My Oatmeal Review

Oatmeal is such a great thing!! It's super healthy and so versatile.  You can eat a bowl of it for breakfast and you can bake all sorts of yummy treats with it! Cookies, bars, muffins... I got the opportunity to volunteer to do a review for a great oatmeal company. Free oatmeal?! Sign me up! The company is called MyOatmeal.  They have such a great concept.  You go online and create your very own oatmeal flavor! Every order is custom made.  Any flavor you can think of, you can make! Seriously! S'mores, apple pie, blueberry cheesecake, oatmeal raisin cookie, double fudge peanut butter brownie, and so many more!

I kept it somewhat simple and ordered carrot cake and red velvet cake.

These are huge bags by the way! Each bag has 11+ servings.  The ingredients list is super simple. Oats and natural flavors.  

You can add basically anything to your own order.  Dried fruit, nuts, seeds, and sweeteners.  You can also choose between quick oats, 5 grain rolled oats and flax, steel cut oats, smash blend oats, gluten free, and organic gluten free thick rolled oats.  I like quick oats the best, especially when I use them in baking.  

First up was the carrot cake oatmeal.  It smelled amazing! I could smell the carrot cake goodness as soon as I opened the resealable bag.  I knew I was in for a real treat. I kept my first meal with the oats pretty simple.  

Just a nice warm bowl of carrot cake oatmeal.  I just cooked the oats with water for 1:30.  I then stirred in a little unsweetened almond milk and a little fat free cream cheese.  After all, what is carrot cake without the cream cheese?! I topped it off with a drizzle of sugar free syrup.  

Amazing!!! I felt like I was eating carrot cake! Only this is way better for you :) So glad I ordered this flavor.  

Now for the red velvet cake.  Once again, I kept is somewhat simple so I could get the flavor of the oats.  

I cooked the oats the same way with only water.  No added milk this time but I did top this bowl off with some fat free reddi whip! 

Dessert in an bowl!!  I don't know exactly what they added to make this flavor, but they sure know what they are doing! Wow, just wow!

After enjoying some oats the "normal" way, I decided to have a little more fun.  We all know I love pancakes, I have made just about every flavor pancake you can imagine.  So of course I was going to make some carrot cake pancakes.

I just mixed 1 cup of the oats (40g) with 1 cup pureed carrots (240g), 3 T egg substitute (46g), 1 scoop cinnamon protein powder (30g), 1/2 t baking powder, 1 t cinnamon, a dash of salt, and some sweetener. 

Cooked them up like regular pancakes and boom!

That is one awesome breakfast!! Or lunch, dinner, snack, dessert...These were so good I could eat them any time! I have made carrot cake pancakes before, but these made my other ones seem like store bought frozen ones (ok, not that bad...) 

I had one more fun idea in mind...How about some Carrot Cake Cookie Sandwiches!?

Complete with cream cheese filling! These were soooo good!! I ground up the oatmeal into oat flour to make these delicious treats.  Perfection!! Check out my video to make some of these for yourself.  You will be glad you did :)

They turned out so good that I made a batch to eat plain too. 

These cookies are healthy, low fat, low carb, high protein and just plain yummy! 

I am so glad I got the chance to review some products from MyOatmeal!!  Such a great company.  I love them even more now because I found out it is run by a husband and wife! How cute is that?! You can really tell they put their heart and soul into this business!

I highly suggest you go order some.  Make sure you set aside a bit of time before you go to their site because you may be a little overwhelmed when you see all the flavor possibilities!! Seriously, I wanted to order so much more! As soon as I finish off these two bags (which won't take long) I think I want to try cookie dough and strawberry cheesecake :) 

Savory Cauliflower Pie

Need a new breakfast idea?? Tired of cereal, muffins, and pancakes?! Ok, well maybe not tired of those wonderful things, but in case you want a more savory breakfast, I have just the thing for you....

Cauliflower Pie!

Not only is this a great breakfast, but you can also have it for lunch or dinner! You don't just get one little piece either.  The entire dish is only 230 calories! So you get to have 6 pieces :)

Don't even say that you don't like cauliflower. This is not your average cauliflower dish.  It is sooooo creamy and delicious! You really must try it. 

Ingredients needed will be...

1 whole head of cauliflower, vanilla protein powder, egg substitute, fat free cream cheese, baking powder, salt, and any additional veggies.  

*If you don't have cream cheese you could sub greek yogurt, cottage cheese, ricotta cheese...*

*Frozen cauliflower is fine too!*

First, cut up your cauliflower, steam it, and puree it until it's nice and smooth.

Honestly, I have eaten it just like this many times!! With a little gravy or cheese....YUM! But today we are getting a little crazier.

Chop up whatever other veggies you wish to add. 

I just did pepper, onion, and mushroom. 

