Oatmeal Peanut Butter Energy Bites

I bought a box of oatmeal at Costco last week. They don’t sell oatmeal in anything smaller than 1 bazillion pound boxes. Which means I still have enough oatmeal to last me for at least another few years and through a zombie apocalypse. So, when I got tired of eating bowls of oatmeal every morning (which was only on day 3) I decided to try to make a snack  that a friend had brought to the hospital a few months ago to use up some of the massive amount of oatmeal I have.

I was super surprised that these were so easy to make and delicious! I’ll definitely be making these next year for snacking at the hospital when I don’t have time for lunch, or even when I do and I just need a 3pm pick me up! Also, they are high in fiber and low in sugar. Kind of like indulging in a cookie, but with this recipe you can at least feel better about it. I even ate them for breakfast today, see totally healthy….

Oatmeal PB Energy Bites (or OPBEB for short because doctors love acronyms)

Ingredients:

2 cups old-fashioned oats (I tried them with instant and it worked okay too)

3/4 cup fresh ground peanut butter

3/4 cup coconut flakes

1/4 cup mini-chocolate chips

1/2 cup honey (or agave)

2 Tbsp Chia seeds

1 Tbsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp salt

1. Stir all ingredients together in a small bowl. I added the oatmeal 1/2 cup at a time. It may seem like there’s too much oatmeal and it’ll never stir together, but just keep on stirring. I promise it’ll work.
2. Chill in the refrigerator for 30-ish minutes.
3. Using a spoon and your hands, pick up some of the mixture and roll into 1 inch balls.
4. Store in the refrigerator.

Thankful for my Friends

I am DONE with the MICU and done with all rotations until the end of January – Horay! Next up, I get to fly all about the US like a crazy person doing interviews for residency during the next 2 months. This is the fun (?… yes, fun) part of 4th year! It will also be the first time in 3 years that I won’t feel guilty for taking time off during the holidays to study. I always did take the time off, but the “need to study” nagging guilty feeling in the back of my mind won’t be there this year.

To start this chunk of time off right, I got together with some friends for our annual *Friendsgiving* this weekend.  I brought a veggie tray (to keep us a little healthy), but I’m a sucker for dessert so I also brought a peanut butter chocolate pie (see below). I don’t think PB/chocolate is um traditional Thanksgiving food, but I promise you that after one bite of this pie you will forget all about that orange pumpkin goop. (kidding, I love pumpkin pie, but this pie is seriously really good).

After all that food, I ended my weekend with a killer 7.75 mile run. It’s been so cold here lately, and I wasn’t feeling the run at first. Luckily, I have an awesome friend who forced me out in the cold weather and it ended up being the best and longest run I’ve done in awhile! I felt great after!

Moral of this weekend: Friends are the best 🙂

What are you thankful for?

Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie (inspired by a collection of Pinterest recipes with my own added twist)

Ingredients:

Graham cracker crust: 1/2 C butter + 2 C crumbled graham crackers (OR just buy a premade crust)

1/2 C PB, softened in microwave 30 sec

1/4 C butter, softened

1/4ish C powered sugar

Instant chocolate pudding mix

Light Cool Whip

1 1/2 C Fat-free milk

PB cups, roughly chopped (as many as you want! I used ~3/4 of a 12 oz bag so 9oz)

1. Use the back of your spoon to mash the graham cracker crust/butter mixture into a 9” pie pan (or buying your own is much easier….)
2. In a separate bowel, mix the PB and softened butter together, adding the powdered sugar until the mixture is the consistency of brownie batter. (sorry for the imprecise sugar measurements, I literally just added the sugar until the mix was thinner than PB but seemed still spreadable) 
3. In another bowel, Wisk or blend the milk and chocolate pudding together (can use a fork if you’re like me and don’t have a wisk or a blender). Fold in 3/4 of the tub of cool whip (reserving some for the top of the pie) & add in the chopped PB cups.
4. Bottom layer – spread the PB/butter mix on the bottom.
5. Next layer – the pudding/cool whip/PB cups mix.
6. Top with the plain cool whip & decorate.

 

First post!

Hello! I started this site with these huge lofty goals of posting recipes and all kinds of fun things throughout my 3rd year of med school. Weeeell, I’m a 4th year medical student now and just getting to writing my first post (whoops!). Third year of med school kept me busy to say the least! It was so much fun (and so much better than year 1 and 2), but I was also WAY busier.

4th year so far has been great. I finished taking my Step 2 CK (2nd written exam to be a licensed physician) and now am doing an away rotation at another school’s program. It just so happens (or maybe I planned it that way…) that one of my bestest friends from college lives there now so I am staying with her this month. We are guilty of hitting all the tourist hotspots, and also trying out some new restaurants and even doing some cooking at her apartment! So, I thought I’d mark my first post by sharing a fall recipe we made this week. It has cheese and wine in it so obviously it’s delicious. Hope you enjoy!

Spaghetti Squash Cheesy Bake 

Roasted spaghetti squash. Yum!

Ingredients:

1 spaghetti squash (any size. The one I bought was ~4 lb)

2 garlic cloves, diced

12 oz Trader Joe’s broccoli florets (no prep work needed? yes please)

1/2 large valdalia onion, coarse chopped

3-5 oz white wine (I used a Riesling. Need enough to cover the bottom of your saute pan.)

15 oz low-fat ricotta cheese

6 oz shredded parmesan cheese

1 large egg, whisked

1 1/2 C jarred pasta sauce (I used Newman’s Own Sockarooni)

Olive oil

Spices: salt, pepper, basil, thyme, crushed red pepper flakes

1. Stab a few holes in squash with a knife (be careful). Microwave for 3-5 minutes. This softens the outer shell of the squash and makes it easier to split open.
2. Split the squash in half lengthwise. Take out the seeds using a spoon.
3. Heat oven to 425 F. Drizzle olive oil over the cut surfaces. Sprinkle with salt/pepper/basil/thyme. Place squash on a cookie sheet, cut side up. Roast for 30-40 minutes until squash is tender.
4. While the squash is cooking – heat 2 tbsp olive oil over medium in large saute pan. Once the oil is hot, add in the garlic and onions and cook until onions are transparent, ~5 min. (My non-scientific way of testing the heat of the oil:  add just a few onion/garlic pieces. If they make a nice sizzle sound, it means the oil is hot enough).
5. Turn down the heat a little (low-medium) and add in the broccoli florets, wine, salt/pepper/seasoning. You can cover the pan with a lid and add a little more wine here, but be sure to stir often and make sure the broccoli doesn’t burn. Once broccoli is bright green and tender, take off the heat and let sit for a few minutes.
6. Mix the ricotta cheese and egg together, then add to the veggie pan.
7. With a fork, scrape out the strands of spaghetti squash directly into the pan with the cheese and broccoli. Add more basil/thyme and the red pepper flakes (I like heat so I add a lot!). Mix until well combined.
8. Transfer the mixture to a 9 inch square baking dish. Top with a layer of tomato pasta sauce and a layer of parmesan cheese.
9. Bake until the cheese is brown and bubbly, ~15-20 minutes.

Into the oven it goes!