A return to Oatmeals (the greatest breakfast spot)

Hey ya’ll! Sorry I’ve been gone all weekend, but I decided I needed a weekend of rest. Plus I’ve been working hardcore on my review paper, which I think is going to be pretty awesome! Carrianne and I had a really chill weekend. We fought with time warner cable online, we did some light shopping, and we returned to our favorite breakfast spot. Ya’ll know breakfast is my favorite meal of the day, so when we were in the West Village I had to go back to Oatmeals. Oh how I love you Oatmeals. A shop dedicated to my favorite breakfast item: oatmeal.

This was Carrianne’s bowl of heaven. She ended up getting the Canadian, which sounded really tasty. It had cinnamon roasted apples, sharp cheddar cheese, bacon, maple syrup, and sea salt. Seriously one of the best combinations ever. You can never go wrong when you get bacon. It adds that crunch along with a salty smoky flavor. The maple gives it a little sweetness to bring in the roasted apples. The cheese becomes melty when you mix it in with the hot creamy oatmeal. This was definitely a very inventive bowl of oatmeal. I would have never thought to put all of these things in together.

Carrianne isn’t a big fan of cooked apples, but she said that in this dish it was perfect. The apples were soft, but provided a nice texture along with all of the other ingredients in the bowl. Her favorite part was definitely the maple syrup. She thought it provided a nice taste to the array of flavors going on in the dish. She liked the sweet, yet savory idea behind it. She is more of a savory taste person while I am a sweet, so this was a nice balance in her opinion. I definitely will be getting this one sometime soon because it looked amazing and she gave it two thumbs up.

I ended up getting one of the Happy Endings, which means it was a sweet based oatmeal. This one was the S’mores. Ya’ll know I can’t resist s’mores. It had dark chocolate chips, mini marshmallows, graham crackers, and a chocolate syrup drizzle. Oh man this was a bowl of sweetness. I was in oatmeal heaven along with s’mores heaven. I think that is the best type of heaven to be in. The dark chocolate was so rich. When you swirled it into the oatmeal, it just became a creamy melted chocolate pond. The marshmallows were really cute. They reminded me of the ones that you find in a hot cocoa mix. They melted too in the oatmeal, which enhanced the creaminess of the oatmeal even more. I love the taste of marshmallows.

I really thought the graham crackers were interesting. I was expecting the classic large square chunks of graham crackers or I thought they were going to be crumbled over the oatmeal. I actually enjoyed these. They were really cute and provided a small amount, not overwhelming, of graham crackers. Graham crackers are my least favorite part about s’mores, so I was glad that they were really subtle. The chocolate drizzle was a nice touch too. It wasn’t drenched, which I appreciate. Overall it was another amazing oatmeal experience. I’m so sad that I don’t live closer because I would probably go here at least twice a week for breakfast. I think my wallet is happy though that I live far far away.

The best surprise was this oatmeal cookie. The guy working convinced Carrianne and I that we needed to try this. Not that we really needed much convincing because look at it. It is just calling out for you to take a bite out of it. At first I thought it might be a little hard, which I hate. I was wrong. The cookie was so soft. It was chewy and delicious. The icing was perfect on top too. It wasn’t too sweet and it wasn’t too thick. I could eat a ton of these things. Actually they are huge, so I probably could only eat one by itself. I would definitely recommend getting this if you ever go here! Such a good treat.

Have an awesome Monday! I’ll be tortured in class for hours upon hours. Yay for 6 hours of straight class.

S’mores Banana

Hey ya’ll! Today is such an exciting day. We had our first “snow”. Technically it was only snow flurries, but it was still exciting to wake up and see it snowing out the window. I’m lucky because I get to stay inside, enjoy the weather from the window, sip on my hot chocolate, and study for my advanced nutrition exam. This makes me one happy camper! It also is getting my really excited for the holidays. I can’t wait for Thanksgivukkah! Also as an avid shopper, I’m looking forward to Black Friday, but enough about that! Onwards to the delicious recipe that I’m about to share with ya’ll: Banana S’mores! A healthy alternative to my favorite treat.

Banana S’mores

1 banana
10-12 mini marshmallows
a sprinkle of chocolate chips
aluminum foil

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2.. Unlike how I did it in the picture, you want to peel your banana first before placing it into a sheet of aluminum foil. Once you peel the banana, place it in the aluminum foil, wrapping the foil around the sides of the banana. Then make a deep slice into the banana, so that it spreads open a bit.

3. You then want to stuff the banana with your marshmallows and chocolate chips. This is the fun part. You can either just do marshmallows and chocolate chips or you can get really creative, such as adding nuts, dried fruit, etc. You can also either limit yourself by only putting a few or you can add a lot.

4. Then place in the oven on a baking sheet. You can either let it cook for 12 minutes or just keep on the oven light and monitor it for when the marshmallows get toasty. I prefer the second option because I get to make it as melty as I want.

