Current Breakfast Obsession: Oatmeal with Cacao Nibs & Figs

So when I’m not eating this egg scramble, it’s because I’m equally obsessed with another breakfast recipe from the Food Lover’s Cleanse — Oatmeal with Cacao Nibs & Figs.  <– Just totally typed “Nibs & Fibs,” which is so much funnier.

If you’ve never had figs, they’re kinda creepy.  True Story: When we were in Barcelona, Joey ordered a duck dish that had figs (which he’d never had before) in it and he was mortified when his plate came out and he thought the figs were raw duck parts.  And now that I’ve told that story, don’t you totally feel hungry?  Honestly though, fresh figs do kind of look like some kind of alien or maybe something you’d see in a biology textbook, but fear not.  Dried figs are much less creepy than their fresh counterpart and this breakfast recipe luckily uses the dried variety, which are sticky sweet and sort of date-like, except they’re seedy, for you texture-lovers out there.

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Though you could use whatever oats (or grain) you want, the recipe calls for steel cut oats, so I make a bigger batch over the weekend then all you have to do come weekday morning is heat some up on the stove with a little bit of water to thin it back out.  Then you add some chopped figs, some cacao nibs — which aren’t cheap, so you better believe I’m getting my money’s worth by using up every last nib — and serve it on up.  The recipe doesn’t call for it, but I add some almond butter on top because why not?  And also because I’m going through an almond butter phase and want to put it on everything.

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What is your current breakfast obsession?

Current Breakfast Obsession: Pomegranate Overnight Oatmeal

So, I am kind of lying when I call this my “current breakfast obsession.”  Because, truth be told, I’ve only eaten it twice.  Twice this year, that is.  And that’s because this breakfast involves pomegranate and those fuchsia beauties just showed up in my grocery store last week.  Whether that means pomegranate is actually in season or not is up for debate.

But, I was obsessed with this breakfast around this time last year and now that poms are back, I’m sure to be obsessed again.  So, this is kind of a breakfast obsession in advance.  And I feel comfortable declaring this obsession-to-come because I’m pretty well versed in my own predictability.

Oh, P.S. This is totally the wrong season for a cold breakfast, but there’s granola and maple syrup and a doughy texture that feels pretty comfort food-y so it totally works.

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The night before, I mix up 1/3 cup each of oats, plain Greek yogurt and milk (I use unsweetened almond) then cover the bowl and leave it in the fridge overnight.  In the morning, mix then top with 1T maple syrup, 1/4 cup pomegranate arils and 1/4 cup granola (I just made this one and it’s incredible!).  Then devour!

I have this love/hate relationship with pomegranate where I hate to de-seed it, but I love those juicy bursts of flavor in the arils.  I try to remind myself how good they taste in this breakfast when I am de-seeding and inevitably being super picky about making sure to get every little bit of the pulp out.  I swear it’s worth it 🙂

Happy Friday!