Add the rest of your ingredients and mix by hand. I just used salt as a seasoning but you could add anything else such as pepper or garlic. This recipe is very customizable!

You could also add a little cheese if you like, but I kept this one pretty simple.

Pretty much any size and shape dish will work. You will just have to adjust your baking time.

You could sprinkle parmesan cheese on top if you wanted, but I am not a huge fan of it.  Honestly, I don't even think it needs it!

It will take a while to bake.  About 40-45 minutes at 350.  Use a bigger dish if you don't want to wait so long! I like it pretty thick though and it's worth the wait!

It's done when it starts to brown around the edges. 

I got 6 pieces out of mine, but I ate the whole thing for breakfast!! I can't get over how creamy it is from the cauliflower!

Seriously, it doesn't even really taste like cauliflower.  It is a tiny bit sweet, but then has the flavor of all the other veggies.  And the cream cheese makes it even creamier!  I really hit a home run with this one!!

If you struggle to eat enough veggies, you need to try this.  Remember, we put a whole head of cauliflower in there!!!

Enjoy :)

Savory Cauliflower Pie

• 1 head cauliflower (about 500g)
• 1 scoop vanilla protein powder (30g)
• 3 T egg substitute (46g)
• 2 T fat free cream cheese (33g)
• 1/2 t baking powder
• dash of salt
• any additional veggies (mushroom, pepper, onion...)

1. Steam and puree cauliflower.  
2. Mix in remaining ingredients.  
3. Sprinkle cheese on top if desired.  
4. Bake at 350 for 40-45 minutes.

230 calories for the whole dish!

1g Fat

14g Carb 

40g Protein

**What vegetable did you hate as a kid??*

Chocolate Pumpkin Protein Pancakes

Are you getting sick of things pumpkin yet?? Are you tired of pancakes yet?? Well, I am not!! I don't think I will ever get tired of pancakes and pumpkin.  I did decide to switch it up a bit this week and try some chocolate pumpkin pancakes.  With an extra boost of protein of course.

Now that is a big stack of pancakes! 8 total in case you weren't sure.  And like always, these were all for me.  That is a huge serving for under 300 calories.  I swear these are way better than any boxed pancake mix too.  I feel like the boxed mixes don't have much flavor...kinda boring.  These are certainly not boring! Pumpkin, chocolate, and cinnamon are amazing together.  I can also guarantee that mix stuff will not make pancakes as moist as these.

You really don't even need many more ingredients.  When you use the mix you still have to add oil and eggs.  Plus, these are 438,298 times better for you!

You will need canned pumpkin, egg beaters, chocolate protein powder, cinnamon, baking powder, a dash of salt, and sweetener of your choice if desired.

These are super easy too.  Everything can be mixed in one bowl with one spoon.  

Just dump all your ingredients in there and mix until smooth.  Gotta love that baby food looking batter again.

Get your pan nice and hot and use some non stick spray.  You will get 8 pancakes from this batter.  I made two batches of four.

Look for those tiny bubbles around the edges to tell you when to flip.  

Close up of my most round pancake ever!! I am getting good at flipping!

Can you see how soft and moist these are?! I topped mine with some sugar free syrup and a touch of cocoa powder just to make it look even prettier.  

In case you didn't catch it earlier, this whole stack is only 285 calories! That's only about 35 calories per pancake.  Not only that, but this breakfast is packing a whopping 44 grams of protein! Can your boxed mix do that?! Oh, and they are fat free too. That's because I used an egg white protein powder, but you can use any kind.  

Chocolate Pumpkin Protein Pancakes

• 1 cup canned pumpkin (240g)
• 1 scoop chocolate protein powder (30g)
• 2/3 cup egg beaters (138g)
• 1/4 t baking powder
• 1 t cinnamon 
• dash salt
• sweetener if desired 

Simply mix all your ingredients together until smooth.  Cook like regular pancakes.  Eat the whole stack!! Enjoy!

285 calories for whole stack

0g Fat

44g Protein

23g Carb

Protein Pumpkin Pancakes

I love love love using pumpkin in baking!! It makes everything so moist and creamy.  It is also basically fat free and very low in calories.  Super high in vitamin A! I am not really sure what vitamin A is good for...but pumpkin has a LOT of it! One cup has 560% of the daily recommended amount.  I hope too much vitamin A isn't bad for you?!

I am so in love with pancakes lately too.  These pumpkin pancakes are super yummy, extremely healthy, very high in protein, and so easy to make!

Hungry yet??

Very small ingredient list! I don't know about you, but I get overwhelmed when I see a recipe with to many ingredients.  I don't even want to try to make it! This is easy, I swear.

