I feel so thrown off not going to the gym this morning. Like something is wrong or I’m supposed to be somewhere and I am not!
I stayed up until 10 watching Twilight but only got through half. So far I love it. I think Bella + Edward are perfect book-to-movie characters. And Bella is soooo gorgeous. If I were a boy, she’d be my type 🙂
I should have made oats this morning and saved the overnight oats for a day when I was more rushed, but I got a huge craving for them yesterday so they made it onto the menu.
Decided to try out a new sauce!! Just like a made the sauce with the PB2 and soy milk, I decided to see if I could thin out and heat up some regular almond butter into a sauce. I believe this has already swept through the blog world under the name "PBU," but I confess I don’t know who invented it or if this is the recipe. Please inform me in the comments!
So I took 1 tbsp of Justin’s Maple Almond Butter and added 1 tbsp (measured) of vanilla soy milk. I put this in the microwave for 20 seconds to help break down the nut butter.
After vigorous stirring, I got a sheeny paste and added a few drops more soy milk to get this beautiful thick sauce:
Dumped over my overnight oats, it was great!!! In hot oatmeal, nut butters tend to melt and spread some, but in cold it’s just a clump that gets eaten in two bites. This was the perfect solution, and I liked how it was a little warm on top of the chilled oats.
My bowl had:
- 1/3 cup rolled raw oats
- 1 container Oikos
- 1/2 cup vanilla soy milk ( <– milk of the week)
- Pinch salt
- Half banana
- 2 tsp chia seeds ( <— the key to awesome overnight oats!)
- Cinnamon
- (And two bites missing that I ate for dessert last night!!
)
Toppings were the AB sauce and some Mix My Granola Cinnamon Banana Almond. Yum!!!
Mr. Coffee says this is a PSA reminder to keep your KIDNEYS healthy and drink lots of water today. I’ve been working my way through the Oprah that aired last week (or the last?) with Dr. Oz about diabetes. WOW, amazing stats. And I obviously knew about the blood sugar dangers with consuming sugar (short and long term), but I honestly did not know that sugar acted like shards of glass to the blood vessels. A reason that even if you’re at a healthy weight, sugar is not good for us.
Off to the health dept!! We’ve got a fun lunch to go to today. I am really not sure of my camera abilities, but I will try to manage a few shots 🙂
If you like Twilight, you will LOVE New Moon – it’s SO much better in regards to production, ACTING (love edward and bella, too ;)) and just overall quality. Have you read ALL the books? I know you were starting… GENIUS idea of the PB sauce (whoever had it!) — you get so much more quantity without sacrificing QUALITY, it seems. yum, yum, YUM!
Have a great day!
Just read the first book and started the second (audio) book and couldn’t get into it. I think I will after this movie! I wish I could find the books cheap + used too so I could read them.
Let us know how you felt about Twilight – I loved, loved the books, but I felt like the 1st movie was SO forced and awkward. And that is very scary about sugar being like shards of glass, I guess having as little sugar without totally depriving yourself is the way to go. I wonder if unprocessed sugar is any better?
I’m a fan of any recipe that makes nut butter go further 🙂
That almond butter sauce looks incredible. :O
I make my own almond butter in the dorm and this would be a great way to expand how much I get out of it and make my overnight oats warm as well!
Thanks for the camera tip too, though I’m going to have to try to find the manual online because it used to be my mother’s camera and I doubt she knows where the book is. 😡
Yum, almond butter sauce
I love making thinner nut butter and using it as icing! It was Emily, of Curly Top (http://curlytopbop.blogspot.com/) who invented PBU. Unfortunately she doesn’t blog anymore 🙁
Enjoy your day!
I can’t figure out how to do the comment thing i was asking about. I will keep asking around. It me be a theme thing that others automatically have so they didn’t need to write code for it.
I like the idea of making individual servings of PBU… I made a full batch a while ago, and after a few days of sitting in the fridge, its quality diminished. Great idea to spoon it onto overnight oats!
I really enjoyed the Twilight books, and the first two movies were pretty good; though I must agree with Nicole about the somewhat awkward acting. I like Kristen Stewart and Robbert Pattinson, but I think the scripts could have been better.
I’ve seen the book series in discount stores like Marshalls and T.J. Maxx at low prices… check out Target and Overstock.com also.
Have a wonderful day, Kath!
Check the library! You might have to wait a week or two, but then they will be free!
