Summer Porridge aka Yogurt Oats

 

When I first saw this recipe, called "summer porridge", "yogurt oats", or "overnight oatmeal", I honestly thought it sounded gross but so many people were enthusiastic on Pinterest and other places on the web that I knew I had to give it a chance. It's not like I'm not an adventurous eater anyway, and with these ingredients I knew that at the very least it would be very good for me. (I just needed to check it out to see if it was "good" in the concept of "good & good for you".)

Guess what? It's my favorite way to make oatmeal now.  Hot oatmeal in the winter is filling and somehow defines cold weather for me, but the summer? Not so much.  Now I have a summer oatmeal to enjoy and start off the day with a nice healthy meal that keeps me going.  And more than just breakfast, it's now included in my lunchbox almost every time I go to work as my go-to healthy mid-night snack that keeps me going until 0700.

This healthy habit plays off another of my new favorite healthy habits:  Sangria Water, where I fill a pitcher with filtered water and fruit of all kinds and let it soak overnight, giving me great fruit-tasting water to drink all day and then the fruit to put on my oatmeal for the next day. So the Sangria Water  I made yesterday, with peaches and blueberries, became the peaches and blueberries that topped my yogurt oats this morning for breakfast. It's a win-win, for sure.

 

Refrigerator Yogurt Oats

Recipe by Glenna Anderson Muse

Ingredients:

• 1 5.6 oz container Oikos, or other, plain greek yogurt (basically 3/4 cup)
• 1/2 cup Rolled Oats (not instant)
• 2 tsp Honey (local honey is best)
• 2 Tbsp No Sugar Added Apple Butter or other no sugar added preserves (optional)
• Fruit to top:  banana, peachs, blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, etc, and 1/2 tsp of any spices you'd like to add to the porridge: cinnamon, cardamom, lemon or orange zest, etc.
• 1/4 cup skim milk to thin porridge (optional) This depends on how you like your oatmeal. I love this recipe thick so I omit the milk.

Directions:

Mix first 4 ingredients together and place in fridge overnight to let the oats plump.  Can add toppings the night before or just prior to eating (I cut the banana fresh in the morning just before eating).

This recipe is ultimately customizable. Whatever your favorite combinations of fruit and spices and/or nuts you like will work here:  apples and cinnamon, peaches and almonds, blueberries and cardamom, etc.

I like it at its basic with just some apple butter or no sugar added applesauce mixed in.

Nutrition per serving (without fruit):  Calories:     320;  Protein:    15;   Carbs:   80;    fat:  5.5;    Fiber:   9   Weight Watchers Pts:    11

A note about the nutritional counts.  I can't begin to tell you how many people in my real life or on this blog whenever I post about yogurt and fruit tell me that all those carbs are "bad for you" or that there's no way anyone could lose weight by eating oatmeal and/or yogurt and fruit.  My response to that is, pardon my French:  BULLSHIT! Not only are those three foods GREAT for the body, you can lose weight eating them every day--I'm living proof!   I'm tired of people never distinguishing between sugar in all its forms and complex carbs.  I'm appalled when people say to me "if you want to lose weight, don't eat fruit.  It's bad."  Excuse me? Fruit is one of God's most perfect foods.  Yogurt and fruit are only bad for you if you add a bunch of white sugar to them.  Plain, low-fat yogurt and fresh or frozen fruit will ALWAYS be healthy fuel for the body, irregardless of the number of carbs on paper.