I said, no, no, no
... more oats, you got it!
Since starting my personal training I've tried to vary my breakfasts' a bit different, trying to see if my pre-work out meals could be better for me than my bowl of oats. I've tried huge protein-packed shakes, toasts/sandwiches topped and stuffed with varieties of nut butters and fruits with Greek yoghurt on the side, but nothing gives me the amount of energy that allows me work through my complete work out the way my oats do. When I don't have my oats, I start to feel sluggish and hungry about thirty minutes into my work out - not a good thing, especially when you have a trainer by your side and then feeling like you've let them down, not so fun, no. So with that being said, I'm not going to go against what my body needs, I'm going to listen to what it looks forward to, enjoys, and thrives for and from; oatmeal.
Mango Kiwi Oatmeal
This past week I've seen more than a handful of my Facebook friends (wow that makes me sound like I don't have actual friends), nonetheless, leave for vacation, warm and tropical places - leaving me feeling completely envious. I mean I can't really complain seeing as this winter has been very warm, and we only really got our first real snowfall last week (yes, I even got to go tobogganing!), but nonetheless, it's always nice to leave home and see the world from a different point of view. With that being said, I would die to go somewhere tropical, especially seeing as 75% of the fruit I buy weekly are fruits from the tropics, and eating some of these beauties fresh from where they are actually grown instead of exported from a truck would be heavenly. As I was daydreaming of the palm trees, the beach with the warm water and the sand between toes enjoying some freshly cut tropical fruit I decided why not make a tropical bowl of oats while staring at the snow falling from the sky.
This was definitely a perfect bowl for me to imagine that I'm not in snowy Ontario, and that I'm actually on a beach somewhere far, far away. This was luxurious, hearty, imaginable, and definitely left me feeling warm inside. The tropical fruits and the addition of the mango lemon jam was the perfect touch it needed. This makes me all jittery and anxious inside because I cannot wait for the summer when these fruits are fresh and when I can enjoy these warm piping bowls in the warmer weather (yes, I am sick, I know).
Ingredients:
- 1/3 cup oats
- 1/3 cup soy milk + more for garnish
- 1/3 cup water
- 1 tsp vanilla
- Dash of salt
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 ripened banana
- 1/2 mango - freshly cut
- 1/2 kiwi - freshly cut
- Coconut flakes - garnish
- Mango lemon jam - garnish
- Handful of hemp seeds - garnish
In a small sauce pan, bring your oats, milk, water, cinnamon, salt, and vanilla to a boil. Once your oats have started to boil, mash in your ripened banana. Keep your oats on the stove until your level of "cooked" oats has been achieved (mine take about 4-5 minutes, I still like them a bit hard). Top with additional soy milk, mango, kiwi, coconut flakes, hemp seeds and jam.
Nutella Oats
Is it possible for someone not to looooooove Nutella? I don't know, if that person does however exist, eeeeeeek. Nutella is pure heaven. When I was younger I can remember going into the pantry, grabbing the peanut butter and Nutella, going into the utensil drawer and grabbing the teeny teaspoon's and taking bites of both those magical substances together and making "Reece's Peanut Butter Cup on a Spoon", it was heaven, and purely magical. I loved doing this, and did this for years to come. I'm not sure when it stopped, but all I know is Nutella stopped being a mandatory item on the grocery list. The other day however, I was talking to someone about panini's, then daydreaming of PB&J&banana grilled sandwiches, then imagining peanut butter, Nutella and banana grilled sandwiches, oh yes my tastebuds were firing. With this I realized, that it had been forever since I'd had Nutella, so the next time I went to the grocery store I picked some up. What did I decide to make? Oats of course with Nutella, yum, yum, yum... this was fantastic, especially with the added chopped hazelnuts on top. Will certainly be making this again soon, however, I will certainly be throwing in some peanut butter to make it even more sinful than it already was! Take a leap, dive in, enjoy!
Ingredients:
- 1/3 cup oats
- 1/3 cup coconut milk
- 1/3 cup water
- Dash of salt
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 riped banana + a few slices set aside
- 1 tbsp chopped hazelnuts
- 1 tbsp Nutella
- 0% vanilla Greek yoghurt - to top
- 1 tbsp hemp seeds - to top
Directions:
In a small sauce pan, bring your oats, milk, water, cinnamon, salt, and vanilla to a boil. Once your oats have started to boil, mash in your ripened banana and Nutella. Keep your oats on the stove until your level of "cooked" oats has been achieved (mine take about 4-5 minutes, I still like them a bit hard). Top with additional milk, Greek yoghurt, banana slices, chopped halzenuts and hemp seeds.
Coconut Date Pecan Oatmeal
Goody goody gumdrooops! Did I just say that? Uh yeah I did. This oatmeal, I can't even begin to describe it. I'm a sucker for coconut duuuhhhhhh, obviously I looooove bananas since they are in the base of each of my bowls every morning, I love pecans with bananas, but dates?! Oh I love dates and their sweet caramel selves. When all these flavours are melded together it is pure heaven in a bowl. I know I post a lot of recipes for oatmeal, heck this post already has three and I'm not done yet, but this bowl is one of my favourites. It's a very simple bowl to make, but the flavour pairing is absolutely amazing, ahhhh, I'm definitely in the mood to eat this again if it weren't for the giant bowl I had this morning (recipe below).
