There are many things that I learn to appreciate as I get older. Take oats for instance. My grandma always made us these huge bowls of oats topped with fresh berries and honey. Not being much of eater as a kid, it wasn’t my favorite thing to have for breakfast (I was fresh, warm bread with loads of butter kind a girl; could have had that for breakfast, lunch and dinner, all day every day). Now, you can catch me eating oats several times a week, and believe it or not, I do that willingly ;) .
I usually like my oats served very warm with tons of almond milk, but recently I’ve been trying something else: overnight oats. You can blame that on my obsession with Pinterest. It’s a perfect option for those of us who are way too busy and those who’d rather get few extra minutes of sleep on a cold morning than get up early to prepare breakfast. I’m usually guilty of both ;) . With overnight oats, you only need a few minutes of prep time in the evening, pop them in the fridge for the night and you’re all set.
I try to make my overnight oats as healthy as possible. I don’t like using any artificial sweeteners, and as you guys know, I only drink dairy-free milk and that’s also what I use with my oats. I used mashed banana, natural peanut butter for creaminess, coconut palm sugar for sweetness and carob powder for a delicious, chocolatey flavor. I like to use old fashioned, rolled oats because they’re nice and thick and retain their shape and texture well (even when cooked).
Even if you hated oatmeal as a kid, you will love these overnight oats. I guarantee it. The flavors are insane, the raw carob powder adds such a rich, chocolate flavor, the sliced almonds add a nice crunch and banana is just a cherry on top. This really, REALLY tastes like a treat and even I find it hard to believe that it’s actually healthy. It’s also vegan and gluten free.
Overnight Banana & Chocolate Oats (vegan and gluten free)
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup rolled oats
- 1 cup unsweetened almond milk
- 1 ripe banana, mashed
- 1 tbsp natural peanut butter
- 1 tbsp carob powder
- 1 tsp coconut pal sugar
- 1 tsp chia seeds
- handful sliced almonds
- handful banana slices
- 2 tbsp shaved dark chocolate
Instructions
- Mix everything together until well combined. Make sure that the peanut butter and banana is evenly distributed and well mixed with other ingredients.
- Pour the mixture into two containers/bowls, covering with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. Top with bananas, sliced almonds and shaved dark chocolate.
