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.

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.

Tiramisu Overnight Oatmeal

The Thursday before my birthday, my friend and I were out and about in Manhattan enjoying some good eats. After some delightful vegan soul food at Red Bamboo, we moved on to Peacefood Cafe on 11th St. The dinner food is great there, but I particularly love their desserts. VEGAN. TIRAMISU. I didn't see it coming, but their vegan tiramisu was infinitely better than any tiramisu (vegan or not) I've ever had. The cream portion was unbelievable and I have no idea what it was made of.

Coconut Mocha Muesli

I've been wanting to make this for so long, but I was hesitant to give myself access to the chocolate-covered espresso beans. Self-control is not my strength. I have excellent self-control about items that I know I can't have (all mainstream junk food, i.e. Doritos) and non-herbie items (a buttery cinnamon roll), but when it comes to "okay" foods (peanut butter, dark chocolate), I have a hard time putting on the brakes!

Alas, I threw those espresso beans in my cart and prepared to make this muesli. I struggled to keep them around long enough and reserve them for this muesli! I think I gained ten pounds from the entire container.

This recipe can be made with three items: oats, espresso beans, and shredded coconut. However, feel free to add extra ingredients like sunflower seeds, walnuts, macadamia nuts, or whatever pleases you. I added walnuts.

Coconut Mocha Muesli

by The Oatmeal Artist

Prep Time: 2 min

Cook Time: 0 min

Keywords: muesli

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Ingredients (serves 1)

• 1/2 cup rolled oats (I use Country Choice Organic)
• handful of dark chocolate-covered espresso beans
• 1/8 cup shredded coconut

Instructions

1. Combine all ingredients.
2. Serve with milk of choice or yogurt.

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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!

Tiramisu Oatmeal

I once told you that peach cobbler is my favorite dessert. Another time, I told you it was pumpkin pie. Well, both of those statements are only partly true. Actually, it's a three-way tie...with tiramisu.

In fact, when my birthday rolled around, what did I chose for my "birthday cake?" Yep. Tiramisu. From Vivaldi Cafe in Greenwich Village. There was live jazz. :)

Mocha Sauce

The hardest part about moving is the whole grocery situation. Have you experienced this? You're leaving soon, so you want to be finished with all your produce and have as little grocery items to move/toss as possible. However, you also don't want to starve to death or survive entirely off restaurant food for the final few days.

This issue is further complicated if you are a food blogger. I'm trying to maintain a blog while my pantry and refrigerator become more barren by the second. For this reason, today I'm sharing a recipe for a topping. I will not apologize for this (even though I know you'd much rather have a new oatmeal recipe) because this glaze is ballin' and you should try it whether or not you're kitchen is better stocked than mine at the moment.

This sauce took five ingredients and a pinch of salt. It came together in less than a minute. It can be easily adjusted for preferences in sweetness and coffee flavor.

3 New Overnight Oat Recipes!

Overnight oatmeal has been my "thing" for a few months now, which inevitably resulted in me creating recipes that were never shared with you. Most of them align with my stove-top recipes, so I didn't feel too guilty about it. However, lately, I've been enjoying these so much that I just had to put them on your radar!

Variations on Baked Pumpkin Oatmeal

It's mid-October, and pumpkin recipes are everywhere. If you're the type of person that loves this, then read ahead with glee! If you were beyond sick of the pumpkin posts on TasteSpotting and Food Gawker way back on September 1, then I apologize. Another (non-pumpkin-themed) post will be up on Saturday! :)

Here is a list of possible variations for my basic baked pumpkin oatmeal:

Pumpkin & Chocolate Chips:

Fold a handful of chocolate chips into the batter before pouring into ramekin and baking.

Pumpkin & Banana:

Reduce amount of pumpkin slightly (optional) and add sliced bananas into batter before pouring into ramekin and baking.

Pumpkin & Coconut:

Use coconut milk instead of almond milk, and top with shredded coconut; or, get fancy and swirl it.

Pumpkin Spice Latte:

Either replace half of the almond milk with brewed coffee, or mix in 1 tsp of instant coffee granules. 

Pumpkin & Peach:

Reduce amount of pumpkin slightly (optional) and add diced peaches before pouring into ramekin and baking.

Pumpkin & Chai:

Instead of pumpkin pie spice, use a rounded 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/8 tsp ginger, 1/8 tsp cardamom, and 1/8 tsp allspice.

Pumpkin Green Monster:

Blend pumpkin puree with spinach or your other favorite green before mixing with other wet ingredients.

**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!

Dirty Chai Oatmeal

I wish coffee shops would stop bastardizing chai.

You know what I mean. You know exactly what I mean. The standard coffee shop version of chai tea comes in powdered form and is full of sugar. It gives me absolutely no control over ingredients. With other drink selections, I can request soy milk or only one pump of flavor. With chai tea, I'm stuck with the powdered sugarfest.

Thus, I rarely order it. Instead, I try to recreate it in my oatmeal. :) In case you're not familiar with a dirty chai, it's basically chai with a shot of espresso. This is how my friend Tiffany often ordered it, and I would always have a sip or two. Mmmmm.

