Chocolate Peanut Butter Baked Oatmeal

Chocolate. Peanut Butter. What can I say other than it’s one of the best food combinations on the face of the Earth?  Who wouldn’t want chocolate and peanut butter for breakfast?! I know I would love it. In fact, I DOOOO love it! This baked oatmeal is the texture of a giant oatmeal cookie combined with chocolatey goodness and ooey gooey peanut butter. It’s the bee’s knees.

When I first started on my weight loss journey, and battling fatty liver disease, I was pretty desperate for something that I felt was “normal” food. I was so addicted to sugar and heavily processed foods that that was what I thought and believed food should taste like all of the time. However, I also knew that if I continued to only eat yogurt and berries for breakfast (there is nothing wrong with them, but a gal can only eat so much yogurt and berries!), I’d quickly turn back to the heavily processed breakfast foods I had been used to eating. I was always hungry, and that was annoying. So, I scoured Pinterest, and came up with a lot of overnight oatmeal recipes, egg recipes, and recipes loaded with cheese or sugar. Admittedly, breakfast was my hardest meal to plan for (okay, I’m not kidding anybody. It’s still my hardest meal to plan for) because I don’t like the taste of eggs much, hate the texture of regular oatmeal, and have to limit my dairy (also part of why I couldn’t eat yogurt and berries forever), sugar, and greasy/fatty foods. Then I found the original recipe for this baked oatmeal on a blog called Southern In Law and was hopeful. This baked oatmeal fit my criteria very nicely; it didn’t call for sugar, dairy, and wasn’t a heavy fatty meal, but still filling. And, it was chocolate (which I craved!!) and peanut butter (which I seriously could smear all over a shoe and eat it I love it so much). I was so excited!

Since then, I’ve tweaked it a bit (only a tiny bit!) to suit my tastes. The slightly amended recipe is what is below. But, I must give credit where credit is due, and let you know that you can find the delicious original recipe here. PS- take a look at her recipes! If you’re looking for some fun options that are healthy, delicious, and creative, Southern In Law’s blog is a great place to start.

I’ll also let you know that if you’re not used to eating chocolate without a lot of sugar added, then the recipe as I have it on here (and the original) will probably taste bitter to you. When I first started eating it, I would add not only Stevia but also loads of honey. I eventually weaned myself off of the honey on my baked oatmeal, but have kept the Stevia for a tiny bit of sweetness. It’s gentle on my stomach, and keeps me super full until my next meal or snack. Depending on the morning I’ll eat only half of it with some extra food, while other mornings it’s pretty much just the baked oatmeal. Some mornings I like to eat half of it with some Canadian bacon and a handful of berries (strawberries are my favorite with this!). Whether you eat half of it with some fruits and breakfast meats or just the baked oatmeal on its own, it’ll keep you satisfied!

 

Inspired by the original recipe from Southern In Law

Makes 2 servings (10 oz. ramekins)

Ingredients

1 c old fashioned oats

½ tsp baking soda

Pinch of salt

2 heaping Tbsp cocoa powder

1 packet of Stevia

4 Tbsp unsweetened applesauce

3 tsp vanilla

½ c almond milk

2 heaping Tbsp peanut butter (I prefer processed peanut butter to natural because it holds up better)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350° F. Prepare 2 ramekins by spraying them inside with non-stick cooking spray.
2. Combine the dry ingredients in a medium mixing bowl.
3. Add the applesauce, vanilla, and almond milk to the dry ingredients. Mix well until all ingredients are fully combined and the oats are covered by a chocolately sauce.
4. You’ll need to somewhat evenly divide the batter into 4. They don’t have to be perfectly even, but you’ll need to put roughly a quarter into the bottom of each ramekin to cover the bottom and provide the peanut butter a space to sit. Go ahead and put a quarter of the oatmeal batter on the bottom of each ramekin. Set the remaining batter aside for a short while.
5. Add a heaping tablespoon of peanut butter to each ramekin; you can kind of spread it on top of the chocolatey bottom if you wish…I prefer to leave it in a lump in the middle so that it gets really gooey when it comes out of the oven.
6. Cover the peanut butter with half of the remaining oatmeal batter, and put the ramekins in the oven for 20 minutes*.
7. When done, the middle might look a little wet still, but that’s okay. The chocolate should be brown, not black (if it’s black, then the chocolate was overcooked!), though a few smidges of black here and there are to be expected. Let it sit for a few minutes to set up before eating.
8. Enjoy that morning, or store in the refrigerator. These oatmeals reheat nicely in the microwave, making them a great quick breakfast the next day.

