Double Chocolate Oatmeal

If you want to continue enjoying the pancake load I thrust on you earlier this week, do so. I have it in good faith (aka Mama Pea), that this week is Pancake Week. So forget about Tuesday being Pancake Day. Let’s just do it the whole darn week, shall we?

However, if you’re in the mood for your usual delicious breakfast oats…well, look no further. I just dialled up the deliciousness factor on these by about 100 or so…

Can you imagine anything better than a breakfast that is sinfully chocolatey but completely good for you?

Me neither.

When I feel the need to really indulge, I simply cook up this breakfast, which isn’t really indulging at all. But it sure makes you feel like you have!

Did you know how good plain, unsweetened cocoa powder is for you? Its stats are crazy…half a cup has more than 8g of protein, for a start. I discovered this when making my Better-than-Starbucks’ Double Chocolate Brownies, which were protein-rich not only because of the secret ingredient (chickpeas, ssh!) but also because of the amount of cocoa powder I made them with!

Other nutritional benefits of cocoa powder?

• Half a cup packs nearly 15g of fibre
• Half a cup has 33% of your daily iron requirements
• Research has also been conducted that revealed that ingesting cocoa powder lowered blood pressure in those suffering from hypertension
• there are more flavanoids in cocoa powder than in the equivalent serving of red wine or green tea, both drinks highly touted for their antioxidant benefits

Just make sure you buy dark, unsweetened cocoa powder that is unprocessed.

Now that I’ve convinced you on the benefits of eating chocolatey items (was that persuasive paragraph just completely redundant or what? Haha. I don’t know anyone who needs persuading to eat chocolate…but now at least we can all feel a little better about it!) here’s your recipe…

Double Chocolate Oatmeal

INGREDIENTS (serves 1):

1/2 cup rolled oats
1 cup milk of choice (I used Almond Breeze Unsweetened Almond Milk)
1 tbsp unprocessed dark cocoa powder
1 tsp agave nectar (I don’t like things too sweet, so you might need to increase this)
2 tsp 70% chocolate chunks for topping

DIRECTIONS:

1. Heat oats and milk in a small saucepan over a low heat. Stir in cocoa powder.

2. Bring to a low boil, then reduce heat and simmer until oats thicken up. Add agave nectar to taste.

3. I remove the oats from the heat and leave them a few minutes to cool – usually it thickens a little more in this time, and I like my oats thick. If you like them runnier, eat right away.

4. Top with chocolate chunks (while the oatmeal is still quite warm so they melt into it) and enjoy!

Nutritional information for double chocolate oatmeal per serving (serves 1) if using almond milk: