Outstanding Oats!

Good morning blog readers! I can't believe it's Thursday already and this week is almost over. These vacation weeks just fly by waaayyy too quickly. I haven't done much this week, but I have helped my mom do some planning for her wedding. We are in the process of picking out dresses for my sister, cousin and I to wear. We are choosing between 2 from JCREW that we probably will pick today or tomorrow.  

It's between these in black plum:

or these in spiced wine:

They are different looks, so I don't know. I think we will probably end up going with the cotton cady ones (the second group). 

Anyway, I don't have much planned today besides hitting up the gym and doing some baking. I decided that I am going to give up all white flour for Lent this year. I am going to try to do the not shopping thing, but that is going to be number two. White flour is going to be a challenge because while I don't eat it in my own home, whenever I go out to eat or eat Sunday dinner at my mom's there always are amazing choices of breads or pastas. I guess I'm going to have to walk around with whole wheat bread and pasta hah. Plus the fact I have been on bread OVERLOAD lately for some reason, I need to get back to my new years resolution. I just love carbs, is it because I am Italian?? 

After reading FindingRadiance.com and seeing all the amazing oatmeal she makes, I was inspired. I decided to make some chocolate-ty oats. I used to eat those oatmeal packets all of the time in college and in the winter, but since I'm cutting down on the processed foods, I stopped buying them. To be honest I haven't liked the regular oats very much, because I can't seem to flavor them right. So I was skeptical trying this, but I figured I'd give it a rest with my muffins.

                                

I made this with:

1/2 cup oats

a dash of salt

3/4 tsp turbinado sugar

sprinkle of cinnamon

1 tbsp dark cocoa powder

1/4 cup pumpkin

sprinkle of agave nectar

I cooked it for 2:30 minutes and then added almonds, 1/2 tsp maca, 1/2 tsp chia seeds and cacao nibs. 

                                  

It looks WAY more chocolatety than it actually is. It's good and VERY filling, but I'd still rather than a muffin! ;)

I'll be back later with some baking posts. I'm hopefully going to try to make some scones and then refill my stock of muffins.