I have never heard that about sugar! Scary! Please excuse me while I put away my Cadbury mini eggs….. 😉
What a great idea!!! I love nut butters in overnight oats but it doesn’t work very well.. thanks!!
I was wondering, do you have to change the amount of liquid or yogurt if you add chia seeds?
I do add a little more liquid whenever I deal with chias. That’s why I did half a cup and not 1/3 this time.
I like Kristen Stewart as Bella, too! I feel like so many people were disappointed with her performance. I’m glad we’re on the same page 🙂 Can’t wait to see how you liked the ending.
Also, scary about the sugar! For Lent, I gave up sweetener in my coffee. Perfect timing
Hey Kath! I’ve been reading your blog for a few months now, and I always love seeing your breakfasts in the morning. They look so delicious!
I also really enjoy hearing about your internship experience. I’m currently a junior in college majoring in nutrition, so I will be looking to start my internship in the very near future. Hearing about your experience is great and very encouraging!
Thanks again! Have a wonderful Friday! 🙂
Thanks Maddy!
I hear you on missing a morning workout and feeling like something is wrong.
Have a great day!
It was Emily at Curly Top Bop: http://curlytopbop.blogspot.com/2009/06/pbu-my-contribution-to-society-of-world.html
I’ve always thought about how to get pb to spread over cold oats, but never thought of heating it up! Duh! haha thanks!
Glass shards huh?…interesting! I do love my sugar at times 🙁 Everything in moderation I believe! God gave us common sense! 🙂
The Almond Butter sauce is a great idea for Overnight Oats. I had the problem of clumpy AB today in mine – what a cool solution.
I liked Twilight the movie only the second time. Hated it the first time. But I loved all the books!
Yikes about the sugar shards. Good to know.
I love twilight! best books ever.
that’s scary about sugar, but so ahrd b/c I llloovvveee it!
Shards of glass? Can you elaborate, please?
I LOVED Twilight, but when I tried to read New Moon, I just couldn’t get into it. I still want to see the movie though, if only for dreamy Mr. Pattinson 🙂
I need to watch that Oprah episode– I’m sure it’d give me a little more inspiration to finish my February Sugar challenge with a bang!
Somehow I missed that episode, of course, I am like three weeks behind on the dvr. I have cut sugar completely from my diet and it makes so much of a difference. I got into get routine blood work done in a couple of weeks and I am excited about the results. I am even losing weight without even trying which has NEVER happened!
Honestly couldn’t stand Twilight, I’m still not sure how I read all four books and sat through the movies. The second movie…so boring. It’s also the most boring book. I guess the first movie was tolerable though lol. And I do like Kristen Stewart – she’s cute somehow.
Thanks for the PB tip! Definitely gotta give that a try.
I like the almond butter sauce idea! I’ve never heard of “PBU” before…hmm….
Hi Kath,
I saw that Oprah too and it was interesting. I did feel like they positioned a type 1 woman in a “should have eaten better” position which was false- type 1s make NO insulin so that was harsh. Otherwise, it was good info- as a diabetic I appreciated the advice and focus on African American and Latino communities – they have higher concentrations of the condition. Okay, this is tmi, but I could go on as I’ve had to learn a LOT in addition to working on a dissertation and an assistantship- about nutrition in order to live so it all makes my head spin.:)
Enjoy Twilight!
AGREED re. type I vs II!
your overnight oats sound so good! i really love that AB “sauce” you put on them too! i love it when the nut butter melts into the hot oats, so this is perfect for cold ones!
I love making sauces with my nutbutters! So, good and creamy! You reminded me, I need to order more PB2! Have a great day!
The less I eat sugar the more I understand how bad it is for us. I feel better and look better. I can’t say that I don’t cookies but at least my skin is clear!!
I’ve cut sugar out over the last few weeks, and feel so much better than i did when I was hopped up on the stuff all the time.
New Moon was SO hard for me to get into, but its necessary to get to Eclipse, which is a lot better, and Breaking Dawn which was incredible.
Eek, it’s so scary to think of all the sugar Americans consume these days and what it could be doing to all of our bodies. 🙁
YUM!
Loved the idea of the warm almond butter sauce over overnight oats…
Sounds delicious!
😉
Have a great Friday!
Brazilian XOXO´s,
Gabriela
That phrasing about the negative effects of sugar makes me very sad. I absolutely love sweets and I have them everyday. The research about how badly they react in our bodies makes me question how much I should be eating of them. Damn it!