Ingredients:
- 1/3 cup oats
- 1/3 cup coconut milk
- 1/3 cup water
- Dash of salt
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 ripened banana + few slices for garnish
- 1 tbsp chopped dates
- 2 tbsp coconut flakes
- 1 tbsp chopped pecans
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- Maple syrup to drizzle
Directions:
In a small sauce pan, bring your oats, milk, water, cinnamon, salt, and vanilla to a boil. Once your oats have started to boil, mash in your ripened banana, dates and 1 tbsp of coconut flakes. Keep your oats on the stove until your level of "cooked" oats has been achieved (mine take about 4-5 minutes, I still like them a bit hard). Top with banana, pecans, remaining 1 tbsp of coconut flakes and maple syrup.
Chocolate Raspberry Oats
Okay, as you all know, I'm not the biggest fan of chocolate, it's why you never fully see recipes containing a lot of chocolate. You will never see me eating a chocolate bar, or taking spoons from a tub of chocolate ice cream, you may not even see me eating chocolate covered strawberries. There are a few times when I really do enjoy chocolate however, when it's combined with raspberries/citrus fruits, when it's mixed with hazelnuts (helllooo Nutella)/peanut butter, or wen it's speckled into ooey-gooey cookies, yummy! Lately, I've been adding cocoa powder into more of my food (I've posted a few oatmeal recipes now), it's still iffy with me, but the benefits of cocoa is something that stands out to me, and it certainly sweetens foods so it's a great alternative sweetener once in a while. White chocolate of course is a completely different story, since it's not really even chocolate, and I fall weak to the knees when it comes to a great Hershey's Cookies 'n Cream bar, or a white hot chocolate, oh golly gee.
This recipe was so decadent, it wasn't too rich, and the chocolate wasn't overpowering. This was a great way to start the day because it was the perfect amount of sweet and it made me feel like I was eating this tempting guilt-filled dessert, but instead on the contrary it was good for me, and tasted like heaven in a bowl, yeehaw!
Ingredients:
In a small sauce pan, bring your oats, milk, water, cinnamon, salt, and vanilla to a boil. Once your oats have started to boil, mash in your ripened banana, dates and 1 tbsp of coconut flakes. Keep your oats on the stove until your level of "cooked" oats has been achieved (mine take about 4-5 minutes, I still like them a bit hard). Top with banana, pecans, remaining 1 tbsp of coconut flakes and maple syrup.
Chocolate Raspberry Oats
Okay, as you all know, I'm not the biggest fan of chocolate, it's why you never fully see recipes containing a lot of chocolate. You will never see me eating a chocolate bar, or taking spoons from a tub of chocolate ice cream, you may not even see me eating chocolate covered strawberries. There are a few times when I really do enjoy chocolate however, when it's combined with raspberries/citrus fruits, when it's mixed with hazelnuts (helllooo Nutella)/peanut butter, or wen it's speckled into ooey-gooey cookies, yummy! Lately, I've been adding cocoa powder into more of my food (I've posted a few oatmeal recipes now), it's still iffy with me, but the benefits of cocoa is something that stands out to me, and it certainly sweetens foods so it's a great alternative sweetener once in a while. White chocolate of course is a completely different story, since it's not really even chocolate, and I fall weak to the knees when it comes to a great Hershey's Cookies 'n Cream bar, or a white hot chocolate, oh golly gee.
This recipe was so decadent, it wasn't too rich, and the chocolate wasn't overpowering. This was a great way to start the day because it was the perfect amount of sweet and it made me feel like I was eating this tempting guilt-filled dessert, but instead on the contrary it was good for me, and tasted like heaven in a bowl, yeehaw!
Ingredients:
- 1/3 cup oats
- 1/3 cup soy milk + additional milk for garnish
- 1/3 cup water
- Dash of salt
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 tbsp cocoa powder
- 1 ripened banana
- 1 tbsp carob chips - to garnish
- Handful of frozen or fresh raspberries - to garnish
- 1 tbsp hemp seeds - to garnish
- 0% vanilla Greek yoghurt - to garnish
Directions:
In a small sauce pan, bring your oats, milk, water, cinnamon, salt, and vanilla to a boil. Once your oats have started to boil, mash in your ripened banana, and chocolate. Keep your oats on the stove until your level of "cooked" oats has been achieved (mine take about 4-5 minutes, I still like them a bit hard). Top with Greek yoghurt, raspberries, carob chips and hemp seeds.
In a small sauce pan, bring your oats, milk, water, cinnamon, salt, and vanilla to a boil. Once your oats have started to boil, mash in your ripened banana, and chocolate. Keep your oats on the stove until your level of "cooked" oats has been achieved (mine take about 4-5 minutes, I still like them a bit hard). Top with Greek yoghurt, raspberries, carob chips and hemp seeds.
Enjoy :)
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