You will need some protein powder.  Any flavor that mixes well with pumpkin will do.  I am using MTS Vanilla Whey. You also need canned pumpkin, egg beaters, cinnamon, baking powder, and sweetener if you wish.  I used three packets of Splenda.  

Feel free to try using any brand of protein, but I recommend MTS.  

You can order some here.  Use code KH30 to save 30%

Ready for these complicated steps!? Oh right, there aren't any...Add everything into a bowl and mix with a spoon. 

The batter will be a bit thick.  Not as runny as "normal" pancakes.  

Get your skillet nice and hot and be sure to coat with non stick spray.  Otherwise these buggers will stick!

You will see a few bubbles in the middle when ready to flip, but you have to look closely! If you try to flip too soon they will fall apart.

My pancake flipping skills are improving! Those are some pretty round flapjacks!! I remember my dad used to make up Mickey Mouse pancakes.  Now he is a pancake master :)

You will get eight pancakes.  The whole batch has about 250 calories!

Add a little sugar free syrup and you have one awesome breakfast!!

I will NOT be sharing this stack.

So soft! The pumpkin, cinnamon, and vanilla flavors are perfect!

One more view of those delicious and almost round pancakes. 

 Happy Fall!

Protein Pumpkin Pancakes

• 3/4 cup canned pumpkin (180g)
• 1 scoop MTS Vanilla Whey (30g)
• 1/2 cup egg substitute (92g)
• 1/2 t baking powder
• 1/2 t vanilla
• 1 t cinnamon
• sweetener to taste (3 packets)

1. Simply mix everything together and cook on a hot skillet! Be sure to use non stick spray and test the edge before flipping. 

Makes 8 pancakes

252 calories for whole stack

3g fat

22g carb

34g protein 

Pudding Oatmeal

I have been on a major oatmeal kick lately.  It's super healthy and a pretty quick meal.  BUT, a big old bowl of oatmeal is very boring.  Some people think of oatmeal as a yucky bowl of mush! Trust me, this oatmeal is anything but yucky! (Although it is still kinda mushy...) I have been playing around with different ways to jazz it up a bit.  My favorite so far is cheesecake oatmeal!

Old fashioned oats and sugar free fat free pudding mix is all you need!! I chose cheesecake this time! You can absolutely use any flavor of pudding here.  You can use vanilla, chocolate, white chocolate, banana cream (those are all the sugar free fat free flavors).  Of course you can also use regular pudding mix and have more options, but then you have a lot more sugar being added.

This is so quick and simple to make.  Just take 1/2 cup oats and about 2 T of the pudding mix.  You can also add some sweetener ( I add 3 splenda ) and a dash of salt.  Then add 2 cups of water.  The oatmeal container directions will say to only add 1 cup of water. We are going to let our oats sit for a while so they will absorb the extra water and expand.  This is going to give you an extra big bowl of yummy oatmeal!  Also, the pudding mix will need the extra water.  Feel free to substitute any type of milk instead of water. 

I recommend using a whisk to mix it up good because the pudding mix will clump together.  A spoon will work, just make sure you get all the clumps out.  You will also want to use a decent size bowl because your oatmeal will expand in the microwave.  Depending on the flavor of pudding you use, you could add some cinnamon, vanilla, cocoa powder, etc to the mix. Get creative! I kept it simple on this batch.

Microwave for 2 minutes.  Take it out and stir it up good.  Then microwave another 30-45 second.  Keep an eye on it!  At about 2 1/2 minutes it will start to boil and could spill over.  (I learned this the hard way) It is also nice to have a bigger bowl so you can go crazy with toppings!  

It already looks thicker.  Let it sit for about 5 minutes uncovered and then put it in the fridge.  I usually let mine sit overnight, but it really only needs a couple hours to let the pudding set.  When it is ready you can microwave it for a bit or just eat it cold.  I actually prefer it cold because of the pudding. Almost like a bread pudding texture.  Either way it is super yummy! 

This is the really fun part!! Toppings! You can get so creative here. I kept this one simple with just some sliced bananas and some sugar free syrup.

You can also do vanilla pudding mix with bananas, cinnamon, peanut butter, and whipped cream on top :)

Some other great topping could be strawberries, chocolate sauce, any nut butter, jam, dried fruit, apples, blueberries, nuts, chocolate chips, etc.  Play around with different puddings and toppings!

Pudding Oatmeal

• 1/2 cups old fashioned oats
• 2 T sugar free fat free pudding mix (any flavor)
• 2 cups water
• sweetener to taste
• dash of salt

Simply mix all ingredients together in a bowl.  Microwave 2 minutes.  Stir.  Microwave another 30-45 seconds.  Let sit for 5 minutes.  Refrigerate overnight or for at least 2 hours.  Enjoy warmed up or straight out of the fridge!   

What is your favorite oatmeal flavor??