Homemade Crunchy Buckwheat Granola

I've been craving granola for my oatmeal for quite some time now, but either couldn't bring myself to buy it (it's kind of expensive!) or would forget to every time I went to the store. So, when I read about this recipe on Kath's blog  I really wanted to try it out.

I had a hard time finding the Buckwheat: I went to dismore's and safeway with no success, but finally found some at the Coop in Moscow. That store is amazing. I'll have to do a separate post on it someday.

But I digress. Short story short, I found and bought the ingredients, I made the granola, and it tastes something wonderful, and has an awesome crunch to it. Yum yum!

Crunchy Buckwheat Granola
From here

2 cups raw rolled oats
1/4 cup raw almonds (or I think any other nut would work here as well)
3/4 cup raw buckwheat (aka groats)
3/4 cup raw sunflower seeds

1/4 cup canola oil or coconut oil (I used coconut which was awesome)
1/4 cup honey (or a mix of honey and maple syrup, which is also tasty!)
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla

Combine dry ingredients in big metal bowl. Combine wet ingredients in separate bowl, then add them to the dry ingredients and stir until all is mixed through.

Bake in the metal bowl or in 9X9 baking pan at 300* for 1 hour, stirring every half-hour. After the hour, remove from oven and stir again about every half hour while it's cooling. Some of it will seem to clump together and/or stick to the pan. This is a-okay!

Cool completely before storing. Enjoy!

Oatmeal 101

Today's oats were possibly the best. Ever.

Oh, and this is post number 101!

How perfect!

But first, I must share the backstory to this bowl of delicious (and nutritious!) breakfast oats. There I was, minding my own business, reading through one of my mom's old Prevention magazine. I love this magazine to death, but that's another tangent. ANYHOW, in sed magazine, they recommended adding cocoa powder to something (I can't remember what) because 1 Tablespoon packs in 2 grams of fiber, awesome taste, and only 10 kcal. I do not need to be told twice to add chocolate to anything, so I knew that my oats the next morning would be some sort of chocolate-y goodness.

Now I take my dark chocolate very seriously. I also take my peanut butter and dark chocolate combinations seriously.

Enter dark chocolate + peanut butter oats!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh goodness.

1/3 cup oats
1/3 cup skim milk
1/3 cup water
1 sliced up banana

Heat these all up on the stovetop (in a pan of course....) on medium until the oats start to bubble with excitement, then stir a bunch. Wait a few seconds more, let the oats continue to bubble, then stir, stir, stir!

Remove from heat, and stir in the following:

1 Tbs dutch unsweetened cocoa powder (the darker the better)
a sprinkle of cinnamon
about 1 Tbs peanut butter, blobbed on top like in the photo

Then take a photo, only one, because you won't be able to wait much longer to chow down on this puppy!

Operation Eat it Before Spring Break: Starting NOW!

So.. I have muffins, eggs, apples, oranges, bread, almond butter, jam, peanut butter, tomatoes, and onion, and various cheeses that I need to eat so they don't go bad when I come home for spring break! So long dining centers- I'll be eating in my dorm room the next week and a half!

Dinner was AMAZING tonight:

Almond Butter + Jam (a TON of both :) )

with a blood orange!

For breakfast I had the egg/banana/oats/PB combo again. Seriously I'm in love!

I had other food today, obviously, but I'm tired and just want to post what I had last night for dinner after Zumba. Pasta and milk!! So good.

Good night! :)

BEST OATS EVER!

I'm so excited. This morning's oatmeal seriously tops them all!

Allowed to soak overnight: 1/2 cup old fashioned oats + 1/2 cup skim milk

This mix was reheated for 30 seconds in the microwave today before 1 egg and 1 banana (in pieces) was added. Then it was microwaved for a 30 seconds, stirred, then 1 minute, stirred, and a final minute.

The egg got cooked (but you really can't taste it) and the banana turned to a sweet, sweet mushy goodness. It was so much sweeter this way!

Then a tablespoon of peanut butter and some cinnamon and ta-da!! It's aroung 470 kcal, which again is more than usual, but something about the added egg/old fashioned oats combo makes it stick around in my tummy so much longer. Usually I'm STARVED by lunch! I hate that, because then I tend to want to overeat.

I finished this off with some iced coffee and milk leftover from yesterday.

Oh, and here's my dinner from last night!

Eggies eggies eggies

OATMEAL!

Long story short: I have (or had) 4 eggs that will expire this week, and I did not get around to using them this week, so I needed a way to eat them!

So.. I put one in my oatmeal this morning!

1/2 cup oats + 1/2 cup skim milk left in fridge overnight covered..

then I added a raw egg this morning, and microwaved for 30 seconds, stirred, then 50 seconds, stirred, then 20 more and it was all cooked!

