Magic happens when you use cocoa powder in overnight oats. There is a chemical reaction between the cocoa powder and the acid in the yogurt, and the resulting oats are fluffy and incredibly creamy. It happens with our Chocolate Peanut Butter Overnight Oats, Chocolate Peppermint Overnight Oats (coming soon!), and our Chocolate Coconut Overnight Oats, and it happens here with these coffee-flavored oats, too! It’s a must-try for any chocolate-lover! Read the post »]]>
What are overnight oats?
Overnight oats are a no-cook way to make oatmeal. Instead of cooking your rolled oats on the stove, you stir them together with liquid and other mix-ins, and let it all rest in the fridge overnight. It makes a great pudding-like porridge that you can eat cold, or warm up. For more on this grab-and-go breakfast favorite of mine, head on over to our Overnight Oats 101 post.What makes overnight oats so special?
Overnight oats can be a meal prep staple in any busy household. Here’s why you’ll always find a stash in our fridge:- Overnight oats are delicious! If you’ve never had cold oatmeal before, it may sound off-putting, but trust me! This porridge is hearty, creamy, and tastes like pudding! (But if you really don’t like the idea of eating them cold, you can heat them up, too—more on that in a sec.)
- They can be a healthy and hearty way to start the day. You get to control everything that goes into your overnight oats, so you can make them into a super nourishing, nutritious breakfast. Add some collagen or protein powder. Mix in some super seeds, like chia, flax, or hemp. Reduce the added sweeteners, or drop them completely. You can make these oats your breakfast superfood!
- Overnight oats are super easy to make in advance. Spend a few minutes mixing up your overnight oats in the evening or on the weekend, and breakfast will be ready to grab-and-go by morning. Overnight oats aren’t just easy to meal prep—they are designed for it!
- You can customize them to fit your dietary preferences. Make your overnight oats your own—they can be super nourishing or super decadent, vegan or gluten-free. We’re covering blueberry overnight oats here, but once you get a feel for overnight oats, you can discover your own favorite flavor.
- They can be made in bulk. You’ll see overnight oats on meal prep menu after meal prep menu, and for good reason—you can make a full week’s worth of breakfasts at once.
The flavors of carrot cake are positively perfect together. Sweet and crunchy carrots, tender raisins, tangy cream cheese frosting—it’s a combo that shouldn’t work together, but absolutely does! I’ve been known to turn dessert flavors into healthy breakfasts (like I did with Healthy Carrot Cake Muffins and with Strawberry Rhubarb Pie Squares), so it should come as no surprise that I took a riff from my favorite springtime dessert and turned Carrot Cake into healthy overnight oats.
Mixing up these oats is a great way to feel like you are getting a decadent dessert without actually eating a decadent dessert. Welcome to the magic that is overnight oats!
Read the post »]]>The recipe was originally published in August 2011. It was retested with reader feedback, rephotographed, rewritten, and republished for your enjoyment in May 2017.
It is no secret that I love smoothies. I especially love smoothies for an on-the-go breakfast. I can make them at home and then take them along wherever the breeze takes me. What I don’t like about smoothies? The amount of ingredients they take.
You are probably saying, “Fruit. Milk. Ice. That isn’t that many.” And you are right, that isn’t! But to make my smoothies into super breakfasts, I load them full of powders, seeds, and other nutrition boosters. By the time I get out, measure and put away all of my additions, a smoothie can take upwards of 20 minutes to perfect. Ridiculous! And so not the speedy breakfast option I want it to be.
So, a few years back, I came up with the idea of these smoothie booster packs—and they’ve saved me so much time over the years! These smoothie booster packs have all kinds of goodness in them, and they are just waiting in the freezer to be popped into whatever smoothie I’m making that day.
These smoothie booster packs are totally customizable to what you like in your smoothies and what nutritional goals you have. Looking for a boost of protein? Add protein powder. Want to get your dark, leafy greens in a drinkable version? Throw in some spinach. Looking to quell seasonal allergies? Toss in some local bee pollen. It’s up to you to craft your perfect booster packs!
I have a basic recipe for my “normal” booster packs below, but here are some options (plus I’m sure there are a whole bunch I’m forgetting) that you can add in—I’ve added affiliate links for each of my favorite brands where applicable:
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