Elvis Oatcake Stack

I made pancakes...

and they turned out pretty great.

PB and J Muesli

There is neither peanut butter nor jelly in this muesli (although I definitely contemplated both). Instead, it contains a delicious mix of fresh grapes, crushed peanuts, and (bonus!) sliced bananas, flax, and raisins. It's like PB&J, in a muesli-friendly form.

Pomegranate Muesli

I am all about the muesli lately. It all happened when I discovered that pomegranate seeds make the best friggin' muesli ever. Why?! Because they can make the bulk of your muesli instead of nuts and dried fruit, which are wonderful and nutrient-dense, but they're also crazy filling and calorie-heavy. Of course I include them in my muesli, but it's not ideal to have an entire half cup of nuts and dried fruit in my morning cereal. That's a lot. I mean, one serving of nuts is only 1/4 cup, and 1/4 cup of dried fruit is a ton of sugar. So using pomegranates? Brilliant.

Pomegranates are crunchy like a nut or seed, but sweet like dried fruit. They have the added bonus of being absolutely beautiful to look at.

Autumn Muesli

I don't know what it is about muesli lately, but I am all about it. I think it's because I've been setting my electric blanket too high at night, and when I wake up in the morning, all I want is cold muesli.

This muesli essentially just celebrates autumn. Okay, so maybe pumpkin didn't make it in (don't worry, that's coming!), BUT there are pepitas, which are pumpkin seeds, so...I guess that counts! I also used dried apples, raisins, golden raisins, dried cranberries, and pecan pieces. DIVINE.

My first bites were certainly pleasant, but I felt that something was missing. It was almost too light and bright and sunshiny. It needed more autumn. I took a risk and added a dash of cinnamon, and wow, it made all the difference!

Fig and Banana Muesli

I know hundreds of people in my own neighborhood live without a roof over their head or food to eat. They can barely afford a loaf of bread, let alone figs. Still, I have to say that not having gas really sucks. Cold showers suck. Not having a functional stove sucks. Not having an oven that heats up sucks.

Luckily, I've had dozens of recipes from July to post, but those are running out. I'm eager to "stay ahead" of the posts. I don't like feeling pressure to slap a post together just for the sake of staying on schedule.  Moreover, I just have to admit that eating overnight oatmeal cold is just not my thing.

Oh yeah, did I mention I don't have a microwave either?!

Peach and Blueberry Oatcakes for One

What is it about oatmeal that makes my digestive system run so well? I understand the nutrition aspect and all (hurray soluble fiber!), but this marvelous ingredient still astounds me. Pancakes make me sick for the rest of the day. Cereal (even the "healthy" ones) makes me puffy and weird. Even whole wheat muffins or waffles or pancakes leave me ill.

But swap the flour with oats? Problem solved.

These oatcake recipes actually let me enjoy pancakes again. Plus, they're way more flavorful than anything Bisquick could make.

Peach Pie Oatmeal Smoothie

I used to slurp down tons of smoothies. At the beginning of my junior year of college, I used to whip up some relatively extravagant breakfasts (by college student standards, anyway).*  Sometimes that included oatmeal, but not always. (It wasn't until January or February of that year that oatmeal became a daily ritual.) Often, I would make smoothies. These were usually banana-based (because that's what I could afford), but I occasionally splurged on mangoes, peaches, or pineapple.

*If you're interested, here's a post from my old blog where I documented all my breakfasts for the week.

I never really added oatmeal to my smoothies, though. I thought of that concept a little over a year ago when I made my Green Monster Oatmeal Smoothie, which was actually just a cheap trick to add variety to my blog (at least I'm honest). I was like, "Hey, I'll put oats in a smoothie, so I can have something other than porridge recipes on my blog! Har-har!"

But here I am, adding another smoothie recipe to my blog. This time, however, it's not just a cheap trick. The idea for this recipe came about the other day when I was attempting a new pancake recipe. As I licked the batter, the flavors and creaminess delighted me. It tasted exactly like a peach pie! I realized then that oats in a smoothie add more than just fiber and bulk; they add flavor, too! A smoothie without oats just tastes like peaches. A smoothie with oats tastes earthy and sweet, like someone took a slice of peach pie (crust and all) and blended it up.

