Hello lovely readers! I know so many people who don’t eat breakfast and I just don’t get it. First off, I love breakfast food! Second, and more importantly in the grand scheme of things, I’d be real unpleasant without it. I don’t do well with low blood sugar, and even when I’m going to jog almost first thing, I still eat first. So, all that said, I have a lot of fun coming up with new breakfast ideas! Lately, I’m on a bowl kick. Since I started eating almost completely vegan, I gotta come up with things that aren’t eggy…I used to live on egg whites. Now that the “vegan” word is out there, let me just say that I do not judge. I like the challenge of eating vegan, and I like how I feel eating mostly vegan. But I still eat ice cream. There ya go. No one is better than anyone else here