5. Remove from the oven, let cool, and eat out of the aluminum foil wrapper. Enjoy.

This treat is so delicious and really low calorie. If you are having a sweet craving, but don’t want to spend all the calories in something super fattening then this is the way to go. It provides you a ton of fiber from the banana base and you get the sweetness from the marshmallows and chocolate chips. If you really want it to be s’mores like, you can crumble a graham cracker along the inside of the banana before you place it in the oven. I didn’t miss the graham cracker part because my favorite part of a s’mores is the way the marshmallow gets crispy on the outside, but is extremely soft and melted on the inside. This sort of reminded me of a campfire treat and you could actually make these while camping. Instead of placing them in the oven, you just put them over the fire.

I hope ya’ll enjoyed this recipe because my stomach sure did! I can’t wait to get creative and make all kinds of combinations with my bananas. Now it is back to studying for nutrition. Fatty acids are on my mind. Nerd out.

What would you put in your stuffed banana?
What is the best s’mores flavored treat that you have had?

WIAW (Life Without Plastic Bags)

Hey ya’ll! It is that time of the week again when bloggers around the world share what they are eating. It is one of my favorite link-ups, known as What I ate Wednesday. I bet there are other goods ones out there, but I just love to see what everyone is eating to get inspiration for recipes and blog posts. Thanks to Jenn for hosting this fantastic day! Seriously pure genius for coming up with it!

Since school is pretty much over for me, I ended up going to my mom’s to study for finals and what not. Well I decided that I was going to cook up a storm in the house and make a ton of new recipes to share with ya’ll. So I drove over to the local HEB in my neighborhood to load up on groceries, but little did I know that there are NO more plastic bags (disclaimer: Yes, I actually knew, but I forget because this is sort of ridiculous). I’m all for helping the environment, but they should have plastic bags on hand just in case people forget. I have a million reusable bags, so I’m not going to spend money to buy another one just so I can carry my groceries like a normal person. Nope, I totally put everything back into my cart and rocked the no bag look. I got some stares.

I was not going to let the plastic bag problem stop me. Although once I got to my house, I got reusable bags to help get everything out of the car. Now to the yummy part of the story. For breakfast I had chocolate covered strawberry cheesecake oats. Umm yes. I have an obsession with cheesecake oats (fat free cottage cheese + oatmeal). It seriously makes the oatmeal have a creamier and richer flavor to it.

Close up, in yo face. You can’t go wrong with chocolate chips and strawberries. I have so many oatmeal recipes to share with ya’ll, it is ridiculous. I need to step up my oatmeal sharing game. Heck, I have so much to share with ya’ll. Maybe I’ll start posting two-a-day. That is a lot of effort for me, so probably not. Senioritis problems. You would think that maybe my second senior year I wouldn’t be so lazy, but no I think I’ve just gotten lazier as time goes on. At least graduate school will whip me into shape.

So my family calls me snacky or snack monster, which is actually pretty nice I think since it could definitely be a lot worse. Hello, my name is Lindsay and I am addicted to snacks. I actually have an awesome post planned for the near future about healthy snacking. Since I love to snack, I decided that I need to come up with more healthy choices for snacks. Therefore apple nachos have come into the picture. You can do a ton of varieties with these bad boys. I decided to go the chocolate and caramel route, but you could definitely do granola, chocolate chips, etc. Pretty much anything goes good with these bad boys.

Yes, I am one of those weird people that love salads. I could eat a salad for lunch and dinner if I could. The key to having a good salad is building it up with tons of healthy toppings. This is my healthy version of a Waldorf salad. It has grapes, apples, walnuts, celery, and chicken in it. Such a winning combination. Usually there is a type of gross cheese in it (yes, there are some gross cheeses out there), so I went sans cheese on this one.

Three cheers for another healthy snack. I saw this on Pinterest a while ago, but it was for camping. Who needs to go camping to make a delicious treat like this? Not me. I made my version of a banana s’mores with marshmallows and chocolate chips. It was delicious. I will share how to actually make this when I post about healthy snacks, but just looking at it is making me drool and want another one. Like the apple nachos, you can do tons of combinations with this one.

You know just staring at this picture you want the recipe. Too bad you are going to have to wait a few days. I’m trying this whole thing were I am organized about my blog posts, and so far it is going pretty well. It just means that I won’t be posting up this recipe yet. However it is spaghetti squash pad Thai with tofu. Yes, it is as amazing as it looks. I’m seriously getting excited just looking at it because it is a beautiful dish. Plus I remembered I have leftovers in the fridge! Go me.

