I made the mistake of walking outside yesterday.
And then immediately turned right back around.
No.
Just… no.
I love how they feel the need to write “very cold” under the temperature. As if seeing –12 didn’t already make that abundantly clear.
There’s something about abysmally-cold weather that screams comfort food. And this healthy breakfast recipe, which combines spicy chai tea, dark chocolate, and creamy oatmeal is pure comfort food in a bowl. Feel free to triple up on the chocolate by adding chocolate chips and Healthy Chocolate Sauce.
Chocolate Chai Oatmeal
(serves 1)
- 1/2 cup rolled oats (40g)
- 1 cup water or milk of choice (240g)
- 1/2 cup milk of choice (120g)
- 2 chai tea bags (decaf or regular)
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2 tsp cocoa powder (4g)
- sweetener of choice, to taste
- 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract (2g)
- 1/2 tbsp melted coconut oil or peanut butter (optional, but much richer if added)
- mini chocolate chips, optional
If using the microwave: heat the water and milk, then add the teabags and let sit for no less than 15 minutes. Right before removing the teabags, smush the tea bags a little with a fork so more of the flavor goes into the milk. Combine the liquid with the oats and salt, then microwave 3 minutes. (If it starts to boil over, you may stop the microwave and keep heating in ten-second increments until the time is up. But don’t open the microwave door.) Let oatmeal sit in the closed microwave 5 minutes, then transfer–uncovered—to the refrigerator. It gets thicker as it sits, but if you want to eat it immediately simply use a little less water and cook longer. Right before eating, add all remaining ingredients and stir well.
If you wish to use the stovetop: after soaking the tea bags in warm liquid, simply heat the oats, salt, and tea soaking liquid until oatmeal is thick and fluffy. Then stir in all remaining ingredients.
Click for: Oatmeal Nutrition Facts
Question of the Day:
Was it freezing cold yesterday for you too?
Apparently every single state—even Hawaii!—dipped below freezing at some point during the day. However, maybe I shouldn’t complain about our weather here in Washington… To people in Minnesota and Chicago, it probably sounds like a tropical vacation.
I live in Alaska, and we’ve actually been having ABOVE freezing temps (which is not normal for this time of year AT ALL). I would be happy to switch back, warmer temps here just mean that snow and ice melt and cause the nastiest, most dangerous road conditions, which no one is happy about! Here’s a good article for some quick tips. And thanks for the comfort food ideas, keep em coming! We could all use them in the cold, dark months. 😉
http://news.msn.com/us/alaskans-offer-tips-on-surviving-below-zero-temps
Same with Northern British Columbia, Canada. It’s usually like -30°C right now but it was at least 0°C yesterday! Soo warm! Really bad roads though!
Yum chocolate chai oatmeal! Sounds amazing!
To the qotd: when I woke up this morning it was -15. The high yesterday was 2 degrees! But I live near Chicago so it was to be expected, I guess. 😛
Yesterday was sooo cold! Monday was worse, it doesn’t get very cold here and the high for Monday was 8 degrees. With windchill it felt like -10 and it hasn’t gotten to like agile digits in a long time.
Yup, I feel ya girl! I’m not too familiar with degrees F, but it has been as low was -28 CELCIUS here! Yikes!!
Could I use mint tea to make them mint chocolate oatmeal? 🙂
Sure, why not? 😉
I live in Hawaii and right now it’s 77 degrees, but I’m FREEZING. If it ever goes below 80 here we all complain of the cold haha. I’d never make it on the mainland!
So if you put it in the fridge after cooking – how long do you leave it in there? I don’t want it to get cold so that I can’t eat it. If you leave it in there very long, then take it out, add the other ingredients – how long do you reheat in the microwave again?
It was 3 yesterday, wind chill in the negatives. We had an evacuation drill at my school, and it was FREEZING! I didn’t even have my coat with me! 🙁 Of course it was in the middle of my lunch period.
It was -20c here with a wind chill of -40c… Could have definitely used this! Going to try it for breakfast tomorrow… Looks wonderful! 🙂
It’s been freezing cold here for a while now, they call our city Winnipeg “winter-peg” for a reason! This oatmeal looks like a great way to warm up and I love all the spices in chai tea so it’s very creative to try something new!