With minimal thought and effort, overnight oats are an easy to make and easier to eat breakfast dish for anyone with limited time.
Overnight oats are a uniquely convenient art, prepared at one’s immediate convenience. As described in the name, overnight oats are oats made overnight. Even easier than porridge or normal oats, overnight oats simply require milk and toppings. Then, just eight hours in the fridge and boom: breakfast is served.
Unlike a lot of fanatically loved breakfast foods – breakfast burritos, scrambled eggs, cereal – overnight oats are at the utmost convenience. As much as one can freeze burrito ingredients and microwave them in the morning, overnight oats are sitting right there at one’s convenience.
The ease of prepping overnight oats is what makes them integral to any busy person’s schedule. Five minutes set aside the night before is far easier to implement than making a meal in the morning. Waking up in the morning is already as hard as it is, but taking on the day with a side of breakfast can make a noticeable difference.
As minor as the addition of making oats the night before a long day at school, the integrated structure of prepping food before bed and a consistent breakfast that really doesn’t demand too much on your part. Health should be inherently convenient, both for a person’s mentality and their physicality, as prepping breakfast right before bed might be part of the key to inherent structure and schedule.
Chia in Oats
Chia seeds, the edible seeds of a flowering relative to mint, are an incredibly convenient and fantastic addition to any yogurt or oat-based dish. Similar to oats, chia seeds enlarge and expand in yogurt or milk, making them exceptionally filling and satisfying especially in the company of oatmeal, yogurt and strawberries.
In regards to the health benefits, chia seeds were an essential part of people’s diets in ancient Aztec and Mesoamerican cultures. They were full of antioxidants and are exceptionally high in fiber. In addition, Chia seeds are easy to slip into oats, yogurt and cereals.
Furthermore, the addition of chia seeds does not alter or manipulate the texture of overnight oats practically at all, which can be especially desirable for those with texture aversions, as mush can be a common comfort food for many. Sweet and easy to eat, soft, sweet mush like oatmeal is a comforting and easy food ready for consumption. Like the oats, chia seeds absorb the milk and additional juices of fruits, honey or yogurt, and become a part of the texture of the oats, offering so much more than the oats alone can. It also creates a very slight, but pleasant flavor, similar to that of mint or cucumber; refreshing and cooling in a dish served cold but comforting.
Savory Peanut Butter Oats
Peanut butter, as much as it is sweet, is a savory food. It can offer a salty element in contrast to the honey and yogurt of the overnight oats, especially with the addition of a pinch of salt to the peanut butter! A little bit of salt can accentuate the nutty flavor of the peanut butter, especially with a natural or organic brand.
Peanut butter can also add an additional thickness to overnight oats than milk or yogurt alone, as it is chunkier than yogurt, thanks to the fat in the nuts. In an effort to develop protein for those who could not chew meat, John Harvey Kellogg reinvented peanut butter in 1895, taking reference from the way South American Incas ground peanuts to make peanut butter. It adds an additionally filling element to the oats as a whole, acting almost like a savory glue in addition to the milk filling the oats.
Though peanut butter can add a sensual savoriness to the oats, it is absolutely best coupled with bananas and chocolate. The juxtaposition in taste between the sweetness of the ripened bananas overnight and the thickness of the chocolate with the salted peanut butter is absolutely spectacular for breakfast.
Yogurt-Based Oats
An ingredient so fabulous in texture to any recipe, yogurt is a necessity for some fantastic overnight oats. Adding to the creaminess and an additional thickness to the oats, almost like a textured pudding, yogurt expands a whole new world to overnight oats with such ease.
Though classic vanilla is a great addition to some simple overnight oats, different flavors of yogurt can also act as a flavor agent. Yogurt, versatile in its flavors as well, can really alter the overnight oats experience with minimal effort on the chef’s end.
Overnight oats, incredibly flexible, exist on a spectrum of effort in terms of ingredients and alterations. The addition of yogurt is possibly one of the most minimal additions, but different flavors like strawberry, peach, blueberry, all add new flavor to the oats and possible texture. Considering strawberry yogurt often has the addition of fruit bits, one can also add fresh strawberries, and honey to the addition of the already flavored yogurt. Such a minor alteration to an already very minor recipe, but it can really change the breakfast experience.
Overnight oats are a small piece of the puzzle for making life a little easier day by day. Making a small meal in preparation for the next day is one easy way to look forward to waking up in the morning and munching down on some good, cold mush.
As minor as the addition of a breakfast to one’s daily routine, it can distinguish a sense of structure in the everyday, acting as a conductor for fuel and functionality throughout the day. There is something consistent to look forward to, the same way a cup of coffee can get one through the day, but maybe with a few more benefits with the incorporation of chia, fruit and yogurt.
