Overnight Oatmeal

One of my favorite finds on Pinterest is Overnight/Refrigerator Oatmeal from the blog The Yummy Life. Basically you throw a few ingredients in a mason jar, shake, store in the fridge overnight, and voila: a healthy, to-go breakfast for the morning.  However, since I'm a Stay At Home Mom, and my husband eats breakfast with my daughter and I before he goes to work, I didn't need a transport-ready meal. What interested me was the idea of making a healthy breakfast for a whole week ahead of time.  This recipe does this beautifully; I make a big batch on Sunday evening, and we eat off of it for the entire work week. I have made the recipe many times now, and have changed the recipe just a tad, and increased the measurements in order to make it in bulk (as opposed to a single serving).  The Yummy Life Blog has all sorts of complex and fun ingredients you can mix into your oatmeal to get different oatmeal recipes.  However, I found it is far easier just to stir in your favorite jam, jelly, or pumpkin butter into the oatmeal to get different flavors. I use low sugar jam to keep it healthy, but feel free to use whatever floats your boat. If you aren't counting calories, I imagine that some brown sugar and maple syrup would be heavenly. 

INGREDIENTS

2 1/2 cups uncooked Old Fashioned Rolled Oats
1/4 Cup Chia Seeds

2 1/2 cups nonfat or low fat Greek Yogurt

3 1/3 cup unsweetened almond milk (or cow, soy, coconut milk)

2/3 Cup Jam of your choosing OR 1/3 Cup Pure Honey

DIRECTIONS

1. In a large bowl or Tupperware (preferably something with a lid), combine all the ingredients. 

2. Stir and cover.

3. Refrigerate overnight, and then give it a good stir before serving.  

 

NOTES:

This batch makes about 10 one cup servings. I make it Sunday night, and have enough breakfast for my husband and I to eat off for the week.  So I can say with certainty that it is good in the fridge for at least a week.  We just scoop it out every morning and eat it in bowls. If you prefer, you could put it in pint mason jars, and then just grab a jar on the way to work each morning, like the original recipe suggests.  

I hear the oatmeal freezes well, so you could make a huge batch, and freeze it in mason jars.  

It is meant to be eaten cold, but I'm sure warming it up would be good too! I haven't tried it yet though.

So far I think Almond Milk tastes the best compared to other types of milk.  I used the vanilla flavor and it really added to the flavor.  Plus, using Almond milk makes it lower carb than using cow's milk.

I had a really hard time finding Chia Seeds.  I ended up getting mine off of Amazon for a reasonable price.  If you don't want to go to the trouble of getting the chia seeds, you could replace it with Flax Seeds or just go without. Keep in mind though, that the chia seeds are one of the reasons that this meal is so nutritious!

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OVERNIGHT OATMEAL

INGREDIENTS

2 1/2 cups uncooked Old Fashioned Rolled Oats
1/4 Cup Chia Seeds

2 1/2 cups nonfat or low fat Greek Yogurt

3 1/3 cups unsweetened almond milk (or cow, soy, coconut milk)

2/3 Cup Jam or 1/3 Cup Pure Honey

DIRECTIONS

1. In a large bowl or Tupperware (preferably something with a lid), combine all the ingredients.

2. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

3. Give it a good stir before serving.  

NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION

Serving Size: 1 cup of oatmeal made with honey

Calories: 179

Carbs: 25 grams

Fat: 4 grams

Protein: 10 grams

Recipe adapted from The Yummy Life

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