In a Hurry!

My father instilled in my long ago that breakfast was the most important meal of the day. Usually this was accompanied by him storming our bed, violently lifting all the shades while banging a pot and singing "It's time to get up, it's time to get up, it's time to get up in the morning!" After all these years, I still eat breakfast every morning! Thanks Dad! 

However, there are mornings when I know I won't have a lot of time to make something. When I know these mornings are coming, I usually try to prepare. I'm a planner like that. For crazy mornings, I make overnight oats. Overnight oats is actually something I tried after reading about it in one of my favorite blogs, Edible Perspective. It's really just oatmeal, but cold. Or like cold soggy cereal that's been sitting in milk too long but is still good enough to eat. It's also mildly more refreshing during these hot, disgusting summer mornings.

I made a serving for breakfast this morning so that I could hurry up, sit in traffic, and be 15 minutes late for my meeting! Awesome!

Overnight Oats with Berries

Ingredients

1/3 cup rolled oats

2/3 cup vanilla almond milk

1/2 tsp cinnamon*

1 packet of truvia (or 1 tsp sweetener of your choice)

1 tbsp ground flax seed (for fiber and omega 3's)

1/4 cup frozen blueberries
Toppings of your choosing (strawberries and almonds pictured above)

Method

1. Add all ingredients to a Tupperware container. 

2. Shake ingredients together to ensure it is well combined. 

3. Place in fridge and let sit overnight. 

4. Add whatever toppings you like in the morning, i.e. slice almonds, dried cranberries, peanut butter, chocolate chips, hot fudge, marshmallows...you know, whatever is part of your usual breakfast repertoire.  

*An interesting note about cinnamon. According to the Mayo Clinic, "Recent research suggests that cinnamon may be helpful as a supplement to regular diabetes treatment...One study published in 2009 found that cinnamon taken twice a day for 90 days improved hemoglobin A1C levels." Good thing I sprinkle cinnamon on everything like it's crack cocaine!