*Time is based on ramekins that I have. The original recipe said anywhere from 20-40 minutes. I use these snazzy 10 oz. ramekins from Rachael Ray.

Please note that these are not paid or sponsored advertising for Southern-In-Law, Stevia, Target, or Rachael Ray. These are just my opinions, and my showing you what I use to cook the baked oatmeal.

Pesto Chicken Sandwich

Sometimes a plain ole sandwich just doesn’t cut it. Don’t get me wrong, I like the convenience of a sandwich, but I am often left unsatisfied after eating them. This sandwich, though, will not leave you wanting. It’s filling and packed full of flavor. And, I’m pretty excited about it.
My sandwich muse was a toasted Italian sandwich with gobs of mozzarella cheese melted over salami and genoa ham. While this sandwich sounds amazing, it just couldn’t quite deliver. What I really wanted was a sandwich that I could bring on a picnic and wasn’t too greasy, but filling enough that I wasn’t going to be hungry later. Enter my sandwich brainchild—The Pesto Chicken Sandwich.

Ok, so I’m not the first person to combine these ingredients, but I’m super proud of this creation. Plus, the word “brainchild” makes me feel like a mad scientist of sorts.

Filling, but not heavy, this sandwich was the perfect solution to my sandwich dilemma. Juicy chicken with homemade pesto and fresh grape tomatoes are a tasty alternative to the heavy sausage-type meats and loads of mozzarella cheese. Add a bit of real mayo and a chewy ciabatta roll, and you’ve got a sandwich that’s pretty dang tasty. Who am I kidding, it’s AMAZING! My favorite part is when you toast the ciabatta roll and the heat from it makes the mayo a bit melty, so when you bit into it, the mayonnaise and pesto combine to create this fresh yet rich sauce that surrounds the chicken and tomatoes in edible delightfulness. I don’t know how else to describe it, so I’m going to let you look at it.

Look a little closer…

A few notes before the recipe. Traditionally, pesto has pine nuts, but I used walnuts for two reasons. One, pine nuts are expensive and sometimes hard to find here. Two, I am pretty broke. I also like garlic, a lot, so I add more garlic in my pesto than is called for here. 😛 I salt and pepper my tomatoes before they go on the sandwich, but it’s not required. As for the parmesan, I bought the fancier kind you can find in your deli. It wasn’t the wedge of cheese, but already grated and just a bit more expensive than the stuff some folks use for spaghetti. And, finally, this bad boy is good both hot and cold, just don’t toast the bread too much if it’s going to be served cold otherwise you’ll have some very chewy ciabatta.

Pesto Chicken Sandwich

For the pesto (makes about half a cup, but you can increase the recipe to cover all 6 sandwiches if needed):
1 c fresh basil
Juice from 1 lemon
1 Tbsp minced garlic (and yeah, I use the jarred kind because I’m lazy)
2 Tbsp walnuts, lightly chopped
1 Tbsp good parmesan cheese, grated
3 Tbsp of Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Directions
1. Put the first 5 ingredients into a food processor. Pulse until kind of grainy, then add in the extra virgin olive oil. If you’re a pro, and can do it without making a mess, you can add in the EVOO as you are pulsing the other ingredients once they’ve broken down a bit (I’m not that good). Continue processing until the pesto is well combined and there are not any giant chunks of walnut left. It will look a little grainy still, but that’s okay.

