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How to Speed up your Breakfast: Overnight Oats and Make your Own Parfaits

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So, breakfast.

It’s such an awesome word.

Breakfast means “break the fast”… it means “eat ’cause you haven’t eaten in a long time and your tummy is calling out for it”.

That’s my kind of word.

I know many people run out of the house with empty tummies (teenagers are notorious for this!) but it really does lead to greater calorie consumption throughout the day.

Don’t get me wrong, though.  What we eat for breakfast is as important as the meal itself.  Most people don’t need to be told that a donut is probably not a good choice.  But, in many cases, cold cereal doesn’t fair much better (there are some great cereals out there but a lot of them are just a sugary bowl of starch with vitamins “sprayed on” to fortify them …btw, when a cereal is fortified, the vitamins are sprayed on at the end of their production…so if your kids have cereal but leave a bowlful of milk when they’re done, they are throwing away the only goodness that they might be getting for breakfast).

So with all of these bad choices, some of the easiest choices are fairly simple. These breakfast bowls are a no-brainer when it comes to a healthy breakfast.  You start with some fruit, add in some overnight oats and top with your choice of goodness.

Break the fast, indeed!

Ingredients:

Overnight Oats:
1 c yogurt (I like plain but you can use whatever you like)
1 c rolled oats (not the instant kind)
about 1/4 almond milk (or regular milk if you like)
1 apple grated

1.  Mix all of this together and leave in the fridge for a few hours or overnight.  You can add some fruit preserves (low sugar please) if you are using plain yogurt or a squeeze of agave nectar, brown rice syrup or honey for sweetness.


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2.  When the oats have absorbed the liquid, assemble the parfaits.  Put the fruit at the bottom…

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3.  Then add the overnight oats (mine was plain yogurt mixed with oats and a spoonful of homemade strawberry rhubarb preserves)

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4.  Mix it up a bit…my breakfast bowl for tomorrow morning has another layer of coconut yogurt.  I tried this brand…really yummy!

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5.  Next I added a spoonful of amond butter, then some sliced bananas, a layer of coconut yogurt and then some homemade granola (you can even top it off with some crunchy cereal (a healthy one please!).  Yes this is not low in calories but it is nutrient dense and that is important!

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6.  You can make a few and cover them with plastic wrap…leave them in the fridge and grab one in the morning before you leave for work or school (this one was from this morning…same oat mixture with my own canned peaches from last summer on the bottom, overnight oats and then a spoonful of Qi’a  (pretty awesome stuff).

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7.  This one was from a few weeks ago…mango and strawberries on the bottom, vanilla yogurt overnight oats, and Qi’a cereal (btw, these @NaturesPath products are incredible!).  So, there you have it…pretty epic breakfast that you can put together and have ready for the whole week.

I promise, you will be full until lunchtime and you will never reach for a donut again (well, maybe a hot, homemade donut but that’s for another post!)