Dark Chocolate Mudslide Oats

Last night Tony was craving chocolate. He's been doing so well with being plant-based recently. But he was really craving it bad and was on the brink of running out to the neighborhood gas station and picking up a pint of Rocky Road ice cream. Of course, I couldn't let that happen!! I promised I'd satisfy his chocolate craving, even while using Oats, which he just happens to despise unless they're in Chocolate Chip cookies. I searched the vegan blogs for various recipes and found one which didn't look quite as appetizing as I wanted it to be but I knew I could adapt very easily. 

Dark Chocolate Mudslide Oats

Adapted from: Chocolate Covered Katie - Chocolate Mudslide Oatmeal

Prep Time: 5-7 min

Ingredients (Serves 2):

1. 3/4 cup Rolled (Old-Fashioned Oats)
2. 1.5 tbsp Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa
3. 1 tbsp Flax Seed Meal
4. 1 cup Unsweetened Non-Dairy Milk
5. 2 tbsp Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
6. 1 pinch of Coarse Salt
7. 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
8. 1 tbsp Molasses
9. Maple Syrup (to taste)
10. Dried Coconut Flakes (optional)
11. Sliced/Slivered Almonds (optional)

Directions:

Mix Oats, cocoa, flax seed meal, non-dairy milk (I used almond milk!), salt, molasses in a microwave safe bowl and cook on high for about 3-4 minutes until the mix is no longer runny but nice and creamy. Carefully remove the bowl from the microwave and mix in vanilla extract. Add more sweetener, if needed. I used Maple syrup but you can use whatever you like to use. The molasses do add a lot of color and sweetness so be sure to taste test. Mix well. Serve warm with chocolate chips sprinkled on top. On my bowl, I also sprinkled about a teaspoon of dried coconut flakes and another teaspoon of sliced almonds for some crunch!! Tony had his with only chocolate chips!

Dark Chocolate Mudslide Oats with my fixins :)

My Assessment: This was amazing. I knew Tony would never go for the original recipe. It was way to runny in the original pictures but I knew the flax seed meal would act like a binder (kind of like a flax egg) and result in a creamier texture. I also added more oats (1.5x) than the single serving the original recipe called for to make it even less runny. Overall, cooking the oats until the runniness is gone (4 min for my microwave) resulted in almost a fudgy pudding like texture. LOVED IT!!!

Nutrition Facts (Per Serving): Calories 253 (Fat Calories 68)

Total Fat 7.5 g; Carbohydrates 41.8 g; Fiber 6.8 g; Sugars 14.4 g; Protein 6.5g

If you liked this recipe, be sure to check out my Recipe Index for more Whole-Food, Plant-Based, No-Added-Oil recipes. You can also like Rugrat Chow! on Facebook. Thanks!

Salted Brownie Baked Oatmeal

So I'm on an oatmeal kick this weekend and I've found just the site to help me through it .. The Oatmeal Artist. A whole blog just dedicated to oatmeal. I tried one of her recipes yesterday (Poached Pear Oats) and so in my quest to find another great recipe I went back to her site this morning!! 

Salted Brownie Baked Oatmeal

Adapted from: Salted Brownie Baked Oatmeal, The Oatmeal Artist

Prep Time: 40 min

Ingredients (Serves 1):

1. 1/2 cup Old-Fashioned (Rolled) Oats
2. 1/3 cup Apple Sauce
3. 1/3 cup Unsweetened Almond milk
4. 1/4 tsp Vanilla Extract
5. 4 tsp Cocoa Powder
6. 1/4 tsp Baking Powder
7. 1 tbsp Dark Molasses
8. 1 tbsp Pecans/Almonds/Cashews
9. One large pinch of coarse Kosher/Sea Salt

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 F.  I used a Pyrex 'Ramekin style' Soup dish since I wasn't sure how much this mix was going to rise. I should have just used a single serving ramekin dish as the rise was not super high, just enough to form a nicely rounded crust. I sprayed the dish with non-stick spray and then used a dry paper towel to wipe off all the excess, leaving a thin film all around the dish. Mix wet ingredients in a large bowl and then add the dry ingredients. Mix well. The original recipe did not call for any sweeteners and although I don't like my oatmeal to be super sweet, I do like some sweetness, especially in chocolate based dishes. I added an extra tbsp of molasses. And I added a tbsp of crushed pecans to add some crunch to this dish. Transfer contents of the bowl to the greased dish, sprinkle with a pinch of coarse salt. I wasn't sure if the original recipe called for covered, or uncovered baking, so I just baked it uncovered. I started with 20 min at 350 F and since it was still too runny, I baked it for another 10 min. I might have taken extra time as my dish was more deep than wide. The original recipe calls for 18-25 min. 

