oatmeal

WIAW: Bacon and Brinner

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Woowoo, WEDNESDAY is here! And today’s What I Ate Wednesday post features BACON. No need for any intro, onto today’s WIAW eats.

The day started with a small strawberry mango spinach broccoli smoothie – I made a smoothie for B and FW and had a little glass for myself.

I ate breakfast at work – you can see the ugly smoothie in the background (it looked prettier in the Vitamix), along with my egg white brewer’s yeast oats. And a few nuts sprinkled on.

I was really craving fruit that morning, so I also jammed on pear and a cutie.

And then my mid-morning snack was an apple and cashews.

Lunch was this DELICIOUS giant bowl of veggies. Roasted purple Brussels sprouts, broccoli and sweet potato. And some peas and a little bit of pork.

Again, more fruit – in the afternoon I had some cantaloupe and blood orange.

And more nuts! As I got home, I knew B was coming home late so I ate some honey roasted peanuts.  That and some peanut butter held me over until 8’ish when we had dinner.

Dinner was brinner! Egg whites, toast, avocado, bacon, tomato and spinach. One of my AVORITE dinners 🙂

And that was it! Some questions for you for this WIAW:

  • Do you like bacon?
  • Are you a smoothie person? Any favorite combos?

Oatmeal Heath Bar Cookies

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I think Heath Bar should also be called the Forgotten Candy. I LOVE love LOVE Heath Bar. It’s one of my favorite candies. Growing up, Heath Bar Crunch Ben & Jerrys was my favorite ice cream and was almost always in my family’s freezer (yes, I know I’m lucky). But it’s also a candy I forget about when I think of candy. If I’m craving something sweet and want to buy candy, too often I’ll choose something like a peanut butter cup, peanut M&Ms or Reese’s Pieces – and leave Heath Bar forgotten. So, this is an ode to my favorite, forgotten candy bar- Oatmeal Heath Bar Cookies. These are based one of my favorite recipes – Special K cookies – but have a few different ingredients.

Oatmeal Heath Bar toffee Cookies - i crashed the web

Oatmeal Heath Bar Cookies

Here’s what you need:

  • 1 c (2 sticks) butter, softened
  • 1 c granulated sugar
  • 1 c brown sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tbs vanilla extract
  • 2 c all purpose flour
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • ½ tsp baking powder
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 2 c. uncooked old fashioned oats
  • 2 c Special K cereal
  • 1 c. Heath Bar, chopped into pieces (OR buy a bag of Heath Bar that’s pre-diced/crumbled and ready for baking)
  • 1/2 c. mini chocolate chips

Here’s what you do:

  1. Combine flour, baking soda and baking powder and set aside.
  2. In a large bowl, mix Special K, oats, Heath Bar and chocolate chips. Set aside.
  3. Beat butter and sugars until fluffy.
  4. Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each egg is added.
  5. Stir in flour mixture slowly, mixing well.
  6. Stir in oat mixture and mix with wooden spoon until well blended.
  7. Make tablespoon sized scoops on greased baking sheets.
  8. Bake at 350 for about 12 minutes.

Got a chocolate lover in your life? These aren’t THAT chocolatey so you may want to add more chips. OR chop up a HERSHEY’S bar and add to batter as well! That’s what  did for the one in the pic above.

Oatmeal Heath Bar Cookies omg - i crashed the web

 

 

What I’m Loving Lately: Snacktime Edition

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Snacks on snacks on snacks! I’m not one of those people who eats three meals a day and that’s it. I have always been a snacker – I love eating several times a day and definitely get int that 3 p.m. snacktime mode. Here are a few snacks I’ve been enjoying lately:

Chocolate Covered Coffee Beans

B and I picked up these beauties in Costa Rica and I can’t tell you enough HOW GOOD they are. They’re sweet and caffeinated at the same time – a great afternoon pick-me-up or really just anytime snack. I personally love the white chocolate (they taste like lattes!) but the dark chocolate aren’t that bad either (am I the only person who prefers milk and white chocolate to dark chocolate?).

cafebritt

My Oatmeal: 

I got a chance to sample this for free thanks to a Sweat Pink promotion and I am IN LOVE! My Oatmeal has a ton of fun oatmeal varieties (like PB&J Cupcake!) and they also let you make custom oatmeal from a a variety of ingredients listed on their website – they then ship your custom oatmeal to you directly. There are about a bazillion combinations (okay, maybe not that many) and the one I opted for had the following: rolled oats and flax, brown sugar and oatmeal cookie flavors, with coconut, ginger, date, mangos and apricots. YUM! Oh and of course I called it Melissa’s Blend because I’m just that creative.

myoatmeal

It arrived while I was on vacation and it was such an awesome surprise to open after we got back. I was pumped. Take a look!

