Month: February 2016

Conference, Communion and Comedy

/ Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 10 Comments

This weekend is brought to you by the letter C. Yes, C. (as you see by the title, that’s the theme of the post)

Anyway, I’m not quite sure where my weekend went. Do you?

Hellloooo – weekend? Where are youuu?

Yes. That, Katt Williams, is how I feel.

Why did it go by so quickly? What the heck did I do? Well let’s see.

I spent my Friday and Saturday in Philadelphia for a work conference. I was there for the IPREX Global Leadership Conference, where I met PR and marketing professionals from around the world. I had the opportunity to present on how to pitch and win business.

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The conference ended at 6:30, and then the group of us went bowling. Because that’s what you do in America, right?

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some of the bowlers

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the bowling alley

So yeah, that was my Friday and Saturday.

Sunday involved an outdoor run (yippee!) that was faster than I’ve been going typically.Yes, this pregnant lady is still running – but much much slower than usual.

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And B’s goddaughter’s (and my niece’s) first communion! Isn’t she adorable? We spent the morning and afternoon celebrating Sofia.

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Because it was such a gorgeous day, we also took a walk. It was sunny and in the 50s – it’s supposed to get cold again next weekend I’m glad we got a tease of spring!

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Oh yea, we also went to a comedy show. We saw Felipe Esparza this weekend, a comic that B is a fan of. I had won four tickets and oops – we forgot that he was here this weekend!

(not from our show)

So that was about it. And yes, I’m ready for next weekend already!

Some questions for you:

  • Do you like presenting in front of others?
  • Do you have any work trips coming up?

I’m linking up today with Erin for my weekend snapshot post, Katie for MIMM and the weekly wraps.

Nut butters and more: What I Ate on Sunday

/ Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 12 Comments

Alright we’re halfway through the workweek! Well, somewhat. I’m actually working this Saturday and presenting at a conference so I guess it’s not my halfway point quite yet – but almost there!

Here is a look at what I ate on Sunday. It wasn’t really a typical Sunday (B and I usually have family dinner with his family), but still so delicious!

The day started with a short run with B. It was warmer than I expected and when we got home I wasn’t that hungry but seriously craving some fruit. So I made myself a mini fruit salad. Fruit= one of my pregnancy cravings.

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As well as nut butter. We had plans for most of the day, so I had a spoonful of peanut butter to keep me satisfied before our day.20160221_130417

B and I hit up a local tea shop and I grabbed some tea and honey. No pic of the tea, sadly.

Then, B and I went for a walk (again – enjoying some great seasonably warm weather!) and hit up Whole Foods for some supplies for dinner. At whole foods I noshed on some of their cheese samples (no pic again, I know…) BUT by the time we got home it was 3:30 and I was starving. Which meant it was time for an apple and some more nut butter.

 

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For dinner, B and I made homemade whole grain pasta. B made the sauce-  it was a spicy olive, onion, buttery garlicky lemony sauce. SO good. While we were waiting for the pasta, we snacked on some cheese and bread.

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And here was dinner! I hadn’t had any veggies yet, so I made us small salads to go with the pasta dish.

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For dessert, we had some chocolate. I’ve been enjoying these chocolates from Valentine’s Day and am in love with the hazelnut ones.

 

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That was my Sunday! I went to bed with a full and happy belly 🙂

 

Some questions for you:

  • What candy (if any) did you get for Valentine’s Day?
  • How many nut butters do you have at home? I need to know if I’m the only one with an assortment. I currently have 4 varieties of peanut butter, plus almond butter and sunflower seed butter 🙂

Warm Weather, Black Tie and an Overall Chill Weekend

/ Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 15 Comments

Well, that weekend went by fast! And I’m pooped. I think I need another weekend jus to relax and recover from my weekend.

Friday night was pretty low key. B and I both didn’t get home until later than planned and our original plans fell through, so B made us fish for dinner. We don’t typically eat in on Friday nights, but we had gone to L’Albatros Thursday and I was happy to have dinner in. Especially this meal. So so good.

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Saturday was WARM. I mean it was 64 degrees in February. How could we not go for a run? We had to get in a few miles while the weather was so warm. Running is getting harder and harder for me these days and the first 2 miles were pretty bad. But I’m so grateful to B for keeping me out there and helping me stay motivated and less frustrated.

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That night was B’s office formal. It was a black tie event so B and I got dressed up and were ready for a night of fantastic food and drink and music.

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It’s fun to play dress up once in a while – but a little hard when you’re nearly 6 months pregnant!

