Overnight Oats!

This morning was my first attempt creating a new, healthy breakfast that I kept reading about on various health and fitness websites…overnight oats!

I love oatmeal, but it can be a pain to prepare. Of course, there is always the instant type, but it isn’t as good for you as the real deal. Plus, it is loaded up with all kinds of weird chemicals and things.

Enter the convenience of this version. It’s so simple and takes only a minute to throw together. Basically, you take about a half cup of oats and a half cup of milk (regular or soy), mix them up, and put them in the fridge overnight. Instant oatmeal, but way better! Then you can top with all sorts of goodies in the morning.


Some of the recipes I’ve found online call for yogurt, which I didn’t have on hand when I made this, but I didn’t really feel it was necessary. I might try it sometime, though.

*Note - This isn't my photo. But this is what it will look like!

Erin’s Chocolate Almond Butter Oats
½ cup oats

½ cup chocolate soymilk (I used light – or you could use regular chocolate milk or just regular milk!)

Stir, cover, and refrigerate.

In the morning, add 1 tbsp. almond butter (or you could do peanut), and mix. Delicious! You can also top with banana slices. I am going to add those tomorrow.

Other toppings could be fruits, jelly or jam, or nuts. Mmmmm!

This was filling, delicious, and healthy. Normally by this time of morning, I’m starving, but not today.

Amazing almond butter chocolate chip cookies…no flour needed!

When I first saw this recipe, I thought it was too good to be true. How can you make a delicious cookie with no flour and no butter? The answer is…almond butter. I made these for a birthday for a friend at work who does not eat flour. The best part was they were so simple to make!

Almond Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Clean Eating Magazine, March/April 2010

(Makes 24 Cookies)

1 cup unsalted almond butter, stirred well
3/4 cup Sucanat (I don’t know what this is, so I used regular sugar!)
1 large egg
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp sea salt
3 oz dark chocolate (70% cocoa or greater), broken into small pieces
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a medium bowl, stir together the first five ingredients until blended. Stir in chocolate. Drop the dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto parchment paper-lined baking sheets. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned. Let cool on baking sheets for 5 minutes. Remove to a wire rack and let cool for 15 more minutes ( I let mine cool overnight because they were still really soft and I didn’t want to break them.)

Nutrients per cookie: Calories: 110, Total Fat: 8g, Sat. Fat: 1.5g, Carbs: 10g, Fiber: 1g, Sugars: 3g, Protein: 2g, Sodium: 55mg, Cholesterol: 10mg

A burst of creativity

I taught myself how to knit from a book when I was maybe about 10 or 11 years old. Since then, I have actually become pretty advanced, though I haven’t seemed to have as much time to devote to it like I used to. In the past I have made sweaters, bags, scarves - you name it. I even knitted a skirt for myself (which I never wore...it was a little too small! :(.)

The other day I had a sudden urge to knit, so it was lucky for me that I had an in-progress project just sitting there waiting for me. I think the last row I knit on this one was on the plane to Jamaica in January and I haven’t touched it since. The pattern is from Moda Dea and it is a one-piece strip that you twist and sew together to create this little wrap. I started it because I wanted something easy and mindless at the time. You can wear it as shown or with the twist in back. I am knitting it in hot pink! Well, the color is actually called Aurora Pink...it is the middle shade in the photo below.

Moda Dea Wrap Sweater

Classic Elite Ariosa in Aurora Pink

In addition to the wrap project, I started searching online for decorative things I could make for the house. I found this pattern for a crocheted "urn" on the Vogue Knitting website. It comes from their “hipper” knitting magazine, the now defunct (I think) Knit1. I used to subscribe to this magazine, so I searched my old issues and was so excited when I found it on my bookshelf, because I would have had to pay for the pattern online.

This looks like a simple project that will bring my crochet skills out of submission. I hope. I’ll post some pictures when I finish it, and of course, my hot pink sweater. ;)