Ode To OIAJ

Oh, how I love OIAJ (and OOIAJ!) ♥

*For those of you that don’t know what OIAJ or OOIAJ are that’s perfectly fine! I didn’t know what either of them were before Blog World either! 

• OIAJ – Oats in a Jar
• OOIAJ – Overnight Oats in a Jar

I seriously don’t know what I would have done if I hadn’t discovered Blog World!  I wouldn’t be enjoying the delicacy that is OIAJ that’s for sure!

This past week I had a lot of empty nut butter jars so I had OIAJ almost everyday!  Let’s take a look at the creations…

* * * * *

Elvis-Inspired OIAJ*

* Yeah, I know it’s not a natural peanut butter jar.  The store was out and we needed peanut butter.

Oatmeal topped with a crushed Adora Calcium disk

Overnight Oats topped with the last slice of Cranberry Orange Bread

Chia Overnight Oats and fresh strawberries

* * * * *

I’d say that it a good week of breakfasts!

Unfortunately the winner of my Jay Robb Protein Powder Giveaway has not responded to my emails yet.  So the new winner is #37 edmomtomjb!  Congratulations! You will be receiving an email from me shortly.

* * * * *

Questions of the Day:

1. Have you ever had OIAJ or OOIAJ? 
2. What is your favorite nut butter?

Have a happy and safe weekend!

Flourless Cookies: 2 Ways

I don’t know if I’ve told you this before, but I love baking on the weekends. ♥

Love, love, love it!

How baking became a weekend tradition was purely accidental.  You see, once school started in September I could no longer bake whenever I wanted to because of homework and other school-related activities.  So I started baking on the weekends.

This weekend I decided to make variations of Julie’s Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies.  [I made the original cookies here.]

The variations?

• Almond Butter
• Dark Chocolate Dreams
• Nutella

Unfortunately, as you can see from the title, the Nutella ones didn’t work out the way I’d planned.

Ew.

At least the others came out fine!

*****

Flourless Almond Butter Cookies

A variation of Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 cup almond butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg

Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl.
2. Bake for 10 minutes at 350ºF
3. Enjoy! DEVOUR!

*****

and you because you can’t forget about Dark Chocolate Dreams!

Dark Chocolate Dreams

Another variation of Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Dark Chocolate Dreams
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg

Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl.
2. Bake for 10 minutes at 350ºF
3. Enjoy!  DEVOUR!  Inhale!

*****

They were really, really good.  I liked the Flourless Dark Chocolate Dreams cookies best, but my Dad liked the Flourless Almond Butter cookies best.  It’s a toss-up, so do yourselves a favor: make these cookies and decide for yourselves.

I’m off to get one of each and try to decide…again.

School<Running

Hello Bloggies!

Today, I have no school due to some school holiday! Yay!

I was able to sleep in and hang out.  Philip still had to go to school though.

Poor kid.

Oh well, it’s not like he’s doing any schoolwork.  They are having a Halloween Parade and a party.

What I wouldn’t give to be in Elementary School again…

Once I got home from walking Philip to school I had some delicious pre-meet breakfast.

Breakfast:

1 Sandwich Thin smeared with almond butter and drizzled with honey

Mmmm. Michelle sure knows what she’s talking about in terms of  the honey + almond butter thing.

AB and honey are almost as good as PB and chocolate.

Almost…

*****

Now I am going to read blogs and do homework until it’s time for my Cross Country Meet. 

Wish me luck!

Hold The Syrup!

This morning I had some really good pancakes in honor of Pancake Sunday!

HG's Fab Five Banana Pancake Minis

Confession: Usually when I make pancakes [which isn't very often] I make them from a mix.  I don’t even use a fancy whole wheat mix, just good ’ol Aunt Jemima Original Pancake Mix.

I remember back in 3rd grade my Girl Scout  troop went on a camping trip and our co-leader at the time brought whole wheat pancake mix and maple syrup.  I was disgusted!   I hated syrup and was so used to [and still used to] my Aunt Jemima Pancake Mix and I would not eat it. 

Since then I have been introduced to different pancakes [Whole Wheat, Buttermilk, Buckwheat, Chocolate, etc.] but I still hate syrup on pancakes.  Wierd, right?

Most of the time I’ll have my pancakes without toppings but when I do add toppings it will usually be a combination of nut butter + sugar.