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I didn’t get to enjoy the complimentary drinks as usual, but I did enjoy all the food.

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It was a late night for me. So Sunday started off pretty slow and sluggish. BUT it was seasonably warm again (not quite as warm though) so we headed out for another short run.

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Sunday afternoon was pretty relaxing. B and I grabbed some coffee and tea in Ohio City (tea for me!) and then went for a walk in the Metroparks. It was chillier than Saturday but I kept reminding myself that this is still February and enjoyed actually being outside without snow and ice.

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Our usual Sunday dinner plans weren’t happening, so B and I decided to have our own homemade Sunday dinner. We made pasta!

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And that was about it. A pretty enjoyable weekend … and now I’m ready to tackle the last week in February!

I’m linking up today with Erin for my weekend snapshot post, Katie for MIMM and the weekly wraps.

Some questions for you:

  • Do you like making pasta?
  • Was the weather warm by you this weekend? Did you get outside?

Asian Quinoa Cabbage Salad with Almond Dressing

/ Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 2 Comments

I know it’s winter. I’ve looked outside – no need to remind me. This is what I see. SNOW.

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Yes, it may be gloomy and snowy (but somewhat pretty, right?). But still, we all need a pop of color sometimes. And bright salads. All year round – don’t we? While I do enjoy eating seasonally, I do also enjoy salads in winter (and soup in the summer). And since we go meatless on Fridays during Lent, here’s an easy meatless meal you can enjoy  then – or even for Meatless Monday or any day of the week.

Asian Quinoa Cabbage Salad with Almond Dressing - icrashedtheweb

Asian Quinoa Cabbage Salad with Almond Dressing

Here’s what you need:

  • 2 cups cooked quinoa* – I like red quinoa, but other varieties should work fine
  • ¼ cup all natural almond butter*
  • 1 teaspoon honey
  • 3 Tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
  • 1 Tablespoon rice wine vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon (or more, based on taste) Sriracha
  • 2 Tablespoons water
  • 2 cups shredded cabbage – I like using 1 cup red and 1 cup green for color
  • 1 red bell pepper, diced
  • 1/2 cup shredded carrots
  • few handfuls chopped cilantro
  • ½ cup chopped unsalted cashews*

Here’s what you do:

  1. While the quinoa is cooking, you can make the nutty Asian dressing. To do so, mix the almond butter and honey in a medium bowl. Add in soy sauce, vinegar, Sriracha and water and mix well until dressing is smooth. and stir until mixture is smooth and creamy.**
  2. Mix half of the dressing with the cooked quinoa.
  3. Add in vegetables – cabbage, pepper, carrots and then add in remaining dressing.
  4. Before serving, top with cilantro and cashews.  Add more Sriracha if you like more spice and enjoy!

Mine made four servings – perfect for dinner and lunch leftovers!

*Disclosure: I was not compensated for this post, but thanks to Swanson Health for providing some of the ingredients (quinoa, cashews, almond butter).  My views and comments are solely my own and do not represent those of Swanson. AND I’ll  be doing a giveaway so you can get some goodies too, soon 🙂

**I used all natural crunchy almond butter which is pretty oily – if you were using a less oily spread you may need to microwave the almond butter first or add in a little oil / more water to get your consistency to be dressing-like.

Asian Quinoa Cabbage Salad with Almond Dressing

Some questions for you:

  • Do you eat seasonal?
  • What’s your favorite hot sauce?

For more vegetarian posts, check out some of my past recipes or visit the linkup below! I’m linking up with Sarah and Confessions of a Mother Runner.

Training Tuesday: Pregnancy Running Ramblings

/ Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 1 Comment

I’m SO thrilled to finally be sharing with you some of my updates as I run through my pregnancy. The past few weeks, I’ve been keeping it hush hush and haven’t been able to share with you as openly as possible as I would’ve liked about my training as an ambassador for the Rite Aid Cleveland Marathon,

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January total miles: 98.13 miles (so close to 100!)

And my recent weekly miles:

Week of 1/31: 26.78 miles total (includes running and walking)

Sunday: 4.5 miles – it was 55 degrees so I couldn’t help but get outside to run.

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capris in February. Wish it were still this warm!

Monday: 7.25 miles – got in a 6.25 mile run and then 1 mile walk cool down. Did stop a few times and do some weights in between miles.

Tuesday: 2.25 miles

Wednesday: 6.5 miles

Thursday: 1 mile before getting in an hour elliptical workout.

