Overnight Oats: Morning Glory or a Snooze?

I’d been seeing overnight oats all over the place (and by “all over the place” I mean “Pinterest” of course) and I was intrigued. I’ve always been used to making my oatmeal the traditional way – hot! – so the thought of mixing my oats with a bunch of goopy stuff and letting them sit in the fridge for hours was a bit strange. But I figured that I love cookie dough and mixing oats with wet stuff would be kind of like cookie dough, so I should at least give it a try, right? You really can’t get any more simple than this. Start with oats (duh), add some moisture (almond milk, yogurt, peanut butter, mashed banana, etc), choose your favorite mix-ins (nuts, seeds, chocolate chips, protein powder, spices, fruit) and just go wild! I decided to get into the spirit of the season and make my first batch a pumpkin-y treat.

Pumpkin Pie Protein Overnight Oats

1c oats (not instant oatmeal or quick oats) 1/4c almond milk 1/4c pumpkin puree 1/8c chia seeds 1/4c Greek yogurt 1/4c vanilla protein powder (optional) 1/4c chopped raw walnuts or pecans your favorite sweetener (stevia, agave, honey, etc… I used stevia!) cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, cloves OR all-in-one pumpkin pie spice! pinch of salt Seriously, you just mix all this stuff together. There’s really not that much more to it! I just kind of threw it in the bowl willy-nilly, but I think if I were giving you a professional recommendation (which I guess I kind of am), I would say to mix all your wet ingredients together and add the oats and seeds (and protein powder, if you’re using it). If it seems a little too wet still, sprinkle a few extra oats in there. Then add the stevia and spices/salt to taste. Scoop the mixture into 4 containers (I used these squat lil’ mason jars, aww!) and store them in the fridge… you guessed it… OVERNIGHT. As the time passes, the oats and chia seeds will absorb a bunch of the liquid and in the morning you’ll have a thick, soft mixture reminiscent of a pudding. Not very similar to oatmeal cookie dough like I had hoped, but it’s definitely better for you. For some reason, this combination was missing a little something for me… I think next time I do this, I’ll add a teensy bit more salt and maybe a scoop of honey almond butter in lieu of the yogurt and protein powder. Really, you can play with this recipe and add or subtract complementary ingredients until you find your ideal mixture. It’s a good swap for your run-of-the-mill instant oatmeal, especially because you can just grab it and go in the morning! I don’t think I’ve revolutionized my breakfast routine forever, but I definitely think these overnight oats are a good thing to add to my AM arsenal.