MWAHAHA the snack monster has arrived. This is a not-so healthy, but not-so fattening snack. I have a passion for snowcones. Maybe a deep love too. I love going around to try all the snowcone stands in Austin. I have discovered a few more to try out and review, but this is from one of my favorite stands: Casey’s New Orleans Snowcones. You know I have to represent the city I was born in, so I’m a loyal customer. Plus these are just so darn good. This one is a strawberry cheesecake snowcone. The flavors are so rich in it and the ice is soft. I really despise when there is hard ice that doesn’t soak up the flavor. Lame.

I hope everyone is having a fantastic Wednesday! I’m currently studying for my Medical Nutrition Therapy final and make up exam. Yes, I have two exams tomorrow in the time period for one final. I think I can pretty much rock it. Although my make-up exam is on enteral and parenteral feedings + some other lovely junk about the GI system, so it is not the most pleasant topic. Hope ya’lls day is less gross than mine!

Gimme S’more

Hey ya’ll! It is my last day in Austin before I leave for the Maccabi Games. I’m really excited to go. We are first going to Galveston for a couple of days then headed to Houston for the actual Olympic style games. Anyways enough about that since I will probably overload you with recaps when I get back, but lets talk about something else that I love. SMORES. Seriously probably one of my favorite things EVER.

Gimme S’more Pancakes
1/2 c. Whole Wheat Flour
1/3 c. Milk of Choice (I used unsweetened almond milk)
1-2 tbsp egg white substitutes
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp vanilla
1 packet of 20 calorie cocoa
1 pinch of marshmallows
1 pinch of chocolate chips
1 packet stevia
crushed graham crackers

1. Mix all of the dry ingredients into a mixing bowl.
2. Then add in all the wet ingredients, and the chocolate chips, crackers, and marshmallows.
3. Pre-heat a pan on medium-high heat.
4. Using a 1/3 c. scoop up some batter and drop it into the pan.
5. Wait until bubbles form in the batter then flip over.
6. Cook until lightly brown.
7. Layer pancakes with marshmallows and some crushed crackers.
5. Top with dark chocolate sauce.

Hello beautiful. These are healthy, These are chocolatey. These are freaking delicious. Definitely one of the best pancake ideas I’ve had in a while. Although I definitely do not recommend these if you don’t like sweets or chocolate. It may be too much for you to handle. I personally love sweets, love chocolate, love s’mores, so these are perfect.

The best thing is the pancakes are so hot when they come off the pan that when you sandwich the marshmallows in between it makes them melt into ooey goodness. Marshmallows are amazing. They definitely complete this recipe, and make it amazing.

Please go enjoy these NOW!

WIAW #5 and Trader Joes Finds

WOW! I haven’t blogged in a week. That was like a mini uneeded vacation. I partially didn’t blog because I was in Dallas a couple of days, and I was out having fun instead of having time for my computer. Also this is going to sound totally crazy, but at my mom’s my computer does not work with the internet there, so it is literally impossible to blog there unless I have everything pre-loaded and just hit publish. Obviously I am not that advance, but I am back. It is What I Ate Wednesday, so I definitely had to pop in for that. Plus I have a ton of recipes coming ya’lls way and a trip to this amazing Israeli market in Dallas. Shout out to Jenn for hosting this day, she really is awesome for coming up with this.

Tropical Sunrise Oats. These oats are ridiculously tasty, and the mix of orange, pineapple, and mango definitely gives you a boost of energy in the morning. Of course I had to throw in some chocolate chips to give it that sweetness that I’m always craving.

For lunch it has been my classic peanut butter, raspberry jam, and banana sandwich. This is my go to meal when I don’t have a lot of food in my pantry and I want to eat something that is filling, but low calorie. This always hits the spot to. It is something about that classic combination of peanut butter and bananas. The sweetness of the jam makes it that much better.

Hello favorite snack. Arctic Zero Cookies and Cream topped with gluten free chocolate chips, marshmallows, and banana slices. Oh man. This is definitely one of my top two favorite flavors of this “ice cream”. It hits the spot on a hot day, and you totally aren’t breaking the bank calorie wise. Since the whole pint is only 150 calories, if you gorge down the entire thing it isn’t that bad.

Let me get to the good stuff. The Trader Joe’s finds. Oh yes. It was a glorious moment when I stepped out of the car to enter this beauty. Finally Trader Joe’s has reached Texas. Now I just need one in Austin. Luckily San Antonio is getting one in September, and that is only about a 40 minute drive from my apartment. Success. I will def be doing like monthly drives to that Trader Joe’s and the two story forever 21 (gotta through in some shopping).

Meet my best friend. The falafel chip. I have a deep love for anything falafel, as we can see from my frequent trips to St. Pita’s. These chips are life changing. They actually taste like falafel. It is quite scary actually to imagine how they get all the flavors of a falafel and put it in to a small chip. I’m not complaining though because these are amazing. I’ll probably have to stock up on these when I go to Boston – I can just see myself now, carrying like huge trader joe’s bags onto the airplane alongside a Mike’s Pastry box. Laugh as much as you want, but I will have all the goods.

