Overnight Oats to the Rescue!

If you’re like me, mornings always involve a rush. I am NOT a morning person, and you can bet that I’ll do all that I can to squeeze a couple more seconds of snooze time in. Unfortunately, this has caused a need to get creative in order to survive the morning rush. My best mornings occur when clothes are picked out the night before, bags are packed, and breakfast is ready! Since one of my daily goals is to provide nutritious meals for my kids, breakfast rarely consists of cereal or bars, and up until recently I have spent each morning cooking up some tasty delights while my one-year old hangs on my leg and my four-year old reminds me for the 99th time that I should be playing with her. Enter, the newest love of my life, overnight oats. This meal is delicious, nutritious, and conveniently stored in a 4 or 8oz. mason jar, so you literally just have to grab a spoon and call it a morning. Luckily, you can cut down on your nighttime efforts as well, because you can make it in bulk and store it in your fridge for 8-10 days, or you can freeze the individual servings and, depending on your freezer storage space, you could make enough in one sitting to last you for months!In my book, I call that healthy living made easy!

You can find all kinds of fancy overnight oat recipes with many variations, but after reading my hundredth recipe on Pinterest and feeling completely overwhelmed, I developed a base recipe that is simple, delicious, and does not over complicate. The main ingredients that I decided upon are organic rolled oats, water, almond or cashew butter, chia seeds, maple syrup (or honey), and vanilla extract. These ingredients make up the base recipe from which all other recipes are born. From there, you just make a little magic by adding various combinations of super foods like nuts, seeds, fruits, spices, and raw cocoa! The possibilities are endless.

The process is simple. First, I made the base recipe. This is enough to make eight 8oz. mason jars. Feel free to double or triple the recipe! Then I mixed the rolled oats, cashew/almond butter, maple syrup/honey, and vanilla extract in a large mixing bowl and stirred to combine.

While this sat, I mixed up my topping combos in smaller mixing bowls. This time I decided to make 4 varieties; Decadent Chocolate, Carrot Cake, Berry Delicious, and I left one to be plain, aka Vanilla. By the time I was done, the oats’ mixture had sat long enough (about 15-20 mins.) to soak together and become less liquid. I decided to make two of each kind, so I scooped a bit less than 1 cup for what would be each jar. I added the base into each new recipe bowl (except the vanilla which I left in the main bowl).

I mixed all of the ingredients and poured them into two 8oz. mason jars. Easy as pie, or in this case, OATS!

Overnight Oats Base Recipe (Vanilla)

4 ½ cups Old Fashioned Oats
4 ½ cups Water
6 tablespoon Chia Seeds
6 tablespoons Cashew or Almond Butter (the only ingredient should be the nut!)
6 tablespoons Maple Syrup (the REAL stuff!)
1 ½ teaspoons Pure Vanilla Extract

Directions:

Mix all ingredients and let it sit overnight. If you are making variations, let it sit while you prepare the rest of the recipe.

Decadent Chocolate (Makes 2- 8oz. Jars)

2 tablespoons Raw Cocao Powder
1 tsp Extra Virgin Coconut Oil (melted) optional

Carrot Cake

¼ cup Carrot (finely grated)
¼ cup Walnuts Chopped (If you have whole walnuts place them in a zip lock bad and hit them with a meat tenderizer)
2 tablespoons Raisins
½ teaspoon Cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon Ginger

Berry Delicious

¼ cup Berries of choice (Fresh or Frozen. I used frozen organic blueberries and raspberries)

Once you have all of the recipes made up in their own individual mixing bowls add 1 ½ cups of the oat mixture to each bowl. Mix to combine. Scoop each of the batches into 2 -8oz. mason jars. Refrigerate overnight and enjoy! You should be able to store these in the fridge for 8-10 days and in the freezer for up to several months. If you you do choose to store your oats in the freezer you may need to leave a little more room in the jar for expansion.

Keep in mind that freezing destroys some of the foods natural digestive enzymes. As we grow older our bodies also produce less digestive enzymes. Digestive enzymes aid in the digestion and absorption of the food we eat! If you are eating healthy, but not properly digesting the nutrients you'll be sorely missing out! I still freeze foods when needed, but I also take a great digestive enzyme supplement from Young Living. Click here to check it out and message me to find out how to get this product at 24% off.

I hope these oats can make your body healthy and your daily jam run more efficiently! ENJOY!

Wishing you wellness, purpose, and abundance,

Emily

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