Friday, August 22, 2014

Basic Overnight Oats & A Chocolate Variation

I joined cross country! This was my first time ever doing a school sport, so I was pretty nervous. After I had signed up, I looked back at my school webpage and noticed that the cross country had only Varsity under it, which I took to mean that I had just accidentally joined the Varsity team. My mouth hung open, my fingers froze on the keyboard and my thoughts raced. WHAT!? I CAN'T JOIN VARSITY! THAT'S FOR THE SUPER SPEEDY, ELITE, CRAZY GOOD PEOPLE!!!! WAAHHHH! I'M GOING TO BE KICKED OFF THE TEAM BECAUSE I FAILED SO BAD AND IT'S GOING TO BE SO EMBARRASSING AND IF FOR SOME REASON THEY ARE SO SORRY FOR ME THAT THEY DON'T KICK ME OFF THE TEAM I'LL BE THE WORST AND WILL MOST LIKELY LITERALLY EAT THEIR DUST!!! I looked everywhere for the cancel button, but there was none, and try-outs were tomorrow too! Eventually I contacted a friend, miserably explaining everything, but she wrote back and said that it only said Varsity because it wasn't split into 3 teams! I was incredibly relieved, but I couldn't help myself from contacting the coach anyways. The coach's reply really cinched it for me, he explained everything, plus there were no cuts! I was like "I shall do it! I shall join-eth cross country, I shall rrrrrrun!". Or something like that . . .

Basic Overnight Oats and Chocolate Overnight Oats, with a blackberry banana layer in the middle, and cacao nibs on top.

The next day was our first practice, and the nerves came all over again. What if I'm still the worst? What if I don't know anyone? What if I'm just that outsider who keeps to herself and nobody talks to (this one was quite far fetched, because there are always bound to be nice people who introduce themselves but I was panicking, alright? Worst case scenarios came to my mind with ease.)?! What if the coach was terrifyingly scary? What if, what if, what if? A tense lunch came a went, and then it was time to go. I packed some water, a banana, and my little red phone (What if I'm the only one who brought a bag?!), then slowly dragged myself to the car. Despite my nerves, I couldn't help but feel excited. We (me and my mom) arrived at the out-door track, and waited by a chain link fence. I saw an older boy waiting a little ways down, but was too shy terrified to go ask if we were waiting in the right place. Soon enough however, a nice looking lady in one of those little cart things zoomed by us, while simultaneously asking if we were waiting for track. I nodded, *phew*, and bid my mom good-bye. After she left, I was left waiting by the fence, and slowly a steady trickle of students started coming in, all for cross country. They greeted each other with claps on the back, shouts, laughter, and I stood alone. I raised my eyes every once in a while from my robotic squeezing of the fence, and finally my gaze chanced upon a girl that I recognized! I nearly rammed into her I was so happy to see a familiar face, and we stood together as we waited for the coach to arrive. Finally, he came. He looked nice enough, didn't seem as if he was one of those stereotypical coaches in TV shows. As he commenced the roll call, I decided that he was a nice person, which made me sag with relief again. I would probably have been on the floor if I sagged anymore. The assistant coach was very kind (and rather pretty) too. We even got these cool little running water bottle thingies that came with a little pouch-ma-bob attached!

The team was definitely not as huge as my half- crazed mind had imagined it was going to be and as we began warming up, I soon began to have fun! We did an easy jog, warm ups on the track, and soon were told to go for a run. Now came the slightly tricky part. I ran about twice a week over the summer, for 3.5 - 4 miles. I had to choose to either go into the group who had run at least every other day, or the group that had barely run at all. The group that hadn't run much was composed of the 4 other freshmen there, including my friend, and the other group was composed of all the older kids. I think you could probably guess which one I chose. I joined the other freshman (shows how good at being by myself I am), and we were told to go on a 20-25 minute run, with the last couple minutes filled with 20 second sprint/40 second jog intervals. We complied, and before long it was time to do our final stretches, talk over where to meet the next day, and go home. Go home already? Where did the time fly by? So yeah, my first cross country meet? It. Was. Awesomunicorntastical. Yes, yes that is a word.


 Basic Overnight Oats and Chocolate Overnight Oats with blackberries and banana slices in the middle, and topped with cacao nibs.



Basic Overnight Oats
-1/2 c rolled oats
-3/4 c - 1 c milk of choice (depending on how thick you want it to be)
-1 tbsp chia seeds
-1 banana/1 tbsp maple syrup (or to taste)/ sweetener or choice
-spices/extracts/add-ins of choice

Directions:
The night before, mash your banana (if using) and add it into a bowl, then stir in the oats, milk, chia seeds, and whatever spices/extracts/add-ins you would like. If you are using maple syrup (or another sweetener), stir it in now as well. Cover and let sit in the fridge overnight. In the morning, or whenever you are ready to eat, give the oats another quick stir, then enjoy cold with your toppings of choice. You could also zap it in the microwave until warm, the add toppings.

Chocolate Overnight Oats
-1/2 c rolled oats
-3/4 c - 1 c milk of choice (depending on you preferred thickness)
-1 tbsp chia seeds
-1 heaping tbsp cacao/cocoa powder
-1/2 tsp vanilla extract
-1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
-1 banana/1 tbsp maple syrup (or to taste)/sweetener of choice

Directions:
The night before, mash your banana in a bowl (if using), then add the oats, milk, chia seeds, cacao powder, vanilla extract, and cinnamon. If you are not using the banana as sweetener, add the maple syrup (or whatever sweetener you want to use) and stir everything together. Cover and let sit in the refrigerator overnight, and in the morning give it a quick stir before adding toppings of choice. You can either eat it cold or warm it up in the microwave. If you are microwaving I would suggest adding toppings afterwards.

Basic and Chocolate Overnight Oats topped with cacao nibs.

Basic & Chocolate Overnight Oats Combo
-1/2 c oats
- 3/4 - 1 c milk of choice (depending on how thick you want it)
-1 tbsp chia seeds
-1 banana/1 tbsp maple syrup (or to taste)/sweetener of choice
-1/2 tsp vanilla extract
-1/4 tsp cinnamon
-1 tbsp cacao/cocoa powder

Directions:
The night before, combine your oats, chia seeds, cinnamon, vanilla, milk, and sweetener (if it is a banana mash it) in a bowl. Stir until everything is combined, then cover and refrigerate overnight. In the morning, set half of your overnight oats aside in a separate bowl, then whisk the cacao powder into the remaining portion. Layer the 2 flavors however you'd like in a jar, then add your toppings of choice.






















Basic Overnight Oats and Chocolate Overnight Oats with a blackberry banana layer in the middle, and cacao nibs on top.

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