overnight oats.

Ever since I got a job ( ! ), I have been having to think of creative breakfast, lunch, and snack ideas.

Breakfast for the first week was the easiest it could get - whole wheat toast with trusty old peanut butter and a glass of milk. Not old peanut butter like rancid or rotten ... actually, peanut butter is never present for long around me, so I have never even considered it could go rotten. Wow, that's a weird thought.

Anyway, here's what a really easy breakfast like toast did for me:
1) I had more time to sleep / get ready.
2) I could eat at red lights while driving to work.

However, recently, due to certain reasons, my mom has been driving me to work. Also, it is now the second week of me working. This means two things:
1) I am trying to have a variety of breakfasts.
2) I can eat more complicated things in the car as my mom drives.

Monday, I had yogurt with granola in a plastic cup (easy disposal). Then, while on tastespotting, I saw a picture of overnight oats. And so Tuesday's breakfast was decided upon.


Monday night, I shook out some rolled oats and toasted them to a golden shade. I cooled them in a bowl before adding some quick-cooking oats and fat free milk. As an afterthought, I added some ground flaxseed and sprinkled a generous amount of cinnnamon.

Did you know that 2 teaspoons of cinnamon have 2.48 grams of dietary fiber & 1.72 grams of iron? I don't eat red meat. I need iron. I need fiber. This is good stuff, ya hear?

I also put the bag of raisins, jar of walnuts, and jar of prune butter near my bowl in the fridge for me to easily access and add the next morning.

Liking prune butter [does not equal] being an old person. Neither does loving anything with bran, but that's besides the point.

This is the first time I have made overnight oats, and I must say, they are delicious. They are so hearty and the part I really like, that makes this stand out from regular oatmeal, is that the oats are separate. It may have been the way I made it, but there was no liquid or slushy part. It was mostly just oats, soft from being soaked. The raisins added perfect amounts of sweetness without adding sugar. The cinnamon added a certain warmth. There was also a ridiculous amount of variation in texture; the quick cooking oats were very soft and provided the perfect base for the oats. They were the reason I didn't need extra liquid. The toasted rolled oats were chewy and slightly softened by the overnight soaking. The raisins were also chewy, and the walnuts added a much needed crunch. It was excellent.

I know what I am eating Wednesday morning, even if that means not swiping on any Lineur Intense, just to make more time for this delicious heartiness.

Overnight Oats
recipe created by myself.
unfortunately, i did not record the exact measurements in making this. thankfully, eyeballing will work just fine. adjust according to your intuition and preferences.

• 1/3 cup rolled oats, dry toasted to a golden brown
• 1/4 cup quick cooking oats 
• fat free milk (or any type) 
• 1/2 Tb ground flaxseed 
• generous sprinkling of cinnamon 
• handful of raisins
• a few walnuts, broken roughly into pieces 
• 1 Tb honey or 1/2 packet Splenda, optional

1. Combine the toasted and quick cooking oats in a microwave-safe bowl. Add about 1/2 cup to 3/4 cup milk. Add as much as you think you need. Poke oats down into milk with your CLEAN finger. Lick your finger.
2. Add flax to the bowl. No need to stir it in (this removes the need to dirty a spoon just after you started the dishwasher). 
3. Cover the bowl with a plate and place in fridge overnight. 
4. The next morning, take out the bowl, and add some milk if necessary. Put in the microwave for 30 seconds (my microwave is pretty strong). 
5. Stir. Sprinkle on raisins. Heat again for another 30 seconds. 
6. Stir everything together (there shouldn't be much liquid) and add cinnamon (and sweetener, if using) along with walnuts. Enjoy.