Or, My New Love, Overnight Oats
They say it’s the most important meal of the day, but I’ve always struggled with it. Traditional breakfast foods (eg, eggs and bacon) don’t usually appeal to me in the morning. I usually just crave tons of carbs.
Then one day I saw this recipe, and it sounded good, so I thought, what the heck, I’ll try it.
The recipe was for peanut butter and chocolate overnight oats, and, no kidding, it has changed my life.
I think I lucked out that the first recipe I tried was very specific and worked out really well. That first morning I pulled out my overnight oats, took a tentative bite, and was like, this is amazing, like eating dessert for breakfast. I was hooked.
I started Googling and searching Pinterest for more recipes, and now have a lineup of about 8 recipes that I cycle through.
I’ve discovered the key is not to take a random recipe too seriously. I’m using 8 oz. jars, so I’ve learned that my base should always be 1/2 cup of oats and 1/2 cup of milk (or liquid) per jar. On top of that, most of my recipes have 2 tsp of chia seeds per jar. Any more and it feels like I’m just eating spoonfuls of chia. The other common ingredient is usually maple syrup as a sweetener. If you’re thinking, ew, I don’t care for a strong maple flavor, I thought the same, but it really doesn’t lend the maple, just the sweetness. It’s more liquid than honey, so easier to blend. Subbing a low-calorie liquid sweetener is probably an option, although I haven’t experimented with that.
Some of the other delicious flavors I’ve made are cookie butter, mint chocolate, chocolate chip cookie dough, mocha, brownie batter, and birthday cake. They all come in under 500 calories and are very filling.
Have you tried overnight oats? Do you want to? Let me know in the comments!