stick to your greens!

I have a feeling a lot of posts are going to begin with, “my husband complained that…”. Today is one of those days. I made some “granola bars” last week and he complained that they were too crumbly and he had to vacuum his office. He is not a very clean eater. So, instead of investing in a drop-cloth I decided to revisit my go-to breakfast. I bring you: Baked Chocolate Oatmeal

This is a super easy breakfast or snack that will fill you up for hours. Each serving has only 160 calories but (!!) it contains 3g fiber and 4.5 g protein. When I started baking these last night, my husband complained (I promise I love him to pieces!) that he wanted dessert.  I covered one in a drizzle of chocolate sauce and discovered it worked really well as a dessert. I love versatile food – it makes life so easy.

Baked Chocolate Oatmeal

3 cups plain ol’ Oats (not quick oats)

3 tbs flax seeds

3 tbs cocoa powder

1 tsp salt

1/2 cup brown sugar (packed)

1/4 cup protein flour (optional) substitute with 1/4 oat flour

Optional: 1/4 cup coconut shreds/nuts/dried berries/chocolate chips!

2 tbs coconut oil

1 tsp baking soda

2 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup applesauce

Begin by grinding 1 cup of oats and 3 tbs flax seeds in a blender. Use the crumb setting. This is your “oat flour”, so if you don’t have soy flour just add an extra 1/4 cup of oats right now! It doesn’t have to be perfectly blended so don’t worry too much if it has some bigger pieces left.

Now combine the dry ingredients (including the blended oat/flax flour) in a large mixing bowl. Yes, that is coconut in there. I added it on a whim! Feel free to add anything you like – nuts, chocolate chips, dried berries… The options are endless!

Then add the liquid ingredients and mix it up!

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Spray a muffin tin with a vegetable spray or use vegetable oil to grease. Spoon the mixture evenly into each hole (?). Press down firmly using slightly wet fingers or a spoon (the moisture prevents the oat mix from sticking to your hands).

Now bake them for about 10 minutes. They rise a little bit when you bake them so you will need to press them down firmly again. Use a spoon this time because they are hot! I tried to capture this in the image below but it didn’t really work. You’ll see what I mean though.

Let them cool for a few minutes before you move them to a cooling rack. They do hold together really well so if they don’t fall out when you flip the tin over, just use a butter knife to pop them out.

These are so versatile. If you have time for a sit-down breakfast, add a splash of soy milk and put some berries on them. If you’re in a rush put one or two in a ziplock bag so you can munch on them while you’re out and about. They are super fast to make so you can make a bunch and freeze them. I tend to throw them all in a big ziplock and keep them in the cupboard (my husband takes 2 for breakfast each morning and I eat the rest when I need a quick snack!)

The chocolate sauce was really easy – melt 1/2 of an earth balance butter stick and mix in 2 tbs cocoa powder, a splash of soy milk, and then some powdered cane sugar. Oh yes.

enjoy x

Read Full Post »