Chocolate Covered Banana Oats

There was a time in my life when I didn't eat breakfast. I literally could go from my morning wake up call to 12 or 1 in the afternoon on only a cup (or 3) or coffee.

How did I do that?!

Once I gave in to the whole breakfast-is-the-most-important-thing-ever thing, I never looked back. Now, breakfast is a must, every.single.morning. I don't really have a standard breakfast. I'm an equal opportunity eater.

Sometimes I like a yolky eggs overeasy (especially when Shaun makes them for me) with a bit of crispy, buttery toast. Sometimes I go basic scrambled eggs with a little bit of cheddar cheese.

Pretty much anytime I can eat fluffy pancakes coated in real maple syrup. I actually can't think of too many things that are better than that.

On a weekday, you can often find me toting a green monster smoothie to work. I fill my smoothies with bananas, almond milk, peanut butter, protein powder, and sometimes blended oats.

But sometimes, I get tired of the liquid breakfast on-the-go. And that's when I have oatmeal. I've had it so many different ways, but my latest creation is by far my favorite. Occasionally, oatmeal can be so dry and tasteless. But not my chocolate covered banana oats!

I know. You are probably thinking I am nuts for making this sweet treat my breakfast. But trust me. It's so delicious. The cool bananas are a wonderful burst of flavor. The lite chocolate syrup is not overly sweet but also adds another level of moistness to the otherwise dry oats. Have I ever steered you wrong?

Chocolate Covered Banana Oats
1/2 C quick oats (or old-fashioned)
1 C milk (I use unsweetened almond)
pinch of salt
1 packet of Splenda, or sweetener of your choice
1 banana, sliced
1-2 Tbsp lite or sugar free chocolate syrup (recommended: Hershey's)

Prepare your oats on the stovetop as directed. Stir in the sweetener. Layer the bananas on top. Drizzle with chocolate syrup.

I adore peanut butter in my oats. But the calorie and fat factor is a bit of a deterrent for me. I need something a little lighter, but still filling. Chocolate covered banana oats please!

So what do you think? Are you a breakfast eater? What is your go-to? Is chocolate syrup in your oats too sweet for a morning meal?

Psst...if you like what you see here, please check out my other blog that I write with my 2 fab sisters, The Peach & The Pit Of It! Hope to see you over there!

This Week... + Traveling Oatmeal Snack Bars

...I ate leftovers of pretzel crusted brownie bars, and my tight skirts hate me for it

...I jetted down to Orlando...where I still reside until tomorrow morning!

...I royally screwed up my first test batch of traveling oatmeal snack bars. They came out tasting like a salt cake. Not a sweet and salty cake, or a delicious chocolately cake with a hint of salt. It legit tasted like a cake made of salt and flour. It was gross. I may have spit out a mouthful of it into our kitchen sink. It was that good.

...I quickly remedied the snack bars into something delicious and nutritious.

I'm kind of excited about it. I made a quick batch of these to take on my trip to Orlando since airplanes are now too cheap to even hand out a mini bag of pretzels and it's as though my stomach is instantly on high alert once food becomes unavailable. I don't care...these bars are kind of awesome if I do say so myself. And they do not taste like salt. I promise.

Traveling Oatmeal Snack Bars
Makes 8 squares or 6 big bars
1 C quick oats*
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 C dried cranberries (or dried fruit of your choice)
1/4 C nut butter (I used Better Than Peanut Butter)
1/2 C skim milk
1 egg
1/4 C honey
2 tbsp maple syrup

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Combine the oats, baking powder, cinnamon, and cranberries in a mixing bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together the nut butter, milk, egg, honey and maple syrup. Mix the wet ingredients into the dry. Pour into a greased loaf pan and bake for 30 minutes.
*I used quick oats since it was what I had on hand...I'm confident that old fashioned oats would work equally as well.

...Shaun and I got crackin' on Breaking Bad season 3. Season 4 premieres in a week! We have a lot of work to do.

