What day is it? Snow Day Saturday! Okay, I know that saturdays are saturdays, but being snowed in makes it a lot easier to get excited about doing “nothing”. Or in this case, creating some tasty oatmeal to warm me up on this cold morning in Harrisonburg. As I was going to bed last night, the only thing I wanted was chocolate to fix a not-so-hot day. So I decided to dream about the chocolate peanut butter oatmeal I would make in the morning. When I woke up, I forgot that I didn’t have any banana (one of the staples in my fast, 5 minute oatmeal) and I had much more almond butter than I did peanut butter. So, I decided I’d spend the extra time with some steel-cut oats and try out the almond butter. I even dipped some almond butter in my cacao to make sure the combination would be a good one! Though I was skeptical, this turned out to be a delicious breakfast–so delicious that I even surprised myself.
One thing I love about steel cut oats is that you can really chew them. I am a big fan of having a satisfying bite, with something crunchy or substantial to chew on (usually chia seeds, the seeds on raspberries, hemp seeds, almonds, sunflower seeds…the list goes on). This oatmeal totally hits that requirement! It is creamy, chewy, chocolatey, comforting, and charge you up! It is super dense, and sure to keep you warm, this coming from a continually cold person.
Chocolate Almond Butter Steel Cut Oats (Vegan, Gluten Free)
Serves 1
Ingredients
3/4 cup almond milk (or your milk of choosing)
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup steel cut oats (make sure they are gluten free!)
1.5 Tbsp almond butter
3/4 Tbsp cacao
1 Tbsp maple syrup or honey (though the honey is not vegan)
1/4 tsp Salt
Method
1. Bring the almond milk, water, and salt to a boil in a small pot.
2. Add the oats, turn the heat on low or low-medium and cover for about 10 minutes. Stir occasionally.
3. Stir in the cacao, almond butter, and maple syrup and let it sit for about 5-10 more minutes, depending on how soft you want the oats.
4. Take off the heat and enjoy!
Notes:
Garnish with some more almond butter, hemp seeds, maybe bananas if you have them.
If you are as big a fan of cinnamon as I am, you will want to add cinnamon to this recipe–
DONT! While I find that the cinnamon adds a great dimension to chocolate, it tends to mask
the nut butter. So try to resist if you want to have that great nutty flavor.
Definitely test this out with peanut butter or any other nut butter you have!
I hope you enjoy this as much as I did, and just remember to experiment and have fun! Go take charge of your life and do what you love (I think this is the caffeine in the cacao talking…not bad advice I guess). Stay warm wherever you may be, and thanks for stopping by.
Love,
Lucy