Friday: 2 miles – wasn’t feeling it so I hopped off after 2 miles and hit the elliptical for 48 minutes.

Saturday: 3.28 miles – OUTSIDE running! I haven’t run outside since, sadly, but it felt so good to be outside. AND this was my fastest run in FOREVER.

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Week of 2/7:  27.75 miles (includes running and walking)

Sunday: no run – spent the day traveling to and from a wake, but I did get in a longish walk because it was 50 degrees out!

Monday: 7.5 miles – probably the best I felt all week! The First 2-3 miles were rough, but I stopped and walked .75 miles and then felt good enough to do 3.5 more.

Tuesday: 6.25 miles – a run and walk on the treadmill along with some weights and kettle bells.

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Wednesday: 2.25 miles – a shortish run before 48 minutes on the elliptical.

Thursday: 6.25 miles – ran 5.25 and walked 1 while watching Amazon videos.

Friday: 5.5 miles

Saturday: 0  – SUPER cold outside and spent the day hanging out with my parents, who were in town from NY! (weekend summary photos  = here)

Running while pregnant – thoughts at 6 months/how I’m feeling*:

*if you don’t care about pregnancy running OR don’t want TMI, stop reading 🙂

I’m sad not to be running the half marathon this year as I’ve done for several years before. But, my doctor (and some running friends) have advised me that it’s not the best idea for me to run 13.1 miles at 30something weeks. I’m not an elite runner. I don’t have the body (especially now!) of a runner. I get it – it already is somewhat uncomfortable to run. That being said, it’s still disappointing and I miss having my training schedule and long runs in there as well.

I’m a lot slower than I was a few months ago. I could bang out a few miles in the 8-something pace if I tried, and was getting faster thanks to speed workouts. I could do a long run (10 miles) at 9:07 pace semi-easily. Now, I can barely break 10 minute miles, especially on the treadmill. It’s harder to breathe, my bladder aches and I have to stop a few times to catch my breathe. My resting heart rate is more than 10 beats/minute higher (thanks to my FitBit, I know this!) and I’m out of breath walking up stairs sometimes.

Not that it’s all bad – I’m feeling glad that I’m still running! Some days are easier than others. Some days are a lot HARDER than others. But I have to remember to be grateful that I’m still running and remind myself that I’m running for two. Or whatever that means 🙂

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Some questions for you:

  • Moms or moms-to-be – did you run throughout your pregnancy? Any tips? How long did you run until?
  • Locals – have you signed up for the CLE Marathon series yet?
  • Anyone – what’s your next race?

Valentine’s Weekend in Photos

/ Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 10 Comments

It was a great weekend in CLE! Yes, it was cold. Yes, it snowed. (Yes, it’s February) BUT my parents were in town from NY so I got some good quality family time in, which you can’t beat. Here’s a quick recap of the weekend, in photos. I’m going to attempt just 3 words (or fewer) per photo. Here we go!

Friday night pizza.

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My favorite treats.

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Saturday weather check.

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Family bump photo!

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My favorite breakfast.

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Cleveland Bazaar! cleveland bazaar

Parents +Inlaws Dinner

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Valentine’s Day baking

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My favorite lunch

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Art museum

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Like father

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Beautiful museum atrium

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Love my momma

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8 years old!

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Phew, that was hard! I’m not good at not rambling, I suppose.

Anyway, what a GREAT weekend. It’s so nice to have my parents in town – I miss them a lot these days and am so glad they came EVEN in the cold winter. But hey, at least it was warmer than NY?

Some questions for you:

  • Did you get any good treats for Valentine’s Day?
  • Do you do meatless Fridays during Lent?

As usual, I’m linking up with Erin for my weekend snapshot post, Katie for MIMM and the weekly wraps.

An Announcement

/ Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 15 Comments

Okay, I guess it’s time that I finally break the news to the blogosphere and online.

How do I say this?

I wish I had a cute announcement planned. You know, like a cute video. Or image. But I’m not like that and I’m highly uncreative. So I’ll just go out and say it. I’m pregnant. B and I are expecting a baby this June!

There's a bump in there!

There’s a bump in there!

There we go – the news is out. We’ve been keeping it somewhat under wraps for a little while, but now that we’re more than halfway there (yipes!), it’s time to finally let you in on our little secret.

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Me and my bump! (And my cousin-in-law Stephanie who is due in March)

And it feels good to have it off my chest and tell you all. Though somewhat strange to see it in writing …

Another bump pic. In workout clothes!

