Oats

Red Velvet Baked Oatmeal made with beets, cacao powder, and chocolate chips. Bake it in under an hour for a delicious colorful breakfast!

Timing in life is such a delicate and tenuous balance of push and pull, isn’t it? 

When embarking on new adventures, projects, and plans, I often ask myself, is this the *right* time for this venture? 

Sometimes there is this knowing that, yes, my energy is aligned and my calendar is open and I want this now. 

However, more often than not, the path is not so obviously yellow brick road. 

It’s hard for me to accept that, for many things, there is no *right* time, there is only the time you make. 

Some things, like moving, having kids, and organizing the attic (yikes), feel too daunting to tackle in the present. 

And yet other things I pursue relentlessly, like adding a new puppy to our home, running my small business, and teaching yoga. 

We have the autonomy to create these chapters in our lives, and not the other way around. 

So, I’m excited to share that I registered for my YTT 300 hr teacher training this April! 

Five years after completing my 200 hour training, I’m hungry for more yoga knowledge and excited to apply it to my class. 

I’m also hungry for Red Velvet Baked Oats for breakfast. 

Valentine’s Day might be over, but I’m still committed to making food pink and red, at least for the rest of February. 

Ever since being sick a few weeks back, oats have made a huge comeback for breakfast as a cozy source of nourishment. 

These Red Velvet Baked Oatmeal are made with beets, cacao powder, and chocolate chips.

Bake them in under an hour for a delicious colorful breakfast!

…

Read More

Cookie Dough Overnight Oats made creamy with cashew butter, vegan yogurt, and chocolate chips. Perfect for meal prep breakfast!

Hello 2025!

It’s been a second since I sat down and wrote a blog post, so let’s see if I remember how to do this. 

Forgive me if I ramble and grumble a little but I promise we will get to a recipe at the end of all of this, ok?

POV: January is a strange month. 

I personally feel a lot of contradictory feelings and energy; anyone else?

On the one hand, there’s this dizzying forward momentum. 

The increase of newcomers at the climbing gym, the annual goal setting we’re witness to via social media, the marketing campaigns promising, “New year, new you.”

On the other hand, there’s an unsettling quietness after a hustling holiday season. 

And maybe instead of goal setting, go getting, and planning all out 2025 vacations, maybe we just want to take a nap. 

Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m still very much into the intention setting world. 

I indulged in a cozy journaling session to think back on 2024, the good, the bad, and everything in between. 

And then followed that session with another to look forward into 2025; to dream, manifest, and cultivate. 

Every year I choose a word of the year; something that sums up the goals I’m trying my hardest to make a reality.

Usually it’s also a word that I choose a little based on feeling, because if it’s the “right” word, I feel a tugging in my gut when I read it out loud. 

This year’s word that gave me butterflies, is SPACE. 

The word might have an entirely different connotation to you than it does for me, and that’s OK! 

For me, it encompasses a feeling of mental expansion, a physical move (that we anticipate making later this year), and a allowance of physical presence.

I’m working on creating this idea and mantra of space slowly but surely.

Kind of like easing back into recipe creation when it felt right. 

(I did promise you that this prologue would lead to something yummy, didn’t I?!)

I want to kick off our 2025 recipe calendar with something easy, accessible, and delicious. 

These Cookie Dough Overnight Oats have been fueling my busy mornings and I’m excited to share them with you. 

They’re made super creamy and cookie-licious with cashew butter, vegan yogurt, and dark chocolate chips. 

…

Read More

Sweet Potato Pie Baked Oatmeal made with sweet potato, pumpkin pie spice, and candied pecans. Perfect for a fall meal prep breakfast!

Last week I signed up for a 10K run on Thanksgiving Day!

If you’ve been around here a while, you know that I’ve been a runner for over a decade now.

I come and go with the sport, inspired by the seasons and the weather and what races I have on the calendar. 

My longest run was a full marathon I did back in 2022, but these days I’m more of a short distance girlie. 

When I lace up my runners and hit the pavement now, 3 miles feels tough; forget about 26.2! 

But if you know me you know I’m a goal oriented person, and I love having something to work towards and train towards. 

I’m in a season of life where dog training is keeping me busy, but making time for personal goals hits differently. 

So I hit the “purchase” button when I was all fired up about running and excited to enjoy the fall weather. 

Now, I’m feeling slightly sick knowing that this run (and Thanksgiving!) is a short few weeks away. 

If there’s one thing I am good at, though, it’s sticking to a training schedule. 