IT HAS MY NAME ON IT

IT HAS MY NAME ON IT

Look at that dried fruit!

Look at that dried fruit!

Obviously you can eat it as regular oatmeal. But some other cool things you can do:

  • Make granola with it. In my favorite granola recipe, just swap out the oats with the oatmeal! You probably can use less dried fruit if you want to since my blend has dried fruit in it AND less sweetener (brown sugar and/or honey) if you choose an Oatmeal that’s sweet.
  • Make cookies! I love oatmeal cookies and don’t doubt that adding some of this oatmeal would be a delicious add-in.
  • Eat it dry. I’m not gonna lie – I took a bag with me to work to eat as a snack – and just ate it dry. I had fully intended to cook it up and then just ate it dry. And I enjoyed it.

Kalebouli

I love tabbouleh and the first time I tried kalebouli I also fell in love. One of my favorite ways to eat kalebouli is actually on a wrap with hummus (okay I guess this isn’t quite a snack) – and the Flaming Ice Cube in Cleveland has an amazing kalebouli wrap.

But if you want to try making your own kalebouli so that you can try it as a snack – here is a recipe from the blog, Fragrant Vanilla Cake. You can make yur own pita chips and dip them in the kalebouli, or serve it with chopped veggies, pita, and hummus. Yum!

 

My standard from the Flaming Ice Cube - Kalebouli Hummus Wrap!

My standard from the Flaming Ice Cube – Kalebouli Hummus Wrap!

 

Some questions for you:

  • What are your favorite snacks to beat the 3 p.m. hunger? All of the above. Also a fan of anything sweet/salty – chocolate covered pretzels, Chex Mix, etc.
  • Are you a snacker? Prefer 3 meals a day and that’s it? Yup, i’m a snacker. But B isn’t. He has pretty much breakfast, lunch and dinner. Sometimes he’ll eat carrots and peanut butter at work but that’s it. I bring LOADS of snacks and get pretty hangry when I don’t!
  • Do you like oatmeal? Do you ever eat it “raw”? I can’t be the only one ..
  • Dark chocolate? White chocolate? Which do you prefer?

 

Disclosure: I was given a free sample of My Oatmeal to try out via Fit Approach. All opinions are my own and I was in no other way compensated for this post. I have not been given any free kalebouli, free Flaming Ice Cube (unless you count the gift card my parents got me for my birthday?) or free chocolate covered coffee beans – but I’d love any of those! 

Triple Chip Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies

/ Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 2 Comments

I think I have a pumpkin problem. From baking biscotti, to scones, to cookies, to granola – to just mixing it in plain yogurt and eating it with the pumpkin granola – I’m all over pumpkin this fall. But, the first step to recovery is recognizing you have a problem. And with that, here is my last pumpkin recipe for this season. And don’t worry, it’s a good one – similar to the last pumpkin cookies I made but with some oatmeal and white chips for added texture.

pumpkin triple chip oatmeal cookies - i crashed the web

Triple Chip Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies

Here’s what you need:

  • 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1 teaspoon allspice
  • 1 teaspoon ginger
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 and 1/2 cups rolled oats
  • 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
  • 3/4 cup brown sugar
  • 3/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1/3 cup molasses
  • 1 cup pumpkin puree
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 1/2 cup total three different types of chocolate chips – I actually broke this up into 1/2 cup chocolate chips, 1/2 cup chocolate chunks and 1/2 cup white chocolate chips – next time I’ll likely try some mini m&ms or even Candy Corn M&Ms!

Here’s what you do:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
  2. Combine dry ingredients – flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, allspice, salt and oats – in a small bowl and set aside.
  3. In a large bowl of a stand mixer, combine butter and sugars. Mix well. Add in egg and mix thoroughly.
  4. In a small bowl, combine pumpkin puree with molasses and vanilla. Mix well until completely combined. Once the mixture is a uniform, dark brown color, add to wet ingredients in stand mixture. Note: Don’t want to dirty another bowl? You likely could add all these ingredients to the stand mixer one at a time, but I found it easier to have the molasses  and pumpkin mixed together first to ensure they get are thoroughly combined.
  5. Add in dry ingredients with a spatula and mix well, by hand. You may need to stir for 2-4 minutes before mixture is completely combined. Then, add in your your chocolate chips / chunks.
  6. Dough will be sticky! Drop by rounded tablespoons onto a baking sheet topped with parchment paper.
  7. Cook for 12-14 minutes or until they start to brown.

