Steel Cut Oatmeal -- New Obsession

 Yet, another ridiculously simple recipe. Welcome to my new obsession. Steel-cut oats have been my daily breakfasts for about two weeks now.  Really though!

Once you turn to these, you'll never go back to regular old-fashioned oats, let alone quick oats. During the preparation, I toasted the oats with coconut oil, which really brought out their nutty flavour.

Rise and Shine!

It's finally the weekend! I threw this together as a quick breakfast to energize up my Friday. This post was kind of a spur of the moment; I actually just enjoyed the colors of the photos a little too much, so that's what I'm really sharing. It's one of those recipes that make you feel silly for posting because it's just too simple...that obviously didn't stop me though. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did :)
Although I have AP mocks to study for, I'm off to explore Shanghai for a bit before returning to my duties.

Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Larabars

Have you had Larabars before? Well I haven't. I have read a lot of blogs that have hyped about them though. After stalling for a many weeks, I finally had enough of everyone's mushy gushy talk and decided to make copycat ones. If you're like me and have never had them, you are missing out. Whether these even taste like the real things, they are a new go-to snack.

My favorite part about these is the slight tartness of them. I only had unsweetened golden raisins, so I opted for these. No regrets!

The best part is eating them straight out of the fridge as an after-school snack. Actually no, I'm about to tell you the best part. They're packed with nutrition and superfoods: walnuts, raisins, cinnamon, and oatmeal.

If you're wondering about the texture, they're a bit like a a chewy granola bar, but with a cookie dough texture. In fact, I would probably choose these over cookie dough.

Now that it's finally spring break, I'll be able to catch up on sleep and cook a whole lot of food. I'll also be waiting in anticipation as I hear back from colleges. 

Banana Bread Oatmeal

Oatmeal has been my most recent food obsession. I've eaten some sort of oatmeal related item throughout the day for at least 3 weeks now. Someone call me cray cray.

When I was younger, I was disgusted with the thought of mushy gunk for breakfast. Instead, I was more like, "Yo, seriously, where's my Life Cereal at? Lucky Charms...Poptarts?!" The only type of oatmeal I'd eat was from the little Quaker oatmeal packets. I'm so past that now. I'm actually contemplating starting an oatmeal series... Apple Pie oatmeal, Reese's oatmeal, baked oatmeal pies...oatmeal cookies...oatmeal bread. Okay I'm getting a little too excited.

However, I do love that my new obsession is oatmeal and not something like Ferrero Rocher. Not like that's happened before.

I recently got some steel cut oats so I'm excited to try this recipe with that!

Tip-Top Healthy Chocomuffs

 This doesn't happen often, but these muffins happen to be ones I immediately scarf down straight out of the oven. I only made four in this batch, but they were so good, I made them again. Plus, they're super healthy :) Actually, I believe this are my first healthy chocolate-containing baked good. Score! Motivation to discover and make more mine.

Although I haven't I don't particularly have a sweet tooth these day, I still crave chocolate. So so so, these were perfect; my Tip-top Healthy Chocomuffs (always making up words) are bittersweet and moist, but when you bite into a chocolate chip...mmm you see fireworks. Of course, these fireworks are better than the ones that have been blasting all week here in Shanghai. 

When I saw these on Dashing Dish's blog, I knew I had to have them. To make them more moist, I added applesauce, upped the amount of Greek yoghurt, and sweetened them slightly with Agave nectar.

The best part of these muffins are delish sans flour, oil, and sugar! What?! Totes my fave recipe now.

What I didn't understand was the muffin top. First of all, why is it darker? Second, why am I so lucky?! It frosted itself :) Kind of?

I'm thinking it's because I took them out of the oven to sprinkle chocolate chips on, and then the cool air did something to them. I actually don't know...I'm just making things up.

Wait wait, look at the name of these. I thought I was so clever when I named them. (;

I don't want to bore you with my family all the time, but they're the ones who give me really great feedback. I guess once school starts up again (ugh...Monday), my lovely food-loving friends can start giving me feedback.

Buuut, teens will eat any free food right?

Later in the day, I saw the last chocomuff in the fridge, so I cut the muffin top off. My mom scowled at me, probably because she wanted it.

Okay, I'm going off on a tangent, but I've been obsessed with Greek Yoghurt these days. I eat it with granola, apples, plain, with honey; put it in dressings, muffins, sushi; sub in for mayo...someone please help me before I over-indulge. Jokes, don't stop me. I laaav it! Back to these beauties... 

If you have the time, which you should, these are quick and rewarding to make. You basically dump everything into a blender and voila, a Tip-top chocomuff :)

No, but they're actually super rewarding. I'll break it down for you:

Applesauce: This is high in fiber and vitamin C.

Unsweetened Cocoa Powder: high in fiber and protein, stabilizes blood sugar, gives good cholesterol and gets rid of bad cholesterol, gluten-free, and contains antioxidants beneficial in reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease.

Greek Yoghurt: high high high in protein!, contains probiotics great for aiding digestion, is a good source of calcium :)

Agave Nectar: low glycemic index, meaning it doesn't give an unhealthy blood sugar spike 

Chocolate:  increases endorphins that can decrease stress levels and fight depression, boosts energy levels, and the list goes on. Find more on chocolate at this site.