Showing posts with label overnight oatmeal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label overnight oatmeal. Show all posts

Monday, March 12, 2018

Overnight Oats: The Quickest Healthy Breakfast Ever!

Jan here, with my new favorite busy-day-breakfast.

You know those days, don't you?

It's the Sunday morning when you have three dozen things to do before church. Or the morning when you have an important appointment at eight AM. Or just any morning when the family needs to get out the door, fed and clothed, and in a good mood.

Or, if you're a writer on a deadline. *hand shooting up in the air here!*

The thing that makes this the quickest breakfast ever is that you make it the day before, so it's all set to go in the morning. Just grab and go!

Peanut Butter-Chocolate Overnight Oats

ingredients:
1/3 cup plain Greek yogurt

2/3 cup unsweetened milk of choice - I use almond milk

1/2 cup rolled oats...and fill your measuring cup to overflowing. :-)

1 Tablespoon chia seeds or ground flaxmeal (optional if you don't have either one, but they give the oats a more pudding-like texture...especially the chia seeds)

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 Tablespoons peanut flour, like Trim Healthy Mama Pressed Peanut Flour or PB2 (if you're feeding growing children, go ahead and use regular peanut butter)

2 Tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder

Pinch of salt

Sweetener of your choice. I use 2 teaspoons THM Super Sweet Blend, or you can use Truvia, honey, maple syrup, or sugar



Two minutes to mix it up:
In a small mixing bowl, combine everything, stirring well.

Pour the mixture into a jar or small bowl with a lid, at least 2 cups in volume.

Cover tightly and refrigerate at least six hours, but preferably overnight. Use within 24 hours.

Before eating, stir well. Sweeten to taste, if needed.


Many people call this kind of meal "overnight oatmeal," but I think that name is misleading. It is more like a pudding than oatmeal, especially since you eat it cold.

But this recipe is filling! Two cups of this fills me up for an entire morning. If it's too much, make it into two servings, or cut the recipe in half.

(Sorry I don't have a picture. I forgot until after breakfast was over. It was a busy Sunday morning!)

And once you've eaten this packed-with-protein, low-sugar meal, you're ready to take on the day!


Now, how are things in your part of the country?

We're expecting definitely spring-like temperatures this week, and some weather folks have even mentioned "70s" for later this week!

We don't have any flowers yet, but when we were in Custer State Park last week, we saw our first pair of bluebirds.

This was our first 2017 sighting - this year's pair were
too flighty for my camera!

And the sunshine is wonderful. It doesn't have to be warm when the sun is shining this brightly!


How is spring at your house? Creeping in slowly? Or in full bloom?








Jan Drexler lives in the Black Hills of South Dakota with her husband and growing family. When she isn't writing, she loves hiking in the Hills or satisfying her cross stitch addiction.

You can find Jan on Facebook, Jan Drexler, author, or her website, Jan Drexler.com.

Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Give A Moose A Muffin: A Better Alternative



Julie here, I'm thrilled Mary Curry, winner of numerous writing awards including Love Inspired's Killer Voice contest, is joining us today and even more thrilled by what I learned! And be sure to keep an eye out for her debut Love Inspired Suspense coming out this fall. 

Good morning everyone. It’s been awhile since I posted here on the Yankee Belle. Thanks, Julie, for asking me to fill in today.

I have a question for you. What’s for breakfast?

That’s a problem that is making me crazy.

Do you know the children’s book If You Give a Moose a Muffin?





That’s me at breakfast. Give me a muffin and I want another one. Or a cookie. Or a donut. I need something carby with my coffee.

But carby with your coffee = weighty on the hips.  Besides, I think breakfast carbs are probably bad for you in inverse proportion to how good they taste.

So I need alternatives.

Oatmeal doesn’t work for me. Even the steel cut kind leaves me hungrier than I was before I ate. Plus I crash about an hour later.
I like Icelandic or Greek yogurts - especially Siggis because the protein grams are way higher than sugar grams. But I can’t eat it every day.

So, what’s a teacher who is going to be stuck all day, with nary a bathroom break, to do if she can’t eat muffins and donuts???

My daughter introduced me to her favorite vegan restaurant here in Brooklyn where they make all kinds of amazingly healthy meals. My favorite breakfast is what they call their Earth Cup. I feel healthy just looking at it. They serve it with an optional topping of coconut kefir (which I always get because I will eat anything coconut). Basically it’s sprouted buckwheat grouts, fresh fruit, milk (they use rice mylk because it’s vegan), and sunflower butter.

But that yummy Earth cup? It’s expensive!!! (Those 2 things cost over $20) Certainly not something I can do every day, and they’re not even open before I head to work.

I was overjoyed (Yes, really!), last week when I stumbled upon a similar recipe at a cool website called The Simple Veganista.


Have you ever had overnight soaked oats? You put everything in a cup and soak in the fridge overnight and in the morning it’s all ready for you to just add some fresh fruit or a dab of yogurt. Some recipes do call for you to cook it the night before and then chill. It makes a really nice alternative on hot summer mornings.



I love this website because of a number of recipes (Cranberry Walnut Chickpea Salad is AWESOME!), so I was excited to try Overnight Buckwheat Steel Cut Oats.





Another cool website - Oh She Glows - has a raw version (Overnight Buckwheat Parfait) that’s mixed with chia seeds. I think the overnight raw version is closer to my beloved earth cup, minus the chia.



The addition of sunflower butter is the best part though even though these recipes don’t include it. I love this because I have so many students with severe nut allergies this year that I can’t have anything with nuts in the classroom.



You can buy it at the store.    


Or you can make your own - really easily and cheaply! You buy plain, unsalted, SHELLED, sunflower seeds, roast them, then blend in your blender until it’s a nut butter consistency. (You can read a really enthusiastic recipe on how to make them here - http://thehealthyfoodie.com/natural-home-made-toasted-sunflower-seed-butter/)


So, what do you eat for breakfast?