For the sandwich (makes 6 sandwiches):
3 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cooked (pan seared or grilled work very well)
6 ciabatta rolls
30 (roughly) grape tomatoes (or really, 6 slices of a larger tomato will work)
Homemade pesto
Real mayonnaise (go full fat on this one)

Directions:
1. Split ciabatta rolls, if not already done for you, in half and lay flat. If you are serving this warm, toast the rolls after splitting them. If you are serving them cold, ignore the toasting step and move on.
2. As rolls are toasting, split your grape tomatoes in half length-wise. I like to try to cut the little spot where the vine used to be directly in half if I can. This way, minimal tomato juice is lost. You will need roughly 10 halves for each sandwich depending on how big your ciabatta rolls are. After I cut the tomatoes, I salt and pepper them lightly, but you don’t have to do this.
3. Slice your chicken breasts into strips. You will use about half a chicken breast for each sandwich.
4. On one half of the ciabatta roll, put as much mayo as you like. Once you have an amount you are happy with, place your chicken breast slices on the mayo. Set this half aside as you work on the other side.
5. On the other half of the ciabatta roll, spread your pesto. I like to try to get about as much pesto as I do mayo for a good balance. When you are done, add your grape tomato halves.
6. When the chicken and tomatoes are arranged how you like, place the two halves of your sandwich together. Eat and enjoy!

Raspberry Chicken with Raspberry and Walnut Spinach Salad

Hello there! I’m back! It’s been a hectic and crazy few months, but I’ve been doing some research and development in the kitchen. I have to say, I’m pretty excited about sharing my finds! First up is this amazing Raspberry grilled chicken with raspberry walnut spinach salad. This stuff is good. And, probably a lot healthier than one would expect from me. 😉

   This meal was inspired by a grilled chicken and strawberry wrap I spied on Pinterest by the Pioneer Woman. I wanted to make the wrap, but I got distracted by all of the wrap flavors the grocery store had to offer, and ended up buying jalapeno wraps. Hmm…probably not the best choice for raspberry chicken, but it did add some delicious spiciness for a beef and bean burrito later that week. Anyway, back to this meal.
The chicken is marinated in the raspberry salad dressing, which makes it sweet and juicy. Cooking it on the grill causes the marinade to sweeten up a little bit more, but it’s not too sweet and sticky (not that sweet and sticky sauce is a bad thing!). Instead of adding rice or another starch, I opted to make this salad. Crisp, bright spinach paired with fresh raspberries and crunchy walnuts make it seem so gourmet, but it’s so easy! I couldn’t wait to eat the leftovers for lunch the next day!

Raspberry chicken and Raspberry and walnut spinach salad:
3 or 4 chicken boneless skinless chicken breasts
Salt and pepper
1 bottle of Raspberry vinaigrette or Newman’s Own Raspberry Walnut salad dressing
1 large bunch of spinach
1 small bag of walnuts
1 pint of fresh raspberries
Salad fixins: I used Texas toast croutons, and French fried onions

1. Season the chicken with salt and pepper to taste. This seems a bit weird considering you’re going to put it in a marinade, but I can’t just not salt and pepper my chicken; it’s like my automatic first step when it comes to meat. Add the chicken to a gallon size freezer bag, and seal it. With a kitchen hammer, or rolling pin, or whatever hard thing you can find, pound out the chicken until it is pretty uniform in thickness. The more evenly thick the chicken, the more evenly it’ll cook on the grill.
2. Pour about 1/3 to ½ the bottle of salad dressing over the chicken. Seal, and put in the refrigerator for a minimum of 2 hours. I don’t know if I would leave it longer than 6 hours, only because I haven’t tested it out. 🙂  About 20 minutes before you want to take the chicken out, get your coals ready, if you have a charcoal grill. I always forget that I have to wait for the charcoal.
3. Put aluminum foil over your grill’s grate to prevent the marinade from the chicken from dripping onto the charcoal or flame, and creating a flare up. Using tongs, take the chicken out of the marinade, and place it on the aluminum foil on the grill. Discard the marinade and plastic bag.
4. As the chicken is cooking, get the salad ready. Rinse off the spinach and raspberries; let them drain either on paper towel or in a colander (if you’re lucky, you might have a salad spinner, in which case use that to dry off the spinach…and know that I’m a little jealous you have one).
5. Cook the chicken until the juices run clear and the meat is white all the way through. Let the chicken rest a couple minutes on a plate to allow the juices to redistribute around the meat before you cut into it (this makes it juicy).
6. Assemble your salad. Layer spinach, as many raspberries and walnuts as you want, and salad toppings. Use the vinaigrette or raspberry walnut salad dressing to dress the salad.
7. Serve and enjoy!