Loaded Oatmeal

Posted on April 10th, 2009.

There are many things I LOVE about blogging… and since starting this blog almost 10 months ago, I would have to say that my number one favorite thing about it, is the fact that I have met some fabulous people, that otherwise I may have never known! I can’t even count how many friendships I have formed because of this health and fitness blog… and the crazy thing is, almost every single one of them are people I have never actually met! These friends are readers, commenters, other bloggers and people who have the same love for health and fitness as I do! {If you’ll notice at the bottom of this page, I have a blogroll of many of these friends!} 

Today’s guest post is written by one of those friends I have met through my blog. Her name is Lindsey Mathews, and she first introduced herself a couple of weeks ago, in a comment on an article I had written. We got chatting through email, and I knew right away that I wanted her to be a guest blogger on my site. She is full of fabulous ideas that most everybody would benefit from… so take it away Lindsey!

 

Hi everyone! I am so excited to be doing this guest post for Liz! Thank you, Liz, for letting me hop on here and give your readers a new idea or two. Let me introduce myself. My name is Lindsey and I live in Springville, Utah. I, like Liz, am a personal trainer and I have three kids ages 5 ½, 3 ½, and 6 months.

 

I have a confession to make. I love chocolate. Peanut butter, too. I really love them. I could have sweets for every meal and love it. The problem is that I probably wouldn’t feel very great about myself or “feel” very good in general. Because of this I go out of my way to think of healthy ways to incorporate my sweet treats. I actually think about this a lot. My mind is always brewing up some different yummy snack or meal that can hit my sweet tooth without messing up my healthy lifestyle.

 

I started sharing my crazy ideas with my friends and they all seemed to love them. Then I got the idea to start a blog where I feature a different recipe each day. My recipes are real. They’re not hard and they generally don’t use a lot of crazy ingredients.

 

Today I want to share with you one of my favorite ideas. It is something I call “Loaded Oatmeal”. How many of you think of oatmeal as the ultimate in boring health food? I would agree with you about it being one of the ultimate health foods. But it is no longer boring! I’m going to show you how to make oatmeal taste like whatever you want it to taste like! Even chocolate and peanut butter! Yes, read on.

All of my loaded oatmeal recipes start with the Loaded Oatmeal Base. The Loaded Oatmeal Base includes:

• ¼ cup oatmeal
• ¼ cup milk
• ¼ cup water
• 1/3 banana, mashed or cut into thin slices
• Splash vanilla

Put these ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook the oats until they reach your desired consistency. This usually takes about 5-7 minutes. Whisk the oats as they cook to further mash and stir in the bananas. Spoon the oats into your bowl.

 

 

 

Here’s where we can get fun and crazy. First we have “mix in’s”. I like to mix in a half scoop of protein powder to give the dish some protein and some sugar free, fat free Jello Pudding mix to give it a really smooth consistency and a great sweet flavor. The bowl I am featuring here is Peanut Butterscotch Loaded Oatmeal.

For this recipe the mix ins are:
• ½ scoop vanilla protein powder
• 1 tablespoon sugar free, fat free butterscotch pudding mix

Stir that into your oats and you are ready for the toppings!

For this recipe the toppings are:
• 15 butterscotch chips
• ½ Cliff Mojo Peanut Butter Pretzel Energy Bar, chopped into pieces (or you can substitute half of a sweet and salty peanut granola bar or simply 1 T. peanuts)
• 1 tablespoon of peanut butter (I just put a spoonful of peanut butter in the oats and take little bites off the blob as I eat as opposed to stirring it in. You kind of lose the ooey gooiness of it all if you stir it in.)

 

 

There you have it folks! That’s Peanut Butterscotch Loaded Oatmeal. Feel free to have fun with it. Here are some ideas for mix ins and toppings:

Mix in’s: chocolate protein powder, vanilla protein powder, butterscotch pudding, lemon pudding, white chocolate pudding, vanilla pudding, chocolate pudding, cheesecake pudding, etc.

Toppings: any energy bar or granola bar (usually half), granola, cereal, healthy muffins, chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, any nuts, pretty much anything you love!

Since I have discovered this yummy, satisfying way of eating oatmeal, I’m not tempted by other less than healthy breakfast foods. I can make my kids waffles and not eat off their plates because I know my Loaded Oats are on their way! I’ll often eat this for lunch and it keeps me full for hours!

I hope I was able to give you some ideas about how to satisfying your craving for sweets in a balanced, wholesome way. Check out my website for other oatmeal and other meal ideas!

 

Thanks Lindsey… I am definitely going to have to try this recipe! And for those of you live in the Springville area, she will be teaching a Boot Camp in May to get you in tip top shape for the summer! So if that’s something you’d be interested in, please check it out! Although we’ve never “officially” met each other in person, {which is pretty silly, considering that we live maybe 15 minutes away from each other}, I can tell that she would be a fun and upbeat trainer to work with! 

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