I discovered the wonder of overnight oats a few years ago when my mom described a cold oatmeal dish she’d had for breakfast while on a cruise. It sounded right up my alley so I recreated it at home and life has never been the same. I love overnight oats for their ease and the fact that when you use the right ingredients and toppings, oatmeal doesn’t have to taste like wallpaper paste.

Overnight Oats, the basics:

1/2 c rolled oats
1/2 c milk
1/4 c LF vanilla yogurt

Here I used unsweetened vanilla hemp milk, but nowadays I almost always use unsweetened almond milk. For yogurt – sweetened, plain or greek all work – or even no yogurt at all. The oats will still soften up without it, whichever you prefer.

I use to use to sweetened yogurt, like Stonyfield Farm Organic Low Fat Vanilla, but my palate has adjusted and now prefers the flavor of plain, unsweetened yogurt. 2% Chobani Greek yogurt is my current yogurt of choice. I get any sweetness from my fruit toppings like blueberries, strawberries or bananas.

Sweetened yogurt (preferably not sweetened with high fructose corn syrup) can be a great place to start if you are trying to break yourself of processed breakfast foods like sugary cereals (or worse!)

Add oats, yogurt and milk into a bowl and mix until well combined.

Cover and put in the fridge overnight, or even just an hour will do.  I’ve come to discover the oats soften up fairly quickly.

In the morning, top with nuts, nut butter, fruit, granola… the combination’s are nearly infinite and can change with the seasons; spring, summer, fall or winter.

Here I’ve topped mine with a tablespoon of ground flax seed, 3/4 of a banana, a couple of cut up organic strawberries, and a sprinkle of homemade granola for some crunch!

The man of the house and our first born enjoy overnight oats too – Ava takes hers plain (just milk and yogurt) and Zak likes his with raisins (soaked with the oats overnight, no yogurt), cinnamon and agave nectar.

Hot or cold, oats can be the blank canvas to your healthy breakfast masterpiece.