"On-The-Go" Oats Recipe

As the weather is getting colder I find myself fancying something a bit heavier and heartier than the smoothie bowls I have been enjoying all summer, so I thought I would go back to an old favourite of mine. Overnight Oats!

I love this recipe so much so that I must have had it for breakfast pretty much everyday for about 5 years up until I treated myself to my VitaMix Blender last summer! it's super tasty with all the sweetness coming from natural fruit sugars, low in fat, cheap, easy to make, convenient when you are in a hurry and portable! (Perfect for prepping to take with you on long days out of the house) The list of benefits could go on. Using the mashed bananas was a game changer for me, its a healthy refined-sugar free way of making this breakfast sweet and nutritious, bananas are a great source of potassium. The oats are a whole-grain which contains lots of fibre helping you feel full and satisfied. Topping with a good portion of berries adds volume for minimal calories and provides loads of antioxidants. I usually would make this in the evening while cleaning up after my evening meal, and leave it sealed in a tub in the fridge overnight, this gives time for the liquids to soak into the oats so that they soften up and take on more of a cooked oatmeal texture. I used to make it fresh every evening but you can always multiply the recipe by 3 and make up a batch, it will last fine for up to 3 days in the fridge. Then the next morning, you can grab the tub out of the fridge before you go out and take it with you until you are ready to "Break Your Fast", which is usually around midday for me (I'll go into more detail on the benefits of intermittent fasting in a future blog!). This can win you some more time in bed to catch up on that all important rest. as you don't need to get up so early to make time for making and eating breakfast before you go out of the door, and helps you avoid reaching for poor quality convenience foods on the way when you are short for time. Now you have a healthy, sugar-free, low fat, high protein vegan breakfast ready whenever you are. If you fancy it warm you can always heat it up for a few minutes on a hob to get that traditional oatmeal experience, but its fine to eat cold or at room temperature and I usually prefer it that way as it is less stodgy and I don't get that post-meal crash or lethargic feeling eating it this way!