Well, and making new variations of baked oats to enjoy. 

I’m counting on these Sweet Potato Pie Baked Oatmeal to keep me fueled this fall as I get back on track with running again! 

This dish is made with mashed sweet potato, pumpkin pie spice, and candied pecans.

It’s the perfect energizing fall meal prep breakfast to support your lifestyle with complex carbs, protein, and healthy fats. 

And, it would be a fabulous Thanksgiving breakfast for the whole family!

…

Read More

Peaches ‘N’ Cream Overnight Oats with vegan yogurt, rolled oats, and peaches. Perfect to make in advance for a healthy breakfast!

Life has been decidedly and deliciously slower the past two weeks. 

After a busy week of travel, M and I took an unplanned “staycation” to catch up on sleep, life, and work. 

Aside from going out for the necessities, AKA groceries, indoor rock climbing, and Nagadi coffee, the car has remained watchful in its parking spot. 

At first I fought the rest, trying to find productivity in the stillness, achievement in the sleep, and accomplishment in the quiet. 

But then I settled into these long and languid summer days. 

Reading ACOTAR with M nestled into the couch, playing card games with our new Yellowstone deck, eating ice cream until my tongue is numb and tasteless. 

It seems like since we got back into town the summer produce scene exploded overnight. 

The zucchini looks greener, heirloom tomatoes are bigger, and the peaches are juicier.

Today’s recipe is one that I developed before our trip, but one that I came back to afterwards because it’s easy, filling, and screams summer! 

AKA perfect for our summer vacation, staycation, and everything in between. 

These Peaches ‘N’ Cream Overnight Oats are made with vegan yogurt, rolled oats, and peaches.

It’s perfect to make in advance for a healthy breakfast to fuel you for whatever summer has in store for you. 

…

Read More

Blueberry protein overnight oats made with Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free Organic Old-Fashioned Rolled Oats. Perfect for quick summer meal prep!

Last weekend M and I went beachfront camping with two of our friends and their baby on the Nanticoke River in Maryland. 

Of all the camping trips we’ve done together, I think this one was the hardest. 

So, camping is always innately hard, right? 

For me, that’s part of the charm of it. 

It strips down your life, making all of those small mundane tasks you do without thinking more difficult, forcing you into the present by problem-solving. 

Need to do the dishes? You have to walk 5 minutes to the closest water station, lugging dirty pots and pans and detergent with you. 

Want to make coffee? You have to light the camp cooktop and boil some water in the camping kettle. 

Fancy a shower? Well, you may or may not be in luck, depending on how back country you are. 

Usually, by infusing my life with a little discomfort, it reminds me of the little joys in life. 

So I was prepared to do without and be on the water and in the summer sun, but I wasn’t prepared for the extreme heat, the thunderstorms, and the exposed campsite (without any shade!) 

We made it through one sweaty, sleepless night, narrowly dodging some severe weather. 

I swear I didn’t sleep at all, tossing and turning in my toasty sleeping bag, opening an eye every thirty minutes to check for the first signs of daylight; nature’s way of signaling an appropriate time to emerge from my tent. 

When the weather threatened for more storms the next evening with even higher temps, we did what any nature-loving experienced campers would do. 

We bailed. 

Honestly, if it wasn’t for the tarp our friends brought to create some man-made shade and these Blueberry Protein Overnight Oats for breakfast, we might have bailed even sooner. 

These Blueberry Protein Overnight Oats are made with blended blueberry milk and oats naturally sweet with maple syrup.

They’re perfect for quick summer meal prep wherever your summer adventures take you!

…

Read More

Strawberry cheesecake overnight oats with raw cashews, rolled oats, and strawberries. Perfect to make in advance for a healthy breakfast!

This past weekend my hiking group completed our first hike of 2021!

We eased into the year of hikes exploring 5 miles of trails on Sugarloaf Mountain, in Dickerson, Maryland. 

The morning of the hike, I fueled with one of my pre-hiking staples; overnight oats.

I *love* eating oats before being active because they’re packed with protein, fiber, and complex carbs.

They’re satiating, quick, nourishing, and did I mention delicious? 

I had the idea early this year to make a vegan “cheesecake” overnight oats variation, and, well, here it is! 

These Strawberry Cheesecake Overnight Oats are made with raw cashews, rolled oats, and strawberries.

They’re easy to mix up in advance for a healthy meal prep breakfast that will have you excited for breakfast and energized for whatever happens afterwards. 

…

Read More