1 banana + 1 tbs pb + cinnamon + more milk (the egg made it almost solid) and we're ready to go. Yumi!

this is just the egg + milk + oats after cooking..

see the cooked egg whites??

At right around 500 calories, this is a pretty rich breakfast, but I need it to last me from 8-1 with a workout tossed into the mix. I hope it holds!

Breakfasts of the Weekend

I want to devote a single post to the cooking of yesterday, so I'll put the two breakfasts from the weekend in this one!

Yesterday I tried something new. I keep reading how instant oats really aren't comparable to their whole counterparts, but there is no way I'm going to go downstairs and cook oatmeal in the dorm kitchen for breakfast.

What I did: mixed 1/2 cup old-fashioned oats with 1/2 cup skim milk and let sit covered in the fridge overnight. The next morning I put it in one of my bowls, microwaved it at 20 and 30 second intervals stirring after every time, until they were all warm and slightly puffy! This was about 1-2 minutes, so not too long. Then I stirred in a banana and added a Tbs. peanut butter on top!

Can you see the whole oat-y goodness??

This morning I went back to an old favorite: greek yogurt, banana, and cereal. Good as usual!

After breakfast this morning I tackled some Spanish homework then did level 2 of the SHRED!

My face after..

{eek}

Week Recap!

Ahh this week has been so crazy and I LOVE it. I love having to be somewhere and having something to do. I've been so busy, that I have not blogged once (as you may well have noticed)! I did take photos of some of my food though for the week. Here it goes, in no particular order.

Cereal + banana + greek yogurt

cheddar + apple

salmon + broccolini + asparagus

oats+pb+raisins+pumpkin+cinnamon

PB + Jam + bread

sandwich + blood orange + apple + oatmeal bar = lunch + snack + dinner

pumpkin muffin + cream cheese

cashews + dark chocolate chips

cheese pizza + marinara + HUGE bowl spinach (all eaten together!)

banana + bread + almond butter

banana + oats + choc chips + PB = choc/PB oats!

Jam + YUMI bread

banana + oats + raisins + peanut butter + cinnamon

greek yogurt + blueberries

chicken curry + baked plantain

cereal + milk + banana

apple + banana + PB + bread

blood orange

Banana + oats + PB + jam = AHH-mazing

Ice cream!

rice + black beans + grilled chicken breast + pico de gallo = Southwest Chicken bowl = YUM

bourbon chicken + broccoli + zucchini + squash

{The End}

Pop pop pop pop CAKE!

I slipped up! Eek!! While watching curling we had some organic popcorn (this is not the slip up) that I got in my care package- it was delicious! Three of us ate the whole bag, but that's only about 120 kcal a person. And it was soo tasty.

Then trouble came in the form of cake! A girl from our hall was making cakes for tonight's event, and she would cut the tops off of the cakes to flatten it, and four of us definitely chowed down. It was really yumi and so hard to resist!

I was planning to have a rest day today, but after cake I had to get my butt to the rec! Especially since I'll be sitting in a classroom ALL DAY TOMORROW. And I have to miss Zumba! So I went to a class this morning. It wasn't particularly heart-pumping, but it got me out of bed at a decent hour and was some form of exercise at least.

I had pumpkin/banana/oatmeal/peanut butter/raisin/cinnamon goodness again today- I'm addicted, and the pumpkin is almost gone :(

los ingredientes:

Breakfast:

Nom nom nom..

My new Zumba shoes!

I'm off to a basketball game and a Scotty Co. Block Party! Should be fun, and I'll definitely be planning fewer calories this afternoon so I can have some goodies tonight.

Canadian Idiot

I'm watching curling and doing homework!

I started the day off right with pumpkin/banana/raisin/peanut butter oats again, with a sprinkle of cinnamon. 2.5 servings of fruit- woot!

Then blah blah blah lots of classes blah blah blah.. 

the lunch! I was planning on a different lunch today- but plans changed! So I did too. I had a slice of cheese pizza with two huge bowls plain spinach. I ate the spinach WITH the pizza- taking a big forkfull of spinach and a small bite of pizza. It was so amazing! I definitely recommend. And it kept me below 400 kcal for lunch. 

Then I went to the Spanish advisor to figure out what classes I'll get credit for in Ecuador. I will get a total of 12 credits and am now a double Spanish/Pharmacy minor. Wow. I was shocked/excited/overwhelmed- and I can't wait!

Before going to teach (!!!) Gravity, I had an apple and a muffin with cream cheese while gabbing with my parents on the phone about all the Spanish/Ecuador news.

I also had two small dark chocolate squares for some extra antioxidants ;)

Gravity went so well! I'm loving that class more than I ever thought I would, and I hope I get to teach it.

Dinner was an egg/cheese quiche, green beans and a glass of milk!

Everything was very tasty, but I'm not sure if I've had enough to eat today! I might have a small bit of greek yogurt later tonight, but I'll just see how I'm feeling.