I had never heard of refrigerator oatmeal until last week, but now I make it almost every day.
The premise is really simple: add some oats and dairy to a jar, add some flavours, shake and put in the fridge overnight. While you sleep, the oats suck up some of the moisture and flavour, and leave you with a hearty breakfast that is low in calories and fat, but high in protein. It keeps me full until lunch, and doesn't require me to get up any earlier (which really is the best kind of breakfast for me).
I'm going to share my favorite recipe so far: Banana Chocolate with protein powder. The protein powder here really gives this some substance, and because it sits overnight, you don't get that chalky taste.
The basic recipe is like this:
1/3 cup rolled oats (not quick oats or instant oats)
1/3 cup non-fat Greek yogurt
1/2 cup vanilla almond milk
To make this extra awesome, add:
1/2 banana, sliced
1/2 scoop chocolate protein powder
1/2 tsp cocoa powder
Optional:
1 tsp hemp hearts
or
1 tbsp unsweetened coconut flakes
or
1 tbsp blanched, slivered almonds
Put it all in a jar and shake it! Tomorrow, you will have a filling breakfast with no effort.
Other flavours that I've toyed with:
I substituted cherry-flavoured greek yogurt and added a couple spoonfuls of frozen blueberries instead of bananas.
I added blueberries and a spoonful of peach butter (no cocoa or protein powder)
I added frozen strawberries, unsweetened coconut, and a few drops of vanilla extract.
Invent your own!
