If mornings at your house are anything like mine, it’s a race from the moment my feet hit the floor. Get myself ready, get my girls ready, pack lunches, make breakfast, and make it to the bus stop on time. Too much to do with too little time to get it done. Wouldn’t you love to be able to skip one of these steps? I know I would and that’s what inspired me to try this recipe. I kept seeing my friends that I follow on Pinterest repinning a recipe for overnight oatmeal and it made me curious. How does this work and would my kids like it? If so, there would be that one step I could skip on some mornings.
I decided to give it a try. Turns out I already had most of the ingredients in my pantry or refrigerator. There is a basic recipe for the base of the overnight oatmeal and then several variations you can try. The one item from the basic recipe that I did not have on hand was Chia seeds. I was able to find them at my local grocery without a trip to a specialty foods store. They were a bit pricey ($11 for a 12 oz. bag) but they have a shelf life of 3-5 years. Chia seeds are gaining popularity right now because they are rich in omega-3 fatty acids, are as high in protein in quinoa, and are a good source of fiber. So even if you don’t end up liking this recipe they aren’t a horrible ingredient to have around.
The basic recipe uses these ingredients:
- Old fashioned oats – do not use instant or steel cut oats
- Plain Greek yogurt
- Milk – I decided to use skim, but use whatever you have on hand
- Chia seeds
You will need half pint or 8 oz. Mason jars and lids for this recipe. Luckily for me, my addiction to Pinterest caused me to buy these in massive quantities over the summer so I had these at home. If you don’t have any on hand, they can be found just about everywhere these days from garage sales, to discount stores, to Amazon, and even grocery stores.
I decided to make 2 different flavors of overnight oatmeal, apple cinnamon and banana cocoa. I thought these would be safe choices for my daughters and both sounded good to me as well. I followed the recipes for each flavor of overnight oatmeal and had them made and cleaned up my mess (please tell me I’m not the only one that makes a big mess while cooking) within 20 minutes or so. Assembly was easy and the recipe is fool proof. I put my overnight oatmeal in the refrigerator for one night but you can store them in there for up to two days.
The next morning was decision time. Would they be a hit or a miss? I think they were both. I enjoyed mine and my husband did too. My 5 year old claimed she loved hers but I could tell when she took each bite that it wasn’t love she was feeling. My 2 year old was not impressed at all. The flavor of both variations of oatmeal I made was good, it was the texture that I think threw off my girls and made it more of a miss for them. I would make this again for me and my husband, but for now I’ll stick with the old standbys of frozen waffles and cereal for my girls.
Carrie’s tips:
- Next time I make the apple cinnamon version, I’ll use less cinnamon. I felt like it overpowered the flavor a bit too much for me (and I love cinnamon).
- If you plan on making this more than a couple of times I would suggest investing in the plastic lids for the Mason jars. I just used the lids that come with them and they can make a mess.
Find this pin on my Well, that was Pinteresting board at:Â pinterest.com
