Overnight Oats Workshop and Two New (Dairy Free) Recipes

One of my goals here at The Hippy Home is to share with people how to eat healthy no matter what your budget. Yesterday, I held an overnight oats workshop at my home. It was small and cozy, with four of us sharing ingredients and good conversation while we made the easiest grab and go healthy breakfast ever. After getting to spend the evening with these wonderful ladies, the next best thing was not having to cook breakfast this morning, even though I wasn't in any particular hurry to go anywhere. What have I learned here? In addition to being a great grab and go breakfast on a busy morning, they also make a great breakfast for a lazy summer morning as well. They are perfect little hand held breakfasts on any day. Or lunch, or afternoon snack. Did I mention they are also easy to make and healthy? And kid friendly. My seven year old likes the strawberry one, minus the chia seeds.

We made four different recipes last night. The Strawberry Vanilla and Blueberry Cinnamon can be found at this link. They both contain Greek yogurt, though if you are vegan or dairy intolerant you could probably use a dairy free yogurt. The two new flavors I am going to share with you are Banana Nut Bread and German Chocolate Cake. Both of these overnight oats are dairy free and vegan. The chocolate flavor is really subtle in the German Chocolate Cake overnight oats, so if you are like me and craving a stronger chocolate flavor, you can use a chocolate flavored nut milk and slightly increase the cocoa powder amount. Adding a good, high quality chocolate protein powder like Juice Plus Complete, would also be a great way to increase the chocolate flavor and the protein. Vanilla protein powder would be a yummy addition to the strawberry and blueberry oats. I think the banana oats would be tasty with either flavor. I have some experimenting to do!

German Chocolate Cake Overnight Oats

• 1/2 cup oats
• 1/2 cup almond milk 
• 1/2 banana, mashed
• 1 Tbsp pecans
• 1/2 tsp cocoa powder
• 1-2 Tbsp shredded unsweetened coconut
• 1/2 tsp maple syrup

Mix all ingredients in a quart sized jar with a lid. Place in refrigerator overnight. In the morning, give it a good stir and eat. It will keep in the refrigerator up to five days. 

Banana Nut Bread Overnight Oats

• 1/2 cup oats
• 1/2 cup almond milk, or other favorite nut milk
• 1/2 banana, mashed
• 1 Tbsp chopped nuts
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• pinch of nutmeg
• 1 Tbsp nut butter
• 1/2 tsp maple syrup

Mix ingredients in a quart sized jar with a lid. Place in refrigerator overnight. In the morning, stir and eat. Top with banana slices right before eating for more banana flavor.