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Blueberry Almond Crumble Oatmeal and White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Oatmeal.

Because you all have been so wonderfully patient while I took a brief sabbatical over my birthday, you get the final two oatmeal recipes in one post.

First, Blueberry Almond Crumble Oatmeal.  This was delicious, light and fruity.  I didn’t have any cherries on hand, so I substituted in some fresh blueberries.  I haven’t always been a great fan of blueberries, partly because I can’t abide by their syrupy pie form, and partly because they’re a bit too tart for me (usually) on their own.  This oatmeal solved both problems, since most of the blueberries broke down a bit in the oatmeal, but there wasn’t a horrible ‘pie filling’ syrup around them to contend with.  Delicious.

White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Oatmeal.  I used to argue that white chocolate macadamia nut cookies could be so much better if only the white chocolate were to be replaced with milk, or even dark chocolate.  No more.  This was perfect.  I toasted the macadamia nuts for a few minutes in a 350° oven while making the rest of the oatmeal, and pulled them out to garnish towards the end.  I know I’ve said this before, but this is now one of my favorite ways to have oatmeal.  I was even going to have this as my birthday breakfast on Saturday, but alas! I forgot to pick up the macadamia nuts ahead of time.  Still, this will be a regular breakfast for me as often as I can get away with it.  Yum!  Enjoy!

Carrot Cake Oatmeal with Cream Cheese Frosting.

Mmm, I love me some carrot cake. I had been looking forward to this recipe in particular, and I’ve made it many times since. It’s just that good. A couple of suggestions, though. First of all, plan on the grating of the carrot. It takes a bit. If you want to purchase pre-grated carrot, you can, but grating isn’t difficult. It simply takes a bit of time. In any case, it’s not your usual 10-20 minute oatmeal. Count on almost a half hour, if your not used to the grating and do it slow.
Secondly, while I do love mascarpone cheese, I do not recommend using it in the frosting-like topping. I did, the first time I made this, and discovered just why cream cheese pairs so well with carrot cake, and mascarpone does not.  Once I remedied this, this recipe became one of my favorites.  Enjoy!

Carrot Cake Oatmeal with Cream Cheese Frosting

Strawberry Shortcake Oatmeal.

While I do so love my chocolate, I must admit that the oatmeal recipes I find myself liking without fail are those when fruit takes center stage. In this case, I was not at all disappointed. I was planning to make my own shortbread for this, but ended up having some lemon shortbread on hand from a gift basket Hubby and I had. The lemon complemented the strawberry wonderfully, and both paired with the oatmeal to present a light yet satisfying breakfast that seemed just a bit like dessert.

Strawberry Shortcake Oatmeal

*Please note that I did not skip the Pomegranate Cranberry Almond Oatmeal due to dislike, but because the original link was broken when I prepared my shopping list, and I never went back.  Perhaps I will in the future, but in the meantime, experiment with it a bit, let me know what you think!

Mint Chocolate Chip Oatmeal.

This particular oatmeal was quite heady with mint. I would suggest either going light on the cocoa powder, or stirring it in before your first bite, (I accidentally inhaled a bit of powder, hazards of being overzealous, I suppose!) but otherwise enjoy this oatmeal as is.

Mint Chocolate Chip Oatmeal

Key Lime Pie Oatmeal.

This was really good, though a bit more tart than I’m used to. I ended up crumbling more graham cracker on top after the photo was taken, because I just like a bit more, and it had gotten soft. Kind of fun to have the lime wedges swirled around in the oatmeal, too. I used key limes, instead of the regular lime called for, and just used bottled lime juice instead of juicing the little buggers.  I did zest them though, which was super easy even though I (*gasp*) don’t own a citrus zester. (I used my cheese grater.)
Key LIme Pie Oatmeal

Tiramisu Oatmeal.

Time for one of my favorites, Tiramisu Oatmeal.  As always, I changed a couple of things with the recipe, most notably that I used milano cookies in place of the ladyfingers, and again used french vanilla instead of greek yogurt.  Oh, and I used a lot more chocolate chips.

*I would reccomend that if you use milano cookies, that you place them on top of the oatmeal first and then carefully drizzle the Grand Marnier sauce over them.  They’re very difficult to move when saturated.

Coconut Cream Pie Oatmeal.

Coconut Cream Pie Oatmeal

This was a great breakfast.  Next time I’d use sweetened coconut, which I didn’t do this time around.  I’d probably toast it too, (3-4 minutes on a cookie sheet in a 350° oven) for even more flavor.  I did end up making a bit too much of the cream sauce as well, and would tone that back a bit.  I’ve discovered that I do not like greek yogurt, and so have been using fat-free french vanilla yogurt instead.  If you like a bit of tang, stick with the greek, but if not, plain or slightly flavored yogurt works rather well.  All around, it was a breakfast I very much liked, and will make again soon.  Enjoy!

Colorful Nachos.

I came across the photos of the recipe in my library and couldn’t believe I forgot to share!  Hubby and I have been enjoying this off and on as an after church lunch since November, when I found the recipe.  It’s fairly quick, and very easy, and oh so rewarding in the end! And, bonus, it’s a lot healthier than most nacho recipes out there. (I like to tell myself that, anyway.)

Ingredients

1. 1 lb ground beef
2. 1 (1 1/8 ounce) package taco seasoning(you can get this in low sodium, and there’s no noticeable difference, I highly reccomend it.)
3. 1 (16 ounce) can refried bean (Hubby and I are not fans of refried beans, so we just leave these out.)
4. 2 cups monterey jack and cheddar cheese blend
5. 1 (12 ounce) bag nacho cheese flavor Doritos
6. olives, sliced (optional)(we opt not to use these!)
7. tomato, diced (optional)(we like to use 3 or 4 romas, diced, without the seeds or juice(not as runny or gooey then!))
8. green onion, sliced (optional)(lots of these!)
9. jalapeno, sliced (optional)

Directions

1. Brown ground beef until all pink is gone.
2. Add taco packet plus 1/2 cup of water and stir until mixed in well.
3. Add can of refried beans to taco meat and add water until a good spreading consistency is reached (depends on how thick your beans are.).(Again, we leave the beans out, so this step is skipped. No harm comes of it, I assure you!)
4. In a 9×13 casserole dish, spread out half of the bag of doritos. Top with 1/2 of the meat/bean mixture and 1/2 of the cheese. Put any optional toppings on now.
5. Place the 2nd half of everything on top of the first layer in the same order.
6. Bake in a 350* oven for about 15 minutes until all the cheese is melted.
7. Serve with guacamole, sour cream and salsa. (Or none of the above.  Hubby and I prefer the nachos as is, out of the oven.)

PB&J Oatmeal.

The delayed update feature on WordPress has become my friend.  Over the next week or so, you’ll be recieving regularly scheduled updates bringing you up to speed on the oatmeal challenge, and other recipes thrown in once in awhile. Enjoy!

PB&J Oatmeal

This oatmeal was lovely and light.  It was comprised of what has become the base recipe, (1 cup oats + 1 cup milk + 1 cup water, add banana and flaxseed meal/wheat germ when it begins to simmer.  Add vanilla, and sugar, if desired. Serve) topped with a dollop of both peanut butter and my favorite, strawberry preserves.  It was a refreshing breakfast after the fiasco that was the apple fritter oatmeal pancakes.  We made these the day before, and were sorely disappointed.  You had to almost burn the outsides of the pancakes to get the insides almost cooked, and the flavor was very bland.  I wouldn’t recommend them.  Have a free day, and make up your own oatmeal concoction instead.