How to get your morning started: Overnight Oats

Photo courtesy: DC Food Porn

Say goodbye to hectic mornings and settling for a preservative-packed breakfast bar while running out the door. Overnight oats are the perfect solution to fuel your day properly, without having to get up at the crack of dawn. The basic premise of these recipes is simple: Mix up the ingredients — namely oats and some sort of liquid — before bed and allow them to soak overnight in the refrigerator.  Here's one basic recipe from our favorite nutritionist, Gena over at Choosing Raw.

INGREDIENTS: 

1/3 cup dry rolled oats (purchase certified GF oats if you’re a GF eater)

2 tbsp flax seeds

2 tbsp chia seeds (optional: gooey factor x2, great source of protein and omega 3's)

1 tbsp raspberries

1 cup JRINK almond milk (+ extra if needed)

2 tbsp date paste or agave (or none if you don't want it sweetened)

1 handful of JRINK raw chocolate superfood coconuts (because, why not?)

Mix all ingredients in a portable container. Allow to sit for at least 20 minutes at room temperature, and then refrigerate till ready to use.

What’s so wonderful about this recipe is the ease: every night before I go to bed, you mix it, allow it to sit for a while as I do my homework, and then move it to the fridge when I go to bed. In the morning, my breakfast is 100% ready to go: all I need add is some fresh fruit as a “side dish.” Sometimes I add fresh blueberries to the original mix, which makes it a one-dish meal.

When you take the overnight oats out of the fridge in the morning, you may find that you need to add more nut milk. Go for it! Different brands of chia seeds (and oats, for that matter) absorb different amounts of liquid, so use your judgment. If you like, you can create a “master mix” by quadrupling the dry components of this recipe, sealing them up, and using 1/4 of the mix at a time with 1 cup of almond milk. Think of it as a bag of muesli–just a lot more interesting! 

Inspired by Gena Hamshaw from Choosing Raw (don't forget, her books are available in-stores!)