...I made a blueberry-coconut baked oatmeal. Using my strawberry baked oatmeal recipe, I substituted strawberries and butter for blueberries and virgin coconut oil. It was oh-so-good and reheats to perfection in the microwave.

...I drooled more than once over this guy:

Can you blame me?

...I managed to keep my kitchen completely clean but we seem to have developed a serious fruit fly problem. I guess that means only frozen bananas from this day forward.

Next week is a big week in the Humiston house. As I mentioned a few times, I'm turning 29 next Friday (cue the hurrah or the meltdown, I haven't decided).

Meanwhile, Shaun and I will celebrate our 3 year anniversary on Monday. I have some fun wedding/getting another year older posts ready to rock for you (though those two topics will not coincide in the same posts!). I've been saving my wedding posts to do around our anniversary and I hope you'll enjoy them - our dream destination wedding in Aruba was hands down the best and most fun week of our lives!

So how was your week? Tell me all about the things you did! Please?!

Strawberry Baked Oatmeal

You guys.

I don't even really have words for this recipe. It's one of those recipes that comes into your life and Neil Patrick Harris pops into your head shouting...Legen...wait for it...dary! It's that good. I don't break out the NPH references for just any old dish.

For my mom's birthday brunch, I really wanted to make a baked oatmeal. Why, you ask? I'll tell you. When Shaun and I went rafting down the Montana River in Yellowstone National Park last summer, we went on an overnight camp out.

And one of our guides made one of the best (non-pancake) breakfasts I've ever had. Baked oatmeal. It was sweet and filling and just the perfect breakfast on a chilly Montana morning. Oh and if you have the means, I highly recommend a trip out west. It was an amazing adventure. And if you want to raft in Montana, I have to give a shout out to Flying Pig Adventures where we did our excursion. It was really fantastic.

But back to the food. So I really have been wanting to recreate this dish since last summer. I finally came up with an oatmeal dish that was not only the surprise star of Mom's birthday brunch, but it's easy and healthy enough for a weekday breakfast. Oh and did I mention that it can be made in advance and reheated in the microwave? And still taste just as fabulous as day 1? Well it can. And it did.

It's sweet, firm and flavorful, not mushy and gruel-like as oatmeal can sometimes be. The fruit adds so much flavor and soft texture. And my favorite aspect of this dish? It can be made an unlimited number of ways by changing up the fruit. I can't wait to try it with blueberries, apple slices, peaches, plums, cherries, pears, pumpkin. Oh and I'm even thinking a little scoop of peanut butter wouldn't hurt either.

Strawberry Baked Oatmeal
1/4 C (1/2 stick) butter
1 ½ C strawberries, quartered - or any fruit you want
1 tbsp + 1 tsp Splenda brown sugar blend
½ C almond milk (or any milk ya like!)
½ C maple syrup
¼ C honey
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 C old fashioned oats
2 ½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp baking soda
½  tsp kosher salt
chopped almonds or pecans, if you want

Preheat oven to 350° F. Spray an 8x8 baking dish with cooking spray. Layer the berries on the bottom of the pan. In a saucepan (or in the microwave), melt the butter and pour evenly over the fruit.

In a mixing bowl, whisk together milk, maple syrup, honey, eggs, 1 tbsp Splenda blend and vanilla. In another bowl, whisk together oats, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix altogether.

Pour over the fruit and smooth the top. Sprinkle with nuts (I didn't use them, but I’m open to it) and a ½ - 1 tsp of Splenda brown sugar.

Bake uncovered for 40 minutes, or until browned on top.

Allow to cool slightly. You can go au natural (trust me, this needs nothing more!) but if you’re feeling decadent, go ahead and serve this with a bit of milk or extra syrup on top. I didn't think it needed anything though!

So there you go. My new obsession. It's so super easy and so worth the minimal effort to throw it together. I just made a second batch last night and cannot wait to dig into it for breakfast this morning! So what do you think? Are you on the baked oatmeal train? Have you ever been on an adventure out west...or anywhere, for that matter?

psst...The Book Club page is up and running! Head over to check it out, along with my first write up of Lisa See's Shanghai Girls.