Another bump pic. In workout clothes! Yes, I’m wearing B’s shirt 🙂

Now for some of the FAQs – answers to the common questions we’ve been getting (warning: if you DON’T care about or like babies or pregnancies, feel free to stop reading. I’m not sharing too many details here, but the rest may just plain bore you and I promise you can come back to my regularly scheduled recipes, running updates, etc. at a later date):

  • Will you guys be finding out if it’s a boy or a girl? Nope! We already had that dr appointment and we opted to close our eyes and not find out. So it will be a surprise.
  • Will you be buying a house/moving? Maybe? We love our apartment right now and since we have two bedrooms and two bathrooms, we don’t have any immediate need to move. I’d love to have a downtown baby 🙂
  •  How are you feeling? Great! Thanks for asking! B and I are both really excited and I luckily haven’t felt any sickness (no morning sickness here) and really have just been a little more tired than usual.
  •  Are you going to stop running? I don’t plan on it. I really really want to run throughout my pregnancy, or at least as long as possible. It’s gotten a LOT harder (I’ll write a post about that soon) and I have cut down my mileage, but I still plan on getting in runs a few days a week. So expect a few more bump-in-workout-clothes pics.
  • Have you been having any cravings or food aversions? Hmm. Maybe? I’ve been really enjoying sweets (but that’s nothing new) – and been loving fruit, especially citrus, pears, melon, anything juicy. The first month or so I found myself despising vegetables, which is SO not me and it was hard. You may have noticed a few WIAWs that were lacking vegetables and that’s why. All I could think of eating was carbs and sweets. Thank goodness I’m back on the vegetable train again!
  • Do you have any names picked out? We have a girl’s name but not a boy’s name yet. We can’t seem to agree on any boys’ names. Any ideas?

And now, some questions for you:

  • Any more questions for me? Ask away. I’m a pretty open book.
  • Mom runners – did you run while pregnant? Any tips to keep it up? What’s the longest race you did?
  • Moms – did you have any weird cravings when pregnant?

 

TGIF Eats (WIAW:TGIF edition)

/ Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 4 Comments

Happy Wednesday! I hope that I didn’t confuse you by calling this TGIF edition – it’s not quite Friday yet, sadly – instead, these are my eats from last Friday.

 

The day started with a chocolate protein shake. I’m typically a vanilla shake person, but I’ve been much more in the mood for the chocolate flavor lately and it hit the spot Friday morning. I topped it with a few slices of banana.

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I had some tea on the side. I love herbal tea and had bought this tea when B and I were in Mexico and it was delicious.

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Lunch was leftovers. I had leftover spaghetti squash with homemade tomato sauce, along with leftover homemade chicken gnocchi soup.

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And a giant grapefruit. Because I love grapefruit.

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I also snacked on some hard candy in the afternoon.

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I had a coffee meeting in the afternoon and enjoyed some of my favorite local tea from Phoenix. Ruthie’s Tea with honey is my idea of perfection. I also was able to enjoy a macaron.

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I got hungry a few hours later and had some peanuts to tide me over until dinner, which I knew we wouldn’t be eating until at least 8

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Friday night, B and I had plans to go to the Cavs game with some friends and get drinks before the game and dinner at the game. So dinner was less-than-healthy, but pretty delicious – Lola fries (thin fries with rosemary) and a chicken avocado sandwich while at the game. The food was good – but we lost the game in the last second.

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And that was about it! Not a bad Friday.

Some questions for you:

  • What’s your go-to stadium food / game eat?
  • Tea drinkers – what’s your favorite tea?

February Fun

/ Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 9 Comments

Two people asked me at work on Monday if I was tired. Yikes. I’m going to take that as a sign that I had a good weekend? Because I did – and I guess my Monday morning face showed it.

Friday night, B and I had tickets to a Cavs game.

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We bought fundraising tickets with a board that we’re on and unfortunately that meant nosebleed seats. (And sadly, a loss. I’m beginning to think it’s B and me because we haven’t seen a Cleveland sports team win since October (and yes, we’ve seen the Browns and Cavs play since then)

Saturday morning, it was too nice outside not to run. I hadn’t run outside all week and it was sunny and in the 30s and really felt great to be outdoors and get in a short run with B. We only had time for a 5k-ish but it was so nice to be out!

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After the run, I had plans for an all-day baking fest with my friend Cuoghi. I didn’t end up with pictures of everything we’d made, but between the two of us we made 2 different batches of cookies, popcorn, cupcakes, fudge and some cornflake/marshmallow treats.

