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.
Yum! I might have to make that tomorrow. I think it was -1 where my mom was yesterday, and wind chill made it feel like -20! So ridiculous
This looks great Katie! I have come across a few recipes for chai bread and porridges recently, I might try my hand on this in the near future! 😀
Wishing you all the best for 2014 🙂
x J
Hi – I noticed the same thing in the sugar cookie oatmeal recipe – what is the theory/reason behind not opening the microwave door? Thanks!
I’ve never tried it, but I believe that opening the microwave door immediately after cooking the oats could cause a small explosion? I could be wrong though.
It’s the same with making a baked potato. You keep the microwave door closed and it traps the heat. So, using the baked potato as an example, if you don’t open the door after it’s finished heating up, the heat from the cooking is trapped and keeps the potato warm and moistens it.
For oatmeal, if you keep the door closed, it’ll absorb the liquid more and puff up, allowing all the contents to soak in. No explosions! If you see an explosion, you probably just microwaved it for too long and it happen during the heating process. Been dere done dat.
Follow up : I’m eating this now for lunch and it is delicious! I made it exactly as stated, including the 1/2 tbsp of coconut oil. Yum!!!
Skip the microwave! Microwaves, though convenient, ruin the quality of our food. I once read about a science fair experiment that used different types of water to see if there were any different effects on plant growth (bottled, tap, cooled microwaved waters, for example.) The plant that received the microwaved water sort of grew, but it looked so sickly and failed to thrive! And that is just water! I can only imagine what microwaving does to the rest of our food. My family of 6 is moving slowly away from microwave use. Honestly, it really isn’t taking much longer to cook and re-heat in the oven or on the stove top – it’s more a new habit to develop and get used to. 🙂
I really appreciate your dedication to eating healthily Juli, but microwaves are (when used responsibly!) one of the healthiest ways to cook food. It heats food evenly, and so doesn’t expose any part of the meal to high, protein-denaturing temperatures.
Happy cooking!
http://www.snopes.com/science/microwave/plants.asp
I love the idea of adding tea to flavor oatmeal, I tried an overnight oats recipe a couple years ago with chai tea, guess I should do it again!
Another oatmeal recipe! Thank you! Thank you! THANK YOU!
Yum! This looks super good.
It was definitely cold for us yesterday. -12 with a windchilll of -28. Brrr!
YES I was going to make the reliable banana oatmeal tonight, but thank god the timing was just right and you posted a new oatmeal flavor. I don’t like tea, but I’m sure the chocolate drowns it out enough to where it’ll barely phase me.
As for the temps, I live in Kenosha, Wisconsin (45 minutes north of Chicago), and with windchill, it’s been -42 degrees for two days straight now. AND THAT DIDN’T EVEN BREAK A TEMPERATURE RECORD! Good ol’ upper Midwest.
Honestly!! School in my state of Wisconsin was cancelled for two days because the temp hit -45. Nice and chilly here in the Midwest! P.s. I almost yelled put loud when I saw this post because chocolate and chai are my absolute favorite ever I the world flavors. I couldn’t be happier right now!
The temperature was Minus 11 when I left for work yesterday in Central PA. When I left work to come home in the afternoon, it was a high of ZERO!! Way too cold for any normal human to be out!!! Can’t wait to try the oatmeal recipe. Everything tastes better with chocolate added!!
I’ve never tried chai tea (nor do I have teabags for that), but I do have decaf green tea individual bags, and rooibos individual tea bags. Would one of those work ok? Does the chai flavor come out really strong in this? I’m not a strong-tea flavor sort of gal… Or maybe I could just leave that out entirely?
You can definitely use rooibos tea bags instead :).
I agree about wanting comfort food in this cold weather. That is seriously is all I want right now. -12 is about what we had with wind chill yesterday. The coldest I’ve ever witnessed was -30 when I was in college in Upstate, NY. I was visiting Lake Placid with my parents and I have truly never been that cold ever.