Chocolate

I love chocolate. Friends consider me an addict so maybe love is a wee bit of an understatement. And not just any chocolate, DARK chocolate, the real stuff. And preferably fair trade (linky!). So needless to say, as an athlete, when it comes time to drop a weight class it's nearly impossible for me to cut out chocolate. In fact I usually just keep it in the diet, which is probably OK considering I usually eat 85% deliciousness.

Recently, I was reading up on some diets that figure/ fitness competitors use because those ladies are crazy lean and I came upon an interesting breakfast idea. And being a chocoholic, I decided to give it an antioxidant boost with my beloved treat. I present to you.... Supercharged Oatmeal!!

Photo Courtesy of Chuck @ sundaynightdinner.com 

Super Charged Chocolate Oatmeal
1/2 cup Rolled/ Steel Cut Oats
2 Egg Whites
1 Tbsp Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
Big dash of Cinnamon

1. Cook the oats in 1 cup of water with a pinch of Kosher salt until all of the water has been boiled out. No soupy oatmeal.
2. As soon as the oats are done transfer them to a big cereal bowl and immediately begin to add and whip in the egg whites. Stir until fully incorporated. Please take the word immediately seriously, I don't want anyone getting sick, the heat in the oatmeal cooks the egg whites as you stir.
3. Add cocoa powder and cinnamon. Stir until fully incorporated.
4. Sweeten as desired, I use a bit of honey but agave syrup and other sweeteners work just as well. For extra boost of vitamins and antioxidants add fruit of your choice.

Ta-da! Like magic you have the protein of eggs without having to eat scrambled eggs with veggies (like every other morning), and you get all the health benefits of chocolate without the guilt. The cinnamon will kick your metabolism into gear too, it's like the cayenne of sweet food spices, I love it. This is a low GI food too so it should keep you full for a long period of time. I promise you that you cannot even taste or feel or see any trace of eggs in the final product, they get cooked right into the oatmeal. Pretty awesome.

OK, confession time, the figure athlete that I got the recipe from uses 5 egg whites(!), but I couldn't bring myself to sacrifice that many egg yolks/ eggs in general so I modified it. But feel free to add as many egg whites as your heart and pocketbook desire.

So that's just a little gift from me to you athletes and anyone else that wants to try a healthy and delicious breakfast. I'm pretty sure this would go over well with the little ones as well because it's chocolate for breakfast!! Minus all the sugar they pack into processed chocolate products.

Back to sports!
NEW ZEALAND ALL BLACKS WON THE RUGBY WORLD CUP!!!! 2011 CHAMPIONS! I am super happy, they deserved it and fought valiantly for the prize. Love my All Blacks. Thank you for the awesome RWC. It was an intense game too, poor France lost by 1 point! That's extremely rare in a final match. The predicted spread was muuuch more than 1 point. Well done France and NZ.

In football news... what the heck Lions and Bills?! I am rooting for you guys! The ultimate underdogs! I want a crazy, out-of-left-field Super Bowl match up. Please pull yourselves together and deliver. Also I would like for everyone to stop bashing King Ndamukong Suh. That man is a beast, every player talks crap on the field, and he shouldn't be singled out just because he takes his job maybe much more seriously than others. I don't think he's an exceptionally dirty player, he's just intense and makes mistakes at times. I like him. He is like the Burfict of the NFL, except they have no relation in terms of field position haha. But Mr. Suh, please pull your D line together and get the Big W next game. Thanks.
The Pats had the weekend off which was good because I was not prepared to handle an NFL game that I actually cared about this weekend. And even though I am a Pats fan, and therefor the mortal enemy of the Jets by default, I am very happy that they beat the Chargers, because that team (and it's fan base) annoys me to no end. Thanks Sanchez.

Very happy that my USC boys took care of the Irish. Sports people give my team some credit though!!! For goodness' sake. There was some improvement in defense and offense this last game, don't just say that ND choked. Completely not fair. I am still all for a coaching change though, can we get Kiffin out of there? He has too much under-utilized talent to have games like that. CHANGE IT UP BUDDY! I am nervous for the Stanford game but have faith that we will pull off a good performance. Also I'm pretty bummed that I missed the extra epic ending to the Wisconsin game this weekend. I am sad for you Wisconsin, but you can come back! Believe in yourselves. Also I must state how thankful I am to have girlfriends that I can go grab a drink or lunch with and discuss sports, specifically football. Thanks mujeres ♥

Baseball World Series is going pretty well! It's tough to rally a viewing party together when all your football watching friends think baseball is the most boring sport ever, but every now and then I can pull it off, or I just watch with my dad. I'm hoping the Rangers pull of their first WS championship ever. That would be really awesome. Guess we'll just have to wait until tonight or tomorrow to find out! I can tell you are all on the edge of your seat.

Basketball, thank you for not coming back. I know it sucks for everyone that plays basketball, and their wives, and gold-diggers, and the sports arenas, but it's nice to not have it on my ESPN. With two of my sports ending though I'm going to have to find a new channel to watch.

Alright I'm off to train but have an excellent rest of the week! Enjoy some yummy oatmeal, chat with people about sports and enjoy the little flashes of sunshine that we have left for the winter/fall. Be blessed.

-Educated & Unemployed