I love that lone peanut peeping out… and the nut butter sauce idea! Another way to make those not-cheap jars last a little longer 🙂
I believe Curly Top was the inventor of PBU. If you have almond milk, you should give that a try! (To keep the nutty flavors matched 🙂 )
Love the idea of an almond butter sauce!! I’m surprised I haven’t thought about that before, because you’re so right about nut butters just being a giant clump on top of cold, overnight oats. Perfect solution! 😀
totally agree chia seeds = key to amazing overnight oats!! also about the nutbutters getting clumpy in overnight oats I agree.. i love cold overnight oats but hate how the nutbutters get clumpy so end up heating them up a bit and it is not the same…I am definitely going to have to try this sauce tomorrow! Also I just tried the naturally nutty cinnamon vanilla butter today and it is amazing….I am just curious why is that the only naturally nutty without nutrition facts hmmm..Enjoy your day!
I apparrently missed the “pbu” craze, but it looks like a great idea!
yikes! i didn’t realize sugar was so bad…shards of glass sounds pretty intense!
hope you have a great friday at the health department 🙂
I really loved the Twilight movie and New Moon … though the acting can be very bad at times. The books are way better, even if Bella can get a little whiny here and there.
Love the PB sauce! I’ll have to try that sometime. I just bought some Cacao Butter and used it on some pancakes last night, but it was very thick … I’ll have to try microwaving it with some milk to get it thinner.
That’s crazy about the sugar! Who knew it was THAT dangerous?
K
I had overnight oats for the 1st time yesterday! I made them to take with me on my very early train ride to DC. I loved them! Used raspberry yogurt, milk, oats and put half of a muffin in them. Delish and so filling!
I loved the twilight books so much more! I loved the cute little kidney bean. Unfortunately I’m not a Dr. Oz fan but I do love Oprah!
i tried the twilight books… read the first one and half of the other but I really can’t get into it. Plus, my old roommates watched twilight at least 3 times a week so i developed a strong dislike for it lol
Super idea with the peanut butter milk thing, I’m definetly trying that!! I kind of did it with some stewed blueberries…but obvs it’s a completly different foodgroup lol
Glad you’re enjoying Twilight! The second one isn’t as good though :s
Have a good day!
wow i didn’t no that about sugar O_O is that with all sugars, or are “natural” stuff like stevia and agave ok?
I sometimes nuke my overnight oats for maybe 10-15 seconds after plopping some nut butter on top. It usually makes it just soft enough so that i can stretch it through the entire bowl 🙂
Hey! Love your blog and all that you share! Just wanted to send you a note about that Oprah episode about Diabetes because there were numerous parts of that show that did not present the total picture. Sugar only acts as “shards of glass” in a person who has extremely elevated levels of glucose in their blood stream (due to insufficient insulin in the body) – not the average person just consuming sugar whose pancreas functions normally. Plus there are vast difference between Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes that were not really discussed. Just wanted to be an advocate for the total picture to hopefully avoid miscommunication! Here are a few other links to articles that you might find interesting!
http://sixuntilme.com/blog2/2010/02/oprah_does_diabetes.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/riva-greenberg/dr-oz-how-did-you-get-it_b_461466.html
Have a great Friday!!
Thank you for the links, amy free! I’m going to check these out today. Oprah has a history of promoting things that are not exactly supported by solid scientific evidence…
Amy,
Great point and thanks so much for the information. And for being so polite and kind in your contributions!! Thanks!
thank you for showing how to make the nut butter sauce! i’ve seen it on blogs before but never knew how it was accomplished.
Love the idea for a nut butter sauce! That may be why I don’t enjoy cold oats…no melty nut butter on top which is really the best part! I’ll have to try this recipe.
Hi!
I have been following your blog for a few months now and I LOVE IT! I am currently in the DPD program and applying for internships in the fall & love seeing how your internship is going; thanks for sharing your eats! I recently tried kale chips I saw on your blog and they are delicious!
I have yet to try overnight oats.
