Have you ever woken up and wanted something super decadently delicious for breakfast that wasn’t going to set your whole day on the “OMG-I-ate-chocolate-for-breakfast-and-now-I-am-going-to-have-a-fat-day” track?
I know that feeling all too well. Sometimes I wake up, scroll through my Instagram feed and see a fresh baked vegan dessert from one of my favorite food bloggers, shining in all its perfectly-manicured-food-photography glory. Or sometimes I wake up craving the dessert I had from the night before and wonder how I can sneak that yumminess into my breakfast.
Ummm, hello yesterday’s raw vegan panut butter cups:
I guess the truth is, I’m not a savory breakfast kind of gal anymore. I love a good tofu scramble when I’m in the mood, and of course I can whip up a green smoothie like its nobody’s business, but sweet and simple always does the trick for me. Funny, because before I was vegan I really wasn’t into the whole sweets for breakfast thing. Never liked pancakes, not a big waffle person, hated syrup. But now I love indulging in something sinfully sweet but deceptively super duper clean in the morning.
Maybe I love it because I have finally discovered some fantastic “Dessert for Breakfast” recipes that start my day with a healthy bang rather than an unhealthy one. I am all about the start clean / finish clean mentality, so there’s no way I would risk setting my day off balance for the sake of satisfying my sweet tooth. Especially not when I have six miles to run a few hours after brekky!
This morning I was craving something decadent, gooey and chocolatey with a hint of banana. I also knew I wanted to incorporate one of the all-natural peanut butter cups I made yesterday (OK, fine, you caught me: two of the PB cups). This Chocolate Banana Bread Oatmeal certainly did the trick.
All I did was blend an overripe banana with my steel cut oats, ½ scoop of Vega One chocolate protein powder, 1 tablespoon of cacao powder, ½ tablespoon of maca powder and a few big drizzles of cinnamon. Holy COW! I could eat this every morning. No joke. It tastes like a healthy version of banana bread pudding.
Ingredients:
½ cup gluten-free steel cut oats
1 overripe banana
1 tablespoon cacao powder
½ tablespoon maca powder (optional. If you don’t have maca it will be just as yummy without it)
½ scoop Vega One chocolate protein powder (or any protein powder of your choice)
a few big drizzles of cinnamon
Toppings:
½ cup berries + ½ banana + 2 peanut butter cups, or any topping of choice. Coconut shreds would also be delicious!
Directions:
1. Boil the oats with 1 cup of water until the water is fully soaked in.
2. Blend banana, protein powder, cacao powder, maca, and cinnamon in a blender.
3. Add oats into blender and blend thoroughly. Don’t blend for too long, because you want your oats to still have their oaty consistency. That’s why we pre-blend the banana and other ingredients.
4. Pour into a bowl, top with toppings. Voila!
Nutrition Info:
The Nutrition Info is with toppings, minus PB cups. Add about 160 calories per PB cup (and lots of protein and iron, too!)