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My baking buddy. Confession – she made the majority of the treats.

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Saturday night, B and I had a movie date at the Capitol Theater. We saw the Oscar live action shorts. Wow. We love seeing the Oscar shorts before the awards ceremony, but some of these this year were SERIOUS movies.

You can see trailers for all of them here. One of my favorites was Stutterer (and it was less serious):

Sunday was somewhat uneventful. B and I had to go to a wake a few hours away or a friend’s dad who had died, so that took up most of the day. We did get home in time to go for a nice walk, though. It was 50 degrees out and I couldn’t miss the chance to go outside without a coat for probably the last time in a while.

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And of course, Sunday night was the Super Bowl. I was able to share some of the baking day treats wth the party we went to, which actually had a BUFFALO SAUCE FOUNTAIN. That’s right – like a chocolate fountain – but with buffalo sauce.

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The game was alright – I’m not a big football fan and I typically just enjoy the game for the social aspect, the food and of course, the commercials. Here are the cupcakes we brought that I made:

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It was a later-than-usual Sunday night for me, thus the tiredness Monday morning. And delay in sharing this post with you. Hopefully you’re off to a great week!

Some questions for you:

  • Did you watch the Super Bowl? Do you watch for the commercials? The game? Both?
  • Do you like buffalo sauce?

I’m belatedly linking up with Erin and the weekly wraps.

Meatless Monday: Easy (and adaptable) Overnight Oats

/ Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 7 Comments

It has been a while since I’ve written a Meatless Monday post – and I don’t know why! I’ve had a few meatfree meals lately, but I haven’t taken the time to truly capture them and write down a recipe and then post them.

So, today’s meatless post is a meal you can enjoy for breakfast. Overnight oats! I make these sometimes when I’m craving something other than my typical egg white and spinach and veggies for breakfast and have been asked how I make them. The answer? It’s always different. There are so many ways to make them. It depends on what ingredients I have. So here you go – a standard overnight oats recipe for you to enjoy and it’s adaptable so you can add or remove the toppings as you please!

Easy Overnight Oats - icrashedtheweb

Here’s what you need:

  • ½ cup old-fashioned rolled oats
  • ⅓ cup yogurt (for this recipe, I used  plain Greek yogurt)
  • ½ cup milk (unsweetened vanilla almond milk is my favorite, but I didn’t have any on hand so I used regular milk)
  • 1-2 teaspoons your favorite nut butter (I love almond, peanut and sun butter!)
  • 1-2 teaspoons Chia seeds
  • 1-2 teaspoons honey
  • To top your oats (wait until you’re ready to eat to add these): fruit (I like 1/2 banana, blueberries, nuts and more nut butter)
overnight oats ingredients

basic overnight oats ingredients

 

Here’s what you do:
  1. Combine oats, yogurt, milk, nut butter, chia seeds and honey in a 10-12 ounce jar. Stir with a spoon or shake until everything is pretty combined.
  2. Let sit in fridge overnight or at least 7-8 hours. When ready do serve, add toppings! I love adding some freshly sliced banana, blueberries, a few nuts and even more nut butter.
  3. Enjoy a hearty and delicious breakfast. Or snack. Or dessert. I’m not judging!

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Isn’t that easy? Some modifications I’ve enjoyed include:

  • Adding more milk and less yogurt for a less tangy and less thick oatmeal.
  • Adding some diced banana to the oats in the overnight version and peanut butter. Then topping with more banana and more peanut butter for a peanut butter and banana oats.
  • Adding PB2 or another powdered peanut butter before mixing for a more peanut buttery flavor.
  • Adding dried fruit or coconut to the top when it’s ready to serve
  • Adding flax seed (1-2 teaspoons) for some extra fiber/grit/texture.
  • Topping my oats with more oats (meaning: homemade granola) or a few mini chocolate chips if you’re feeling ambitious.

That’s one of the things I love about overnight oats – in addition to being super easy and not at all time consuming, the possibilities really are endless!

Some questions for you:

  • Do you like overnight oats? What’s your favorite combination?
  • What’s your go-to breakfast?

Disclosure: While I was not compensated for this post, some of the product (nut butter, oats) was  provided to me by Swanson Health. My views and comments are solely my own and do not represent those of Swanson. AND I’ll likely be doing a giveaway so you can get some goodies too, soon 🙂

For more Meatless Monday posts, check out some of my past recipes or visit the linkup below! I’m linking up with Sarah and Confessions of a Mother Runner .