-Caroline
Thanks for your comment! Good luck with the DPD 🙂
I loved the movie and all the books. Personally I though Twilight the movie was better than New Moon the movie. The funny thing is my husband loved Twilight the movie too. I get a kick out of that!
oh what a great new “sauce” 🙂
I am reading Seeds of Change right now and I’m on the sugar section…basically it goes through the social history of sugar, if that makes sense. It talks about how we consume so much of it yet nutritionally it does nothing for us. I know I need to cut back on my sugar intake but it’s SO hard. I feel like if I didn’t eat sweets, my diet would be excellent as far as variety and nutritional quality of the foods I eat. But those damn desserts….gets me every time! I’d be interested to hear more on your thoughts on this subject from your education…I feel like there is so much misinformation out there.
I am hoping shards of glass refer to refind sugar right? I would hate to think the fructose in my apple is going through my body like shards of glass…
Your overnight oats look sooooo good that they almost make me want to try them. I haven’t made overnight oats yet because well, they, seem like they wouldn’t be good to me LOL. Maybe….
It was great hearing you chat it up last night on the call ~ I think everyone was inspired by you 🙂
Have a great weekend!
Danica
Okay I love Twilight too, just jumped on the bandwagon actually. I think I am the only one who doesn’t find Kristen Stewart gorgeous. I think she’s pretty but not as drop dead gorgeous as the book made her sound. I don’t know, I liked her a lot more in the second movie! Can’t wait for the third movie to come out!
Being an insulin dependent diabetic, I know all too well about sugar – sadly, the reason its called the “silent disease” is that you can go YEARS without any real symptoms, and then when you do, its too late.
I am a good diabetic though – my doctor calls me his dream patient! 😀
I watched that Oprah too – so scary! I thought twice about eating sugar for about a day, and then was back to it :)/ I definitely don’t eat a lot of it, so I feel like it is ok. I just did a post on agave nectar today, check it out! http://healthylaps.com/2010/02/19/agave-good-or-bad/
Great idea for a sauce, I need to try that!
xo
K
what a great and simple idea with the nut butter and soymilk and making a sauce and warming it up, yummy.
Mmm the maple almond butter “sauce” looks soo delicious. 🙂 It makes me want a nice hot bowl of oats rightttttt now.
I’m hoping you can elaborate on how sugar acts as “shards of glass” in our bloodstream. Since all our food is eventually converted to sugar, wouldn’t that mean that everything we ate would act as these “shards of glass”? I’m just confused and think that the statement definitely needs more clarification/research…
For those who would like to see/read it, here is where Dr. Oz talks about sugar acting as shards of glass. Since he is a heart surgeon, I am more likely to believe him than random people who leave comments on a blog.
http://www.oprah.com/oprahshow/Diabetes-101-with-Dr-Oz-Dr-Ian-Smith-and-Bob-Greene/4
Kath, thank you so much for bringing this to my attention! 🙂
Re. Sugar,
I wasn’t presenting this as the latest scientific research; just sharing what I thought was a cool demonstration. It was about diabetes and uncontrolled glucose levels, not just normal people eating an apple. But I found it an interesting animation. I haven’t had time to research this any further, but a quick Google search seemed to suggest that the AHA came out with some new possible links of [high] sugar levels and CVD late last year. Nothing hard, but correlations.
Dr. Oz was talking about high blood sugar, not the sugar we eat. It all got mushed together on the show. Hyperglycemia (high blood sugar) damages the arteries over time. He was using shards of glass as a analogy. Check out the many diabetes sites online that really took issue with that show–from confusing Type 1 and Type 2, implying that Type 2s are responsible for their own disease (Type 2 is strongly gene-linked, NOT Type 1), to many other inaccuracies. Lots of emails/letters went out to the Oprah show after that episode.
I understand that Oz was making the (good) point that we all eat too much sugar, in all its forms, in the U.S. But if you’re diabetic, any carbohydrate will raise your blood sugar to dangerous levels if you eat enough of it. Including whole-grain breads, oatmeal, and a million other otherwise healthy (delicious!) foods. I’m a type 2, and a small bowl of plain oatmeal will raise my blood sugar to around 240!! Before I became diabetic, a breakfast like that would have barely raised it above 100. With Type 2 the pancreas gradually burns out; high blood sugar literally poisons the beta cells that produce insulin.
So…if you’ve been diagnosed with Type 2 or prediabetes, reducing starchy and sugary carbs is a must.
We need to know where does your husband hide the Doritios? Even KATH must have here not healthy food weekness?
OOh, I just found Justin’s maple almond butter last week and HAD to buy a jar (albeit spendy) bc I love love love anything maple flavored. Can’t wait to bust that out!