I want to try, but then I tend to be too lazy or I am just too busy to really try them. But since I have summer break now, I didn’t really have an excuse not to try all these recipes – and I really was looking forward to every one of them and enjoyed every bite I had.


Day 1: Quinoa Flake Porridge

I love trying new recipes and experiment with other grains than oats such are buckwheat and quinoa. I recently purchased a bag of quinoa flakes, so I was looking forward to have them for breakfast. I used the quinoa flake porridge recipe from superfoodsiobhan.com and it was delicious. Apart from the banana the recipe requires, I added blueberries, dried white mulberries, almonds and almond butter. It’s a great alternative to my usual oatmeal, very nutritious and filling!

Carrot Cake (and Carrot Banana) Steel-Cut Oatmeal

TWO recipes today! You're welcome.

Carrot Cake Steel-Cut Oatmeal isn't that exciting; it's basically an adaptation of my regular Carrot Cake Oatmeal. The only difference is it takes longer to cook (and it serves four instead of one, but that's just an issue of multiplication and division).

Thus, I'm including a variation. A banana variation, because potassium. (Everything about that last sentence is making the grammarian in me cringe, but whatever.)

I can't say much about the Carrot Cake version--it's exactly what you would expect. Instead, let me tell you about the banana version.

Strawberry Pretzel Overnight Oatmeal

:D

Yes! Pretzels!

Strawberry pretzel bars are a bake sale, potluck, and picnic favorite. They are a lovely blend of sweet and salty. They begin with a bottom "crust" of crushed pretzels. Above that is a thick layer of cream cheese. Finally, the top layer is jello-fied strawberries.

#FarmFreshOatmeal Giveaway!

It's happening slowly, but more and more of you are joining me in eating #FarmFreshOatmeal!

In case you missed it, I'm challenging my readers to buy something--anything--from their local farmers' market (or from their own garden) and use it in their morning oats!

Now, the response to this was slow, and I expected that. I am not even slightly discouraged. That slow response is, in fact, the whole reason why I feel this challenge is necessary. We are not utilizing these markets enough. We are relying too heavily on corporations and cookie-cutter supermarkets.

Last weekend, I was at the Union Square Green Market to buy produce for the recipe I intended to make that evening: ratatouille. I purchased locally-grown eggplant, two tomatoes, leeks, a bell pepper, a banana pepper, two zucchinis FOR UNDER TEN DOLLARS. That would have cost me double at Whole Foods.

Here are some more ways that my readers are enjoying #FarmFreshOatmeal!

Now, as promised in the title of this post, I am hosting a giveaway!

Peach Almond Oatmeal with Pomegranates

Mmkay. Time to be vulnerable.

I've been somber lately. Maybe even a little hopeless.

My apartment does not offer great lighting. My window faces almost directly south, meaning the sun never fully shines inside, despite our big windows. I cannot take pictures outside without walking straight onto the bustling sidewalks of New York and lookin' like a fool. I try taking pictures near my bedroom window during the brightest time of the day, but they still turn out grainy and discolored.

I have a pretty great camera (the top-rated point-and-shoot on the market), but it functions best in natural lighting. It's not ready for indoor, dimly-lit food photography. Having just signed a lease on my first how-the-heck-does-it-possibly-cost-this-much NYC apartment, I can't even fathom buying a fancy camera at this point.

10 Oatmeal Recipes that are Basically Desserts in Disguise

Running this blog for about two and a half years, I've noticed a trend.

You people love chocolate.

My chocolate recipes consistently receive more traffic than my non-chocolate ones. The nut butter ones perform well, too, but nothing compares to those chocolate ones.

It's not like I'm surprised by this: eating dessert for breakfast is da bomb! (People are still using that phrase, right?)

To celebrate, here are ten recipes that are basically just desserts in disguise.

P.S. I will not be posting any new recipes this week as I will be taking a "mental health week." I will see you again next Saturday! In the mean time, don't forget to check out your local farmers' market and upload your oatmeal creations with the hashtag #FarmFreshOatmeal! Shout out to @lenoresmiles and @healthymonkey_ for already uploading theirs!

10 Dessert "Oatmeal" Recipes ;)

Brownie Batter Oatmeal

This recipe is surprisingly healthy. It's sweetened by bananas and nothing
else (unless you add chocolate chips). Surprisingly, it tastes like decadent
brownie batter!

Peach Banana Muesli

Week 6 of not having a stove.

It's becoming painful, yo. When so much of your happiness relies on your ability to cook and prepare food, not having a functioning stove is a terrible blow. We've been dealing with our electronic company for weeks trying to convince them to turn on our gas. Every time, it's "You need to do X." So then we do X. We wait. We call back. They say, "You did X, but you still need to do Y." We say, "You never told us that, but okay." We do Y. We wait. We call back. Etc.

FOR SIX WEEKS.

#FarmFreshOatmeal

Hello, happy people! Or unhappy people. I don't discriminate.

Like I mentioned last week, I'm digging farmer's markets lately. It's my new weekend hobby. I absolutely love living in Manhattan and having such easy access to so many markets. It's kind of like this:

Anyway, I have been using the farmer's market as inspiration for my oatmeal recipes. My list of recipe ideas is pretty much a mile long, and being the indecisive person that I am, it's a tad overwhelming to select which recipes to make that week. Using the ingredients that are available at the market alleviates the stress of that decision.

Getting Fit #9

This is the ninth segment of my Getting Fit series. This series features my friend Crystal, a rockstar figure skater and fellow oatmeal lover. You can her blog, Confessions of Crystal, and check out her Instagram,@crystalchilcott.

TOA: Hello, Crystal! I have been watching all of your travels throughout Colorado on Instagram, and it looks like you're having such a blast these days. You also share pictures of your "grocery finds" and meals from special restaurants.

I'm completing a 5k this fall. I know you have Collegiate Nationals next week (good luck!!), so I was wondering how you fuel yourself in the days leading up to your big competition.

Crystal: Hi Lauren! I've really enjoyed exploring more of Colorado before my year abroad!

Congratulations on your decision to complete a 5k! In the days leading up to an event, I usually stick to my usual diet. The changes usually happen on the day I travel to the competition and actually compete. Staying in a hotel room without a kitchen makes it hard to follow my usual diet so I have to adapt.

TOA: How do you do that? Do you bring your own food, or do you have to eat out?

Crystal: It's usually a mix of both. I always ask for a fridge in my hotel room and stock up on staples like fruit, carrots, and Greek yogurt. I do usually have to eat out for at least one meal though.

TOA: What do you typically eat for breakfast and/or lunch on the day of a competition?

Crystal: My stomach is always upset on days I compete so I try to stick to oatmeal and whole grain bread with nut butter and fruit. I also make sure to have some green tea.

TOA: I have a similar problem! Back in high school when I had vocal contest, I wouldn't be able to eat a thing all day until after my solo (at which point I went straight to the cafeteria and ordered one of everything, haha).

Do you practice the day before your competition, or rest?

Crystal: I have to force myself to eat something or else I won't have energy! I have a 20 minute warm up where I just go through everything a few times. It depends on what time I compete what I do the rest of the day.

TOA: If you could pick any oatmeal recipe to eat on the day of your competition, what would it be?