Hungry Bear and I recently discovered chocolate oatmeal courtesy of Jeff, one of my closest friends and Penn State buddy. He came out to visit us a few weeks ago to rest, relax, cook, eat and ride (road biking). Jeff actually prepared a few meals for us while he was here. You've gotta love a house guest who will cook for you!

One morning after running the Lyon Street Steps, Hungry Bear made some steel cut oats and Jeff turned it into chocolate oatmeal by adding a little Scharffen Berger sweetened cocoa powder. It was delicious! And I can't believe that we didn't think about this combination ourselves. We typically have our oatmeal with some sliced bananas and brown sugar, which is good, but not as brilliant as chocolate oatmeal!

So the next time you want a healthy breakfast, reach for the steel cut oats and a little cocoa powder. Thanks Jeff!

What do you get when you win a bet against a Hoosier fan? The answer is chocolate chunk oatmeal cookies, if you make the bet with Hungry Bear. My Penn State buddy, Jeff, made a bet with her on the Penn State vs. Indiana football game last month. Since Jeff lives in New York City, they agreed to wager on homemade cookies, which are easily shippable. Despite a valiant effort by the Hoosiers, the Nittany Lions narrowly came out on top and Hungry Bear was relegated to baking cookies! One batch for Jeff and another batch for us to enjoy.

We don't have a tried and true oatmeal cookie recipe, so Hungry Bear used a recipe from The New Best Recipe cookbook, which has our favorite chocolate chip cookies recipe. She followed the recipe with one minor change for the first batch. Instead of using semisweet chips, she used Scharffen Berger bittersweet chocolate chunks for a more rustic look and a richer chocolate taste. The second batch contained half bittersweet chunks and half butter toffee chunks from chopped Hershey's SKOR candy bars.