Hello everyone! Welcome to the first post on Chocolate & Oats, my personal food blog dedicated to sharing delicious, yummy, and wholesome foods to the world :)) I already have an Instagram page called chocolate.and.oats, but seeing as the world of Instagram is a bit tough to keep up with, and I like to write a lot, I decided to transfer my blog to my website! I hope you’ll like it :)
I’ll try to post maybe once a week but mostly, it will depend on my mood and inspiration. I want to be as authentic and true to myself as I can, so I hope you’ll join me for this ride :) In addition to food, I will be sharing a little bit about myself. I am a very curious human being. Sometimes, my mind is so filled with thoughts and ideas, that I have to physically stop what I’m doing in order to ponder over them. To just let myself be. Anyone else experience this?! (If yes, please share! I would love to know your stories :)
I also enjoy writing. A lot. Sometimes it’ll be full-on stream of consciousness style, other times it might be more structured, less random, and sometimes more stylized. A little bit of this, a little bit of that. I hope you’ll enjoy either way.
Now onto a recipe! To begin, I thought I’d share the OG overnight oats recipe that started this blog (and also influenced the title if you hadn’t guessed ;) I love oats (they’re little morsels & SO versatile), and I am a chocoholic (seriously I have chocolate every. single. day.) so that’s sort of how the name was born. Now for the oats. I came up with this recipe over time, tweaking and adjusting the combinations of ingredients. Since this is overnight oats, meaning it doesn’t require specific measurements in order to achieve some scientific reaction, the quantities are not exact. Really, it’s up to you. I’m just giving you the idea and the method. But if you want more chocolate? Definitely add more. If you want less chia seeds? Who’s gonna stop you? Oat milk instead of almond milk? You do you man, you do you. One thing however that you cannot omit (absolutely not) is the salt. The salt is crucial. Trust me. You’ve probably read and heard this countless times, but salt really does bring out the flavor of everything. And extra points if you use FLAKY salt. Yes you read that correctly. Flaky salt. Those little translucent pyramid crystals you’ve seen everywhere on the gram, probably on some chocolate chip cookies or an avo toast?? Yep, they’re in here. And they’re hear to make the others shine :)
So I present to you my go-to delicious chocolate overnight oats recipe :) I really hope you like it and that you will join me on this experience as I try to express my thoughts, emotions, and grapple with the intensity of, well you know, LIFE. <3
Serves 1
Ingredients
1/2 cup (approx.) rolled oats (I use Bob’s red mill gluten free rolled oats. They are THE BEST)
hefty pinch of salt
1 tsp chia seeds
1 heaping tbsp cacao powder (if you don’t have cacao, you can use unsweetened cocoa powder! The one from Trader Joe’s is very good)
2-3 prunes, chopped (alternatively, you could use dried figs or even raisins! I’ve tried both and they’re equally delicious. However, if you use dried figs, I would recommend soaking them in hot water before you slice as they tend to be very dry and hard to work with.)
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tbsp hemp protein powder (you could replace this with some other protein powder, but I’ve only ever tried it with hemp protein - since it doesn’t contrast too much with the other flavors and isn’t overpowering. You could also just omit the protein powder altogether.)
cacao nibs
brown rice cereal (I like to use One Degree Organics brown rice cereal for that extra dose of flavor and nostalgia - I was obsessed with Cocoa Krispies as a kid - but you could use any type of cereal. The key here is crunch and crispiness.)
any type of nut butter (my faves are almond and peanut depending on my mood)
jam (I typically like strawberry, peach or apricot)
heaping 1/4 cup of almond milk, or another type of milk
1/4 cup water
Method
Mix oats, salt, chia seeds, cacao powder, cinnamon, and protein powder in a bowl (or you can be trendy and pop it in a mason jar ;)
Add water and almond milk and stir to combine. Cover and place in refrigerator overnight or for up to 3 days.
When you’re ready to eat, top with cacao nibs, cereal of choice, nut butter (drizzle that shit allll over it or carefully place a blob in the center :) and finally little dollops of jam.
Enjoy!
Notes : If the oats look a little dense and “dry” (because they’ve soaked all the liquid), you can add more milk when you’re eating. I actually quite like the thick texture, so I keep it as is.