Allison's Chocolate Chip Cookies [Guest Post]

As someone who reads a lot of food blogs and watches many cooking shows, I cannot hear the phrase, "the best chocolate chip cookies" without rolling my eyes. Thus, when I met my roommate Allison and she told me she made the best chocolate chip cookies, my eyes nearly rolled all the way to the back of my head. "I've been perfecting these cookies since I was in middle school," she proclaimed confidently, but I still wasn't convinced.

And then she made them...and I became a believer. These cookies are in full dessert form--not vegan, not sugar-free, not whole wheat--but they contain a few special ingredients that will take the average cookie to the next level. One of these ingredients is oatmeal; that's probably why I love these chewy little rockstars so much! With a little persuasion (very little, actually), I convinced Allison to share her secret recipe on the blog for all of you.

As Lauren’s roommate, I am happy to report that her oatmeal tastes just as good as it looks. I will be the first to admit that I don’t eat oatmeal everyday—mornings are hard—but when I do, my porridges are almost always Oatmeal Artist recipes made by the Oatmeal Artist herself. What can I say, I’m spoiled!

The following recipe will probably be the first and only time that this blog will feature anything so explicitly unhealthy. Lauren and I have similar philosophies about fresh, unprocessed food, but she has better willpower. Sometimes you just want a cookie, ya know?

These chocolate chip cookies are not your average, run-of-the-mill Chips Ahoy. No, my friends, these cookies took several months of careful calibration and taste testing, many years ago. Since then, I have not looked back, and this has become my go-to recipe whenever I needed to bake something that was both quick to make and interesting to eat.

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.

Apple Spice Oatcakes for One

One of my favorite parts of New York City is its glorious abundance of farmers markets. Access to local and fresh produce ranges from tiny little stands on the street to mega-markets like the Union Square Greenmarket. That's where I found myself last weekend, just before the vendors started packing up and going home for the day.

Obviously I was smitten by the organic leafy greens and the fresh baked bread, but this market had so much more. There was hard cider. And wine. And vegan pies.

And my favorite: jams, jellies, and other jarred goods. I always seek these out at big farmers markets. I consider myself a collector of artisan fruit spreads. It fits nicely with my PB&J sandwich obsession (not to mention my oatmeal addiction...). Beth's Farm Kitchen uses local ingredients to make some phenomenal jams, fruit butters, marmalades, chutneys, and pickled veggies. My purchase? No-sugar-added apple butter. And no, that does not mean they used Splenda, and no, that does not mean they sweetened it with "white grape juice concentrate." It means they took a fruit. Added spices. Cooked it down to a butter. No sweeteners necessary.

...So I made pancakes! Now, of course, any apple butter will do. In fact, if you do not have apple butter, you can use applesauce instead, and then spice the pancakes yourself. However, the apple butter creates a convenient recipe because the spices are already included in the product!

As you can see, I made tiny little silver dollar pancakes. How precious are they? I will stick to the silver dollar size from now on. It was much more fun to eat a tower of mini pancakes than a short stack of fat ones. :)

Lemon Poppy Seed Oat Muffins

Muffins again? I know, but I'm not sorry. I had an urge to make muffins, so I decided to make the most out of the urge and experiment with multiple recipes. Hence, I give you experiment #2....lemon poppy seed!

These muffins are slightly more traditional than the Thin Mints Muffins (although not quite as decadent!). They are perfect for an easy breakfast or on-the-go snack. If you want to use them for dessert, you could top them with a glaze!

Thin Mints Oat Muffins

Happy Sunday, everyone!

What's the weather like in your neck of the woods? It's crazy hot here. I was in Philadelphia all week chaperoning a school field trip, and the students and I just trudged around, sweating and fanning ourselves the whole time. Gross!

My roommate and I had planned to spend Saturday afternoon at Central Park, but it was just too darn hot. Sweltering. Blistering. Stroke-inducing. So instead, I stayed inside in the air conditioning and made some muffins for YOU!

