Good Morning Sunshine!

Hello bloggies!  I hope you are having a fine Monday morning!  It is supposed to be 88 degrees here in D.C. today, so I am breaking out the old flip-flops and trying to get a tan on my way to class.  The recent change in the weather has me thinking about breakfast food!  Well, almost anything makes me think about breakfast, but that's not the point.  I usually don't like eating hot foods when it is hot out, like coffee or oatmeal.  But, I do love oatmeal.  Seriously, I would eat oatmeal for almost every breakfast if I could.  

However, I do not love the long walk down the hall from my room to the lounge (where the microwave is).  It’s not a pretty sight.  I stumble down the hall, hair uncombed, wearing an incredibly oversized t-shirt with Bugs Bunny and a pair of sweats.  Yikes.  So, I don’t end up making oatmeal as often as I would like.  And once it gets too warm for oatmeal, I have even less of an incentive to make my favorite breakfast. 

However, I found something recently that could change all of that.  Overnight Oats in a Jar.  The idea behind this dish is that you prepare oatmeal with water or milk inside of an almost empty peanut butter jar.  That way, you are able to scrape all the goodness from the inside of the PB jar with your oats.

I was a bit skeptical about this endeavor.  Cold oatmeal?  I love my oats, but I wasn’t sure if the idea of eating them cold in the morning was palatable or not.  But, some of my favorite bloggers have mentioned it, and I have seen it too many times for it to just be some cruel internet joke created to make me cringe.  So, I decided I would have to try it.

I had this idea about four days ago.  I was going to wait until my peanut butter jar was almost empty and then ta-da!  Oats in a jar, here we come!  However, I still had a lot of PB left, and not a lot of patience.  I can usually go through a jar of PB in about three weeks, but that was going to be too long for me to wait!  Hmm, writing about peanut butter makes me want peanut butter…resist urge to get spoon, must not eat PB straight from the jar…OK, I think I’m better now. 

So, anyway, I decided to make OOIAJ.  I followed a recipe I found online, but instead of using the almost empty PB jar, I spread about a tablespoon of PB on the bottom/sides of an old jam jar.  See?  Patience is overrated, who needs patience?  

OOIAJ

1 almost empty jar of PB

½ cup instant oats

1 banana

½ cup water

¼ cup soymilk

Put ½ of the banana (chopped) into the jar with the PB.  Top with oats and add in the soymilk.  Stir.  Place in refrigerator overnight.  In the morning, stir again and top with the remaining ½ banana.  (I also added a couple of dried cherries I bought at the Farmer’s Market)

                                                     Awesome oats, after a full night in the fridge, getting all happy.

                                                     The results, tasty, tasty, results.

Despite my previous concerns, the OOIAJ turned out really well.  They were super creamy and yummy.  The combination of peanut butter and banana is always a winner for me, and the cold thing was actually kinda nice.  Since there is no microwave required, this was a really easy way for me to make something other than cereal for breakfast.  And I don’t even have to wait until I have an almost empty PB jar.  Take that internet!  Of course, I suppose you could make this without the peanut butter, but, for the life of me, I can’t even figure out why I wrote that. 

                                                     Overnight oats, after being sufficiently nom'ed

Until next time!