My Assessment: I liked it. But it felt more like I was eating dessert for breakfast. I've never been that person who eats chocolate for breakfast so I was skeptical to begin with, but tried it nevertheless. I think I will definitely have this again, but more as a dessert than as a breakfast cereal. 

Nutrition Facts (Per Serving): Calories 323 (Fat Calories 91)
Total Fat 10.1 g; Carbohydrates 57.4 g; Fiber 8.1 g; Sugars 19.8 g; Protein 7.4 g

Update: July 28, 2013: I baked this tonight as a combined dinner/dessert since we were both feeling lazy this Sunday evening. I made a double batch, split into 2 shallow ramekin style dishes. Once baked, I layered each one with fresh sliced strawberries for an even more appetizing look. 

Even Tony, the self-professed Oatmeal hater cleaned up his dish. Call anything a brownie ;) and he'll eat it!! The fresh strawberries (about 1/3 of a cup/dish) only add 15 additional calories but make for a very decadent dessert, that is filling enough to be a supper. 

Chocolate Bread Pudding

So after Tony had a sinus infection last week, he lovingly passed it onto me :)!! Not a pleasant experience especially since I was hit much harder than he was and after 3 days of OTC medicines had to go in to see the doctor and get the big guns!!! Last night was the worst ... head ache, plugged up, sore scratchy throat and a lot of coughing, fever .. the works!! So as I'm laying in bed with my achy throat, I was craving something soft and gooey (oh no!). So I decided to try this bread pudding, which came together in 5 minutes and was warm and gooey after 30 min at 375 F. 

Chocolate Bread Pudding

Prep Time: Less than 5 min and 30 min in the oven

Ingredients (Serves 2):

1. 3 slices of 100% whole wheat bread (I used Brownberry Double Fiber Bread)
   
2. 4 tbsp Vegan Chocolate Chocolate chips
3. 2 tbsp Slivered Almonds
4. 1 cup Almond Milk (Silk PureAlmond Unsweetened)
5. 1-2 tbsp Maple Syrup (to taste)
6. 1 tbsp Unsweetened Cocoa
7. 1/4 tsp Cinnamon
8. 1/4 tsp Vanilla Extract

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 F. Cut bread slices into halves and place the first 2 in a bread pan. Sprinkle a few almonds and chocolate chips on these and then add 2 more slices. Sprinkle a few more almonds and chocolate chips and top off with the last slice of bread. In a separate cup make a thick paste with cocoa, vanilla extract, cinnamon and maple syrup and then add almond milk and mix it all together. Making a paste with maple syrup first helps the cocoa and cinnamon mix into the milk much better than if you added these directly to the milk. Once the almond milk mixture is nice and smooth, pour it over the bread very slowly making sure some of it is absorbed into the top slice and seeps in (instead of just pouring off to the side). Place in oven and bake uncovered for 30 minutes (at the end you should see no spare liquid, except for thick gooey chocolaty bubbles on the side) as it should all be absorbed by the bread). Serve warm, with freshly sliced bananas and sprinkled with slivered almonds and more chocolate chips. 

Gooey Chocolate Bread Pudding

My Assessment: This hit the spot last night. The bread was gooey and soft and chocolaty and no added fat!! I like nuts but Tony doesn't and so I will probably make it without the added nuts the next time and just sprinkle some on top for myself. 

Nutrition Facts (Per Serving): Calories 110 (Fat Calories 41)
Total Fat 4.6 g; Carbohydrates 17.0 g; Fiber 2.3 g; Sugars 12.3 g; Protein 2.3 g

Overnight Chia Chocolate Oats

I've been moving away from my beloved spinach smoothie for a few weeks and concentrating on eating more whole grains for breakfast and have gravitated towards Old Fashioned Oats. I can eat them cold after soaking them overnight, I can heat them in the microwave for 3 minutes and still have a nice chewiness remain in my bowl of hot cereal. Adding the chia seeds also adds a little bit of crunch which is great in the morning (at least for me!). It's a win-win situation!

Overnight Chia Chocolate Oats

Prep Time: 5 min

Ingredients (1 Serving):

1. 1/2 cup Old Fashioned Oats
2. 1 tbsp Chia seeds
3. 1/2 tsp Raw Cocoa Powder (unsweetened)
4. 3/4 cup Silk Pure Almond Unsweetened Almond milk
5. 1 banana (sliced)
6. 4-6 Strawberries, sliced
7. Maple Syrup (optional, to taste)

Directions:

Soak oats, chia seeds and cocoa powder in almond milk overnight. In the morning, mix well, and add sliced banana and berries. If you prefer a warm cereal like me, microwave the overnight mixture with a half a sliced banana for 3 minutes on high. Remove, mix well until the mushy banana is well mixed with the oats (this imparts a lot of sweetness i.e. you don't need to use maple syrup). Then add the remainder of the banana and sliced strawberries. Enjoy!

