Breakfast is genuinely the most important meal of the day. If you skip breakfast, you are putting your body into starvation mode, and making it resort to extreme measures to provide you with nourishment. It makes your body tired, puts it through exhaustion it doesn’t deserve, and there is evidence to believe it makes you pile on weight. If you’re anything like me, it makes you feel foul and snappy too!
If there is one change anyone can make, to make themselves feel more energetic, it is to make sure they never skip breakfast.
When I was a kid, my mum would simply never let me miss breakfast, even if it meant missing the school bus. If I missed the school bus, it wasn’t because she wouldn’t let me leave without having breakfast, it was because I knew I had to have breakfast and I didn’t plan for it..Clever one, my mom.
Now that I’m adult-ing, I’m officially responsible for my own well-being and there’s no one running after me with a bowl of porridge. But in my heart I’m still the sleepyhead who cannot function like a human being in the morning.. so I have found a friend in overnight oats, and I have never looked back since 🙂 They are the ultimate lifesavers- nourishing, healthy, flavourful and oh so simple. I have been an ardent devotee for over two years now and I find they are my perfect work buddies. I prep them ahead, run out of the door with them and slowly work my way through them once I’m at my desk. It’s the perfect marriage between healthy and lazy 🙂
This recipe is very versatile, it accepts most fruits- I can vouch for apples, berries, kiwis, passion fruit, mangoes, bananas, grapes.. you get the picture. Whatever you have on you, throw it in.
Ingredients
Serves 1, can be scaled up
Time: 5-10 minutes
40g (roughly 3 heaped tbsp) oats
Two tbsp Greek style low fat yoghurt
0.5 cup milk
Pinch of cinnamon
Toppings of your choice- I have used half a banana and 4 fresh strawberries per serving
Method
- In a mason jar, or any narrow bottomed container, mix in the oats with the yoghurt and milk.
- Sprinkle the cinnamon. This is to flavour the oats such that you can completely skip the sweetener- no sugar, no honey, nothing. Cinnamon works great in my view, or for a muffin like flavour, try a little splash of vanilla seasoning instead.
- Now top up your container or jar up to the brim with whatever fruits you have at hand. Vary your fruits to give yourself a nice surprise every morning. You’d be surprised at how happy half a passion fruit or some diced cubes of mango can make you 🙂
- Close the lid and leave refrigerated overnight. The oats cook themselves and turn into a delicious breakfast-dessert all ready for you in the morning. How very Shoemaker-and-the-elves!
- Now dash out of the door armed with a powerful breakfast!