overnight oats

Happy Wednesday! We’ve made it halfway through the week, and this Wednesday is especially special because tonight B and I are going out to celebrate his birthday. His big day was yesterday (and of course we celebrated with a great dinner from Mod Meals and a cake I made), but tonight we’re having Aunt Mary babysit so that we can get dinner out, just the two of us. Our second date night since FW was born!

It’s also What I Ate Wednesday! This day’s eats aren’t the healthiest – but that’s what WIAW is about, sharing our eats, for what they are.

Breakfast was pretty good – I’m on an overnight oats kick again, mainly because I don’t have granola anymore, am trying to not eat a gallon of yogurt a day (I think FW doesn’t like that, so I’ll keep my dairy to ice cream) and they’re easy to eat with a baby around. This time I had some cinnamon and almond and peanut butter in my mixture of oats, chia seeds, honey and almond milk. 20160908_090043

Midmorning, FW and I went to two farmers markets that are walkable from our apartment. We may have gotten a little overexcited and purchased a little too many peaches, nectarines, veggies and local bread.

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So naturally, I snacked on a peach (it was SOOO GOOD) and nectarine that morning. 20160908_114742

I also made some buckeyes that morning for a surprise for B’s birthday. So naturally I had one or two of those.

buckeyes homemade

For lunch, I had leftover grilled chicken (my parents had sent me home from NY with leftovers, yay!), half a baked sweet potato, sliced local tomato (SO much better than non-in-season tomato) and spinach.

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For dessert, I had a few spoonfuls of this deliciousness.

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AND of course, I had to try a slice of that cinnamon bread I had bought at the market. So good!

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B and I had dentist appointments that evening and after the dentist opted to stop by the local Dairy King for a quick treat to beat the heat. I had vanilla soft serve dipped in butterscotch. It was so good – but I was stuffed and not hungry for dinner after our 6 pm ice cream treat!
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So those were some of my eats from last week’s dentist appointment day to share for What I Ate Wednesday.

Some questions for you:

Do you have any traditions from going to dr or dentist appointment growing up? B’s family used to always go out for dinner or a treat after the dentist, which is one reason we went.
Have you been to any farmers markets recently? What did you get?

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)

basic overnight oats ingredients

Here’s what you do:

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.
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.
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 .