Nutrition Facts (Per Serving): Calories 559 (Fat Calories 130)
Total Fat 14.4g; Carbohydrates 94.0g; Dietary Fiber 18.6g; Sugars 20.5g; Protein 16.4g

Chocolate Chia Pudding

I've been meaning to try Chia pudding for a long time but never really have had the time or the motivation to actually get down and do it. Finally, as I sat at home this morning, waiting for the furnace repair man to show up I decided to give 2 of the recipes, that I'd bookmarked a while ago, a try. Both are essentially the same recipe, with slight variations, so I could compare them against each other. 

Chocolate Chia Pudding

Recipe Adapted from food.com (my modifications are in Red):

1. 1 cup Almond milk
2. 2 tbsp (3 tbsp) Chia seeds
3. 1 tsp Cocoa powder 
4. 1/4 tsp Cinnamon 
5. 1/2 tsp (2 tbsp + 1 tsp) Maple syrup (to taste)

Recipe Adapted from Fat Free Vegan Kitchen (my modifications are in Red):

1. 1 cup Non-dairy (Almond) milk 
2. 3 tbsp Chia seeds
3. 1 tsp Vanilla extract 
4. 2 tsp Cocoa powder
5. Sweetener of choice (to taste) 
6. (2 tbsp + 1 tsp) Maple syrup
7. 1/2 to 1 cup raspberries, cherries, or other fruit, plus additional for garnish (optional)

Mix everything except Chia seeds and blend until cocoa is well mixed in the almond milk. Add dry Chia seeds to the container you will be using to set the pudding and pour the wet ingredients on top. Using a whisk, mix well so all the seeds are well soaked. Refrigerate for an hour, remove, re-whisk and then leave to set until ready to serve. ummmm .... fail! I left both puddings in the fridge for about 6 hours. Neither set or thickened enough to be considered pudding. So ... I mixed them both together into one bowl. Added an additional 2 tbsp Chia seeds, mixed it all together ... and back in the fridge! So here's my final recipe:

Prep Time: 5 min + 2-3 hours in the fridge (to set).

Ingredients (8 servings):

1. 2 cups Almond milk
2. 8 tbsp Chia seeds (whole)
3. 3 tsp Cocoa powder (optional)
4. 1.5 tsp Vanilla extract
5. 1/4 tsp Cinnamon 
6. 6 tbsp Maple syrup (add more to taste)

Directions:

Pulse almond milk, cocoa powder, vanilla, cinnamon and maple syrup in a blender until smooth. Add Chia seeds to a glass dish and pour the wet ingredients on top. Using a whisk, mix well until all the seeds are well soaked. Refrigerate for an hour, remove, re-whisk and then leave to set until ready to serve (2-3 hours).

My Assessment: I liked it, with some reservations. The pudding was quite thick with my final recipe. It definitely didn't get to be as thick as store-bought chocolate pudding, but it was sweet and gooey and the flavor blended really well with the red raspberries. I liked the little crunch added by the Chia seeds, which is something T didn't like at all. But he's not a big fan of Chia seeds anyways. The recipe should easily be halved or quartered depending upon how many servings you want to make. I did come to the realization that I don't really enjoy the taste of raw cocoa powder. I would probably have loved this pudding if it was plain vanilla. I've crossed out the cinnamon because the only reason it was in my recipe was because I combined my 2 original recipes after my first attempt at setting both of them failed.

Nutrition Facts (Per Serving): Calories 128 (Fat Calories 52)

Total Fat 5.8 g; Cholesterol 0 g; Carbohydrates 18.5 g; Dietary Fiber 5.5 g; Sugars 10.8 g; Protein 3.4 g

Comments & Tips: One of the other herbie ladies on Facebook told me that it helps if you leave the whole mixture sitting on the kitchen counter for about 30 minutes before mixing, and refrigerating. It helps the Chia seeds expand more. Next time I'll be giving that a try!

Recipe Suggestion: Here's another recipe for Chia pudding that I came across after I had already started these 2 batches. I love the idea of using dates instead of maple syrup (its a more 'whole food' sugar).