Sugar?!  Yes, you heard me correct.  I like to top my pancakes with plain ol’ granulated sugar…

Give Me Some SUGAR!

…and almond butter [or whatever other nut butter I feel like having.]

Whole Foods 365 Smooth Almond Butter

 *****

Now you’re probably wondering what recipe I used to make these delicious pancakes. It was nothing fancy really, just Hungry Girl’s Fab Five Banana Pancake Minis that I copied from Lisa’s blog.

Thank goodness Lisa posted this recipe.  I’m much too cheap to buy the Hungry Girl 200 Under 200 Cookbook myself!

Hungry Girl’s Fab Five Banana Pancake Minis

Courtesy of the Hungry Girl 200 Under 200 Cookbook

Ingredients:

• ¼ cup whole wheat flour
• ¼ cup mashed banana [about ½ a banana worth]
• 3 tablespoons fat-free egg substitute [or 1 egg white]
• 1 tablespoon milk
• ¼ teaspoon baking powder
• 1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 sweetener packet
• A pinch of salt and cinnamon

Directions:

1. In a small bowl, combine all dry ingredients [flour, baking powder, sweetener, salt, and cinnamon] until well mixed.
2. In a separate bowl, combine the mashed banana and the wet ingredients [egg substitute, milk, and vanilla] until smooth and well mixed.
3. Heat a large pan sprayed with nonstick spray over medium heat.  Pour the batter into the pan forming 5 small pancakes.  Flip after 1 minute or until the pancakes begin to look solid. 
4. Cook on the other side for another minute or until both sides are golden brown and cooked through.
5. Plate and enjoy!

******

Finished Product

 Oh, I forgot to mention that I ate one of the pancakes before taking this picture…OOPS!

What are you waiting for?  Go make some of these pancakes – you don’t even have to buy the book!  Haha!

Have a Great Pancake Sunday!

Flashback Friday: Loaded Oats

[Alternate title: No More "Boring" Oatmeal]

Once upon a time… there was a girl who didn’t particularly like oatmeal.  This girl wasn’t crazy about oatmeal and would eat a bowl of it 5 times a year, tops.  She didn’t like oatmeal because in her mind it was “boring,” after all, she would eat it plain with the only topping being a sprinkle of cinnamon.

The girl was me: Erika.

Up until a year ago [before I discovered the BlogWorld] I thought oatmeal was a bland, tasteless, bowl of carbs.

*GASP!*

I know…I know…I was sadly mistaken. After all, just look at Kath‘s oatmeal creations! They are the exact opposite of boring.

*****

If you look back at some other oatmeal adventures on my blog you can see that my toppings have gotten better, but not as good as the other day’s bowl of oats.

Peanut Butter Cinnamon Oatmeal

Strawberry Oatmeal

French Toast Oat “Sundae”

Oatmeal topped w/ Banana and Graham Crackers

Yeah, some of them were really bad. I mean, c’mon, French Toast Oatmeal “Sundae?!”  Plus look at the general appearance of the photos.

*Cringe*

*****

Okay enough looking at *those* bowls of oats. Although I started putting toppings on I never really reached the same level as Kath until the other day.  Just look at this deliciousness. ↓

Ohhhh yeah!

A bowl of oatmeal topped with:

• Stewed apples*
• Dried cranberries
• Chia seeds
• Almond butter
• Cinnamon

I used so many toppings that I actually had to use bullets to list them all.

Top View:

Side View:

*To make stewed apples [AKA baked apples] cut ½ an apple into bite-sized pieces [about ½-inch] and place into a medium bowl. Add ¼ cup water, a dash of cinnamon, 2 packets sweetener, and a bit of syrup or agave. Microwave for 1½ – 2 minutes on high. Let cool and serve!

Close-Up:

Mmmmmm…

My oatmeal [and picture-taking] skills have come a long way!  This was by-far the best topping combination I have ever had! ♥ Yummy!

I guess *that girl* was wrong about oatmeal…

******

Questions of the Day:

1. Have you ever said you didn’t like something only to realize that it was actually really good? What?  

           I do it all the time! A lot of the foods I hated as a kid I love now!

     2.  Oatmeal: Love It or Hate It?         

           Love it!

*****

 Happy Friday! Hope you all have a great weekend!