So I actually have a lot of best friends because these guys are also on the top of my list. Banana slices covered in dark chocolate. You really can’t get better than that. These are one of the main reasons we went to Trader Joe’s. My entire family loves them, and we even finished one box before we left Fort Worth…..we were hungry. If you ever go to Trader Joe’s, I definitely recommend these.

There is a trend here. Chocolate and snack foods. Who needs meals when you have dark chocolate bars? This is healthy. Really though. The higher percentage of cacao the better for you. Chocolate has shown to be very important in heart health, so go out there and buy yourself some chocolate (make sure it is cacao).

These are white something something peaches, but man they are delicious and really juicy. The fruit is one of the reasons why I love TJ’s. You can buy apples for 68 cents a pound! Um what? YES. I think my mom and I got about 14 apples for pretty cheap. Then we got these peaches for like 50 something cents, which was definitely a smart buy. The only other fruit we got were strawberries, and they were perfect.

These were an amazing found. I also got the mahi mahi ones too. Since I’ve gone pescatarian, I’ve been on the search for a good frozen fish burger. When I saw these at Trader Joe’s I was so excited. They are really low calorie, delicious, and provide a ton of healthy nutrients like Omega-3’s.

Welcome to heaven. You can thank me later. This is probably the most amazing discovery in the entire world. Oh god I had some of this on a toasted english muffin. Mind blowing. Seriously, run to your local Trader Joe’s and stock up on this stuff immediately. Oh man I could totally have a cabinet just dedicated to this stuff because it is just that amazing. I can eat it straight out of the jar, on oatmeal, on pancakes, or on top of pretzels. The combinations are endless. You will be so happy you bought some for yourself.

Some of the other Trader Joe’s finds we had were pita chips, rosemary raisin chips, two different types of cheeses, and two buck chuck of course. Can’t go to a TJ’s without getting some of that two buck Chuck. I used to go to Boston, and load up my suitcase with this stuff. Yes, I’m cheap and I like cheap tasty things.

WIAW #4: The Breakfast Club

Hey ya’ll! It is that awesome time of the week: What I ate Wednesday. Shout out to Jenn for hosting such an awesome blog link up party online. While everyone else is having epic Wednesdays, I’m sitting around my apartment all day waiting for the energy company to come hook up the gas. Yeah, no fun. Luckily I have my computer, books, and my roommate’s cat to keep me entertained. Let’s get to the good stuff. Today I’m doing a post all about breakfast. Seeing as it is my favorite meal of the day, I thought it was appropriate. However, I’m also going to give you a little nutrition lesson too.

Black Forest Oats Parfait

Breakfast is probably the most important meal of the day because it gives you a healthy start to the day. Most people think that by skipping breakfast, they will be able to lose more weight. However this is actually a myth. Eating breakfast actually increases your metabolism, which in turn helps you lose weight quicker. Also, if you don’t eat breakfast by the time lunch rolls around you are hungrier and therefore more inclined to eat more food than you would have. This leads to more weight gain. Obviously the key point here is to eat breakfast, but there are also many other benefits that can be connected to eating breakfast.

Studies have shown that breakfast has a huge impact on cognitive function. Most studies have been done on school aged children showing that by eating breakfast they perform better on tests and in school. However this information can be used for adults too since our brains need fuel to function properly. Breakfast is also connected to concentration. Studies have shown that people who eat breakfast have an easier time focusing on the task at hand compared to those that do not consume a morning meal.

S’mores Oats

Another reason that breakfast is an important meal of the day is because of energy. By eating breakfast, we are supplying our bodies with nutrients and substance. From this, our body gets energy. When you sleep at night, the body goes through seven to eight hours without eating, so it is important to eat breakfast. Otherwise you will lack the energy needed to get through the day. No one wants bad grades or to get fired, so EAT Breakfast.

Pistachio Pancakes

A healthy breakfast doesn’t have to take long to make or be super fancy. All you need is plenty of fiber and a healthy source of protein. These are things that help you stay satisfied for a long period of time, provide a good amount of energy, and keep your metabolism going. For fiber, one can consume whole grains, fruits, and vegetables. For protein, there can be a variety of sources based on the diet. Obviously you can have meat, but other choices include beans (for vegans and vegetarians), eggs, cottage cheese, greek yogurt, or tofu (I saw a great recipe at Jenn’s for Tofu french toast – definitely going to try it out soon).

The lesson is you need to eat breakfast. I find that breakfast is fun. Don’t worry. I will share all of these recipes pretty soon! I wouldn’t show you pictures without telling you how to make it. I hope everyone has an awesome Wednesday. I’m just hoping that the energy guy comes soon, so I can finish unpacking and doing stuff that I need to do.

What is your favorite breakfast?
Do you ever skip breakfast?