Dirty Chai Oatmeal

by The Oatmeal Artist

Prep Time: 10 min

Cook Time: 5 min

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Ingredients (serves 1)

• 2/3 cup strong brewed coffee (I used cold press!)
• 1/3 cup milk of choice
• 1/2 cup rolled oats (I use Country Choice Organic)
• 1/2 a ripe banana
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp cardamom (I didn't have this, so I made it without)
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• pinch of ground cloves
• pinch of nutmeg
• pinch of salt

Instructions

1. Bring coffee and milk to a boil, add oats, and reduce heat to medium.
2. Mash up banana and add to the oatmeal. Stir.
3. Once more of the liquid has absorbed, add vanilla extract, spices, and salt.
4. If you'd like to add any extra ingredients (coconut oil, nuts), do so now.
5. When you're pleased with the consistency of the oatmeal, transfer to a bowl. Serve with another splash of your milk of choice (and/or more coffee) and any other additional toppings (shredded coconut, nuts, chocolate chips, etc.).

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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!

Mocha Oatmeal (with Variations)

Wednesday morning, I had great plans for a Peppermint Mocha Oatmeal. I planned it while falling asleep the night before, and I woke up eager to try it out.

My dreams came crashing down when I opened my mother's bottle of mint extract, only to get an awful whiff of spearmint. SPEARMINT!! Ugh. It was a combination of spearmint and peppermint. Unacceptable!

I was not about to have spearmint mocha--gross. Instead, I just went with a simple mocha oatmeal, along with a little bit of vanilla extract to enhance the chocolate flavor.

Like my Thin Mints or Lemon Poppy Seed Oatmeal, I used banana to sweeten it. I swear you won't taste it. I knew I wouldn't be able to taste it with peppermint or almond extract, but I was very surprised that I didn't even taste it with just vanilla extract! The coffee and chocolate flavors are very strong and mask the banana taste well.

The fun thing about this recipe is that the variations are endless! Instead of vanilla extract, you could use PEPPERMINT extract (not spearmint...) for a peppermint mocha, ALMOND extract for an almond mocha, etc. Imagine the possibilities: hazelnut, caramel, coconut, butterscotch, Irish cream, French vanilla....

Mocha Oatmeal

by The Oatmeal Artist

Prep Time: 10 min

Cook Time: 5 min

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Ingredients (serves 1)

• 2/3 cup strong brewed coffee (I used cold press!)
• 1/3 cup milk of choice, or water
• 1/2 cup rolled oats (I used Country Choice Organic)
• 1/2 a ripe banana
• 1 rounded tbsp cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• pinch of salt

Instructions

1. Bring coffee and milk to a boil, add oats, and reduce heat to medium.
2. Mash up banana and add to the oatmeal. Stir.
3. Once more of the liquid has absorbed, add cocoa powder, vanilla extract (or whatever flavor you want to use), and salt.
4. If you'd like to add any extra ingredients (coconut oil, nuts), do so now.
5. When you're pleased with the consistency of the oatmeal, transfer to a bowl. Serve with another splash of your milk of choice (and/or more coffee) and any other additional toppings (shredded coconut, nuts, chocolate chips, etc.).

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Easy variations:

White Chocolate Mocha Oatmeal

Add a handful of white chocolate chips toward the end (either let them melt and stir them in, or simply sprinkle them on top when serving).

Almond Mocha Oatmeal

Use 1/4 tsp almond extract instead of vanilla extract.

Peppermint Mocha Oatmeal

Use 1/4 tsp peppermint extract instead of vanilla extract. Top with a sprig of fresh peppermint when serving, if you have it! :)

Butterscotch Mocha Oatmeal

Add a handful of butterscotch chips toward the end (either let them melt and stir them in, or simply sprinkle them on top when serving).

Coconut Mocha Oatmeal

Use coconut milk with the coffee for your cooking liquid, and top with shredded coconut at the end. The vanilla extract is optional.

Almond Joy Mocha Oatmeal

Use 1/4 tsp almond extract instead of vanilla extract, and top with shredded coconut at the end.

Of course, you could also use flavored syrups as well. :)

**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!

Pumpkin Spice Latte Oatmeal

As I've said before, coffee was never a big part of my life. It wasn't until I started ignorantly dieting several years ago that my interest in the drink really blossomed (What? No calories??). I would drink the stuff black during my brief stint as an office assistant the summer after my freshmen year of college. Brewing and drinking coffee (and cleaning up the machine afterward) gave me a break from my eight hours of scanning and shredding. 

As a result, when I returned to school in the fall for my sophomore year, I was completely clueless about the nutrition of specialty coffee drinks. I had a few extra minutes before my Western Civilization class, so I stopped at Java City, the Starbucks-like company on our campus. I was in the mood for something sweeter (so not black coffee), but I had no idea what anything on the menu went (mocha? latte?? americano??!?). I did, however, see a large poster promoting the in-season Pumpkin Spice Javalanche (blended drink). Feeling adventurous, I ordered one of those.

Gingerbread Latte Oatmeal

Who says gingerbread lattes are only for wintertime?

It hit me like a jar of coconut oil--latte oatmeals! Coffee oatmeals! Mocha oatmeals! This recipe for gingerbread latte oatmeal is actually just ONE of DOZENS of ideas I have using coffee as the liquid base. I am so excited to share with you all my ideas! I seriously cannot post fast enough.