Enjoy!

pumpkin triple chip oatmeal cookies - icrashedtheweb

Monster Cookies for Blue & Green Day

/ Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 1 Comment

April is Donate Life Month and this Friday is Donate Life’s National Blue and Green Day. It’s a day for people to wear blue and green, to show their support and raise awareness for organ, eye and tissue donation. Not only will I be wearing blue and green, but I also decided to bake some blue and green cookies in honor of the day (and maybe bribe/thank some coworkers who show their support).

I had quite a few blue and green themed-recipes in mind – mostly more cookie balls/truffles (I even have green candy shell that I wanted to use) but B kindly suggested that I make “real cookies.” SO, I pulled out this recipe for monster cookies that I had saved a while ago, added blue and green M&Ms and Blue and Green Day Monster Cookies were born! This recipe could easily be modified to show support for your favorite cause, or sports team – just swap out the M&M colors!M&M Butterfinger Monster cookies

Monster Cookies

Here’s what you need:

  • 1/2 cup (or 1 stick) butter
  • 1/2 cup white sugar
  • 3/4  cup unpacked brown sugar
  • 3/4  cup peanut butter  (I used smooth JIF)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 egg
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 2/3 cup oats (the kind I used said “Old Fashioned” – not “quick”)
  • 1 cup M&Ms (I used only blue and green ones)
  • 1 cup mini chocolate chips
  • 1 cup chopped Butterfingers

Here’s what you do:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl and set aside.
  3. In a stand mixer, cream together the butter and sugars.
  4. Beat in the peanut butter, vanilla, and egg until smooth. Add in flour mixture and stir until just combined.
  5. Mix in the oats, chips, M&Ms and Butterfingers evenly distributed.
  6. Drop rounded spoonfuls on to greased cookie sheets. I spray mine down with Pam first.
  7. Bake for 10 minutes in the 350-degree oven, until the edges start to brown. Cool on cookie sheets for 2-3 minutes before transferring to wire cooling racks to cool completely.
  8. Enjoy! 
M&M Butterfinger Monster cookies for donate Life Blue and Green Day

Here’s what it all looks like mixed up. Yum!

M&M Butterfinger Monster cookies for donate Life Blue and Green Day

Drop your batter by rounded spoonfuls on a pre-greased cookie sheet

M&M Butterfinger Monster cookies for donate Life Blue and Green Day

Enjoy!

Disclosure: Donate Life Ohio is one of my clients. I was not asked to make blue and green cookies or blog about Blue and Green day. Still, donation is an issue that is important to me and I’m happy to use my blog to remind people the importance of registering as a donor. Currently, nearly 120,000 men, women and children are awaiting organ transplants in the United States. To register as a donor, visit http://donatelife.net/register-now/, or in Ohio click here. 

A holiday baking favorite – Oatmeal Scotchies!

/ Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 1 Comment

It’s December 4! Do you know what that means? Not only is it exactly THREE WEEKS UNTIL CHRISTMAS (can you tell I’m excited?) … but it’s also National Cookie Day!

That’s right, National Cookie Day. Who makes up these bizarre holidays? Who knows. Do I care? Not if it means I can celebrate with baking and eating cookies!

In honor of the holiday, I’m sharing with you a recipe that we make every year at Christmas – Oatmeal Scotchies (or Oatmeal Butterscotch Cookies).

butterscotch oatmeal cookies

Oatmeal Butterscotch Cookies

Here’s what you need:

  • 3/4 cup (1-1/2 sticks) butter, softened
  • 3/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
  • 2 eggs (as usual, I used 1/2 cup Egg Beaters)
  • 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 1/4 cups flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 3 cups quick-cooking or regular rolled oats , uncooked
  • 1-3/4 cups (one traditional 11 oz. pkg.) Butterscotch Chips

Here’s what you do:

  1. Preheat  your oven to 370 degrees. Grease cookie sheets. I used Pam.
  2. In a medium bowl, cream together the butter and sugars.
  3. Mix in the eggs and vanilla extract.
  4. Combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt — slowly stir into the creamed mixture. Beat until well blended.
  5. Fold in oats and butterscotch chips and mix well. Drop by heaping teaspoons onto your cooking sheets.
  6. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until golden brown. If you prefer your cookies chewy, cook around 8. For crunchier cookies you may need 10-11 minutes.
  7. Cool on wire racks.

butterscotch oatmeal cookies cooling off

Enjoy! For some extra deliciousness, add a few chocolate chips to the batter when you have a little left and share those with your chocolate lover friends.