Yep. They are, in fact, as delicious as they look. :)

Banana Chocolate Chip Oatcakes for One

The poll results are in! I must say, when I created the survey, I was nervous. I feared that nobody would respond, and it would remind me to be humble and that nobody actually reads my blog. Much to my delight, I got over 100 responses (the free service caps out at 100)!

So for you guys, I made these:

Tip: Segmenting Citrus

I haven't done a how-to post in a while, and it occurred to me this morning that I could show you how I segment oranges. It's something I've given instructions on, but never elaborated or shown pictures of, so VOILA, here it is! It's so easy that I narrowed it down to five steps. 

And coming later (next week), I'll provide you another (really delicious!!!) recipe to use these orange segments. :)

1. Cut the orange in half (through its waist, if you will).

Coconut-Pecan Butter

Today is my 23rd birthday. Today, my goal is to celebrate the incredible ~8,400 days that have shaped the person I am today. Today, I will not fret about the future or complain about getting older. Today, I will eat whatever I want and enjoy the bejeesus out of it.

Starting with this:

I first made this back in September to top my German Chocolate Baked Oatmeal. At the time, my lazy bum did not actually tell you how to make the coconut-pecan butter. My directions were the charismatic equivalent of "Figure it out yourself." For your convenience, I've included two recipes below: one for basic coconut butter, and another for coconut-pecan butter.

Single-Serving Muesli

Are you aware that muesli is just raw oats and a smorgasbord of random ingredients that could easily be assembled in thirty seconds? Are you aware that you could just grab whatever nuts, dried fruit, seeds, or what-have-yous and throw it in to your muesli? Are you aware that you need not purchase $6 boxes of mediocre muesli from the store?

I'm going to give you a moment; this revelation can be a little troubling. After all, if you're like me, you may have been depriving yourself of this wondrous breakfast because "it's too expensive" and it's a "luxury item." Now, you've realized you've been wrongfully missing out.

When I studied abroad in Ireland (thank you, world, for your kindness to me), I ate muesli for breakfast every single morning. The first morning, I chose porridge for obvious reasons. However, it was bland and runny and not my style. Then, I noticed that every place we stayed was serving Alpen Swiss Muesli. I had never heard of muesli before then, but I was immediately smitten. It was like a healthier version of granola, and it went beautifully with peaches and plain yogurt, which must be popular in Ireland because every single place we stayed at offered these items in their "buffet" lines.

Choco-Banana Sauce

Here's an easy and pretty-darn-healthy topping for you. It's not attractive, but...

I used it to top some peanut butter oatmeal, but you could use it as "hot fudge" in Banana Split Oatmeal, or heck, just use it on a regular banana split! :)

Apple Cider Reduction Sauce

Want to appear super impressive with little work? Top your oatmeal with THIS:

I always thought that any recipe with the word "reduction" automatically sounds gourmet and fancy. I've never actually made any sort of reduction before, so that's probably why I thought it was so complicated! As it turns out, this was one of the easiest (but time-consuming) things I've ever done.

Banana Oat Muffins: Revisited

Happy holidays, everyone! I'm back in the Midwest for the holidays, and one of the first things that greeted me at my parents house was a bowl full of overripe bananas. I instantly took it upon myself to find a purpose for them: my banana oat muffins.

These muffins are a favorite of mine. Even when I get bored of banana in my oatmeal, I never seem to get sick of these gems. They require no added sugar (even in honey or maple syrup form), and they are so adaptable. They taste great with chocolate chips, raisins, extra spices, or plain (like banana bread!), or with peanut butter or jam smeared onto them after baking. When you taste these muffins, you'll wonder why most banana bread recipes have SO much added sugar (seriously, WHY?!).

Gingerbread Oat Muffins

I never used to enjoy baking things (even baked oatmeal took me awhile to get the hang of), but I am on a muffin spree lately. Once I learned my ways with baking soda and wet to dry ratios, making oatmeal muffins became a blast.

These were originally intended to be banana-gingerbread muffins. However, after preparing the batter, I realized the banana flavor was completely hidden. To be honest, I wasn't at all upset about that! I actually preferred a straight-up gingerbread flavor, but I knew (or thought) using bananas as a sweetener would change the flavor, so I decided to be realistic and honest and include banana in the name.