Overnight oats that are a true treat!

Father Foodie thought I was a bit crazy a few weeks ago. I got obsessed with the idea of overnight oats and saw them as a healthy and filling breakfast…spoiler alert, I was right.

The recipe I got from Pinterest, the land of all things wonderful, has been tweaked, and gone through a few revisions in the last 6 weeks. Father Foodie is a TOTAL oatmeal snob…no instant oatmeal in his world…if it’s not cooked on the stove he’s not eating it. Once cooked he traditionally would have added copious amounts of butter and sugar to get to a confection he was proud of. Well, those days are over. And I’ll say that the picky son is addicted as well. For three days this month we were traveling and without our staple breakfast…we both couldn’t wait to get home to our treat…because it feels like a treat. We can both attest to not feeling hunger pains until at least noon when we eat this for breakfast…something we couldn’t always say before.

I make as many as I have empty jars for on Sunday as part of meal prep and the recipe is super simple. Zero cooking involved (I know, that sounds odd, but hang in there) and the prep is simple. And holy cow at the variations you can make on this. I’ll list those separately at the bottom to not confuse the recipe. You can buy in bulk at Costco or Sam’s to make this even better….so here we go.

Single Serving Recipe, use flat measurements, no mounding of your scoops:
3/4 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
1/2 cup old fashioned oats (rolled oats, NOT quick oats)
2 tbsp protein powder (we use Orgain plant-based powder, vanilla flavor)
1 tbsp chai seeds
1 tbsp dairy free chocolate chips or cacao nibs
Mix these ingredients together in an airtight container and refrigerate overnight, 6 hours at a minimum.

Topping:
1 tsp agave nectar, honey or maple syrup
1 tsp natural cashew butter (no sugar added)

Heating directions: remove the lid, add toppings and microwave for 30 seconds on high. Stir all ingredients together and heat for another 30 seconds. Stir well and enjoy!

Variations:
Protein Powder:
The Orgain protein powder comes in several varieties such as chocolate fudge and peanut butter. We like this brand of protein powder as it doesn’t contain dairy and has mostly natural ingredients, not a lot of strange chemicals. But if you don’t like the taste, find one you like.
Nut Butter:
Target has a dark chocolate almond butter that is amazing on top…if you really need the chocolate fix this is incredible and has a bit more protein than the cashew butter for the same calorie payoff.
Regular almond butter or peanut butter would work as well.

Tip:
I have wide mouth mason jars with the plastic lids. This means they can travel to work with me for eating once I get to work. I have the 16oz. variety and it fills the jar about half way. I think this is the smallest you can go and still stir them. While mason jars are hard to come by in quarantine you could make this in plastic style bowls as well.