Flax Seed Chocolate Oats

We haven't been grocery shopping in a few days. Last night, I realized I had no almond milk for my morning smoothie and since I'm addicted to my Red, White & Blue Smoothie, I couldn't imagine changing it up by making it in water. Frankly, the thought of making a smoothie without some kind of nut-milk to add smoothness was somewhat revolting. I polled the New Herbies page on Facebook on what to make for breakfast and the recurring response was Oats, in water. While that seemed somewhat revolting at first, I slowly warmed up to the idea and finally around 11pm last night I went back into the kitchen and soaked some Old Fashioned Oats in water to make overnight oats.  

Flax Seed Chocolate Oats

Prep Time: 5 min

Ingredients (1 serving):

1. 1/2 cup Old Fashioned Oats
2. 1 cup water
3. 1 tbsp Ground Flax Seed Meal
4. 1 tsp Unsweetened Cocoa
5. 1 Banana, sliced 
6. 4-6 Strawberries, sliced
7. 1 tbsp Maple Syrup (optional). 

Directions:

.. just out of the microwave!

Soak oats in water overnight. Transfer to a microwave-safe bowl, add ground flax seeds, cocoa and half of the sliced banana and microwave on high for 3 minutes. Remove from the microwave, allow to cool for a couple of minutes, mix well and top off with the rest of the sliced banana and strawberries. The banana cooked into the oats provided ample sugar for me, but if you like it sweeter, drizzle a tablespoon of pure maple syrup on top! Enjoy!! 

My Assessment: Compared to my usual breakfast of a spinach smoothie with Chia seeds, this breakfast was loaded with nutrition and substance too. I loved the chocolate mixed in with the flax seed meal. It also kept me full for quite a while more than the smoothie does. I've been meaning to move away from drinking my calories for a while and this seems like a great substitute, although I might decide back-off some on the flax seed meal because of its fat content. Its all good fats, but it does add to my caloric intake which I'm trying to limit these days. 

Nutrition Facts (Per Serving): Calories 365 (Fat Calories 97)
Total Fat 10.8g; Cholesterol 0g; Carbohydrates 63.6g; Dietary Fiber 11.6g; Sugars 18.8g; Protein 10.0g

Egg-less Chocolate Cake

An old friend of mine, Nitika Jassal (of the Kale recipe fame!) sent me another recipe a few days ago and I'd been thinking of trying it but didn't get around to it until today. I decided to eat a light dinner, Spinach salad with almonds, strawberries and a corn salsa instead of dressing, so that I could actually enjoy some dessert without guilt. The recipe I used was a modification of King Arthur Flour's Original Cake-Pan Cake. 

King Arthur Flour's Original Cake-Pan Cake

Prep Time: 45 minutes.

Salad before Dessert

Ingredients: 

1. 1 1/2 cups Whole-Wheat Flour
2. 1 cup Brown sugar
3. 1/4 cup Hershey's Cocoa
4. 1/2 tsp salt
5. 1 tsp baking soda 
6. 1 tsp vanilla extract
7. 1 tbsp lime juice
8. 1/3 cup Canola oil
9. 1 cup dark coffee 

Directions: Preheat oven to 350°F. Measure all dry ingredients in a mixing bowl*. Measure all wet ingredients in another bowl, or large measuring cup. Mix the dry ingredients with a whisk or fork until there are no large lumps of brown sugar or cocoa or flour visible. Once the dry ingredients are well mixed, pour in the liquid and mix well with a rubber spatula until smooth and pour into a well greased (bottom & sides) cake pan. I used a non-stick, dark baking pan and I only needed to bake the cake for about 20-22 minutes before a pin dipped in the center came out clean. Remove from oven and let stand for a few minutes before cutting slices. Decorate with either powdered sugar, or drizzle with some Hershey''s Chocolate Syrup and serve with strawberries, or any other berries you have on hand, and a glass of non-dairy milk. Yum!! 

Nik's Reaction: He was super excited about helping mommy make a cake. He was up on a chair right next to the mixer (I used a stand mixer today, but soon realized that it was quite unnecessary, hence the recipe above calls only for a mixing bowl and a rubber spatula). By the time the cake was out of the oven and ready to eat, he had eaten a good dinner and had 2 bites before he could not eat another morsel. :)

My Assessment: For an egg-less cake, this came out phenomenal. Rich and gooey, but also light and not overly sweet. This is the kind of cake you can eat everyday. Even Tony had a couple of bites of it and actually liked it, even though he swears he will not eat my non-dairy, non-meat creations ;-)

* The original recipe calls this is a one bowl cake as well. The website linked above suggests mixing the wet and dry ingredients in the cake-pan itself. I thought that would be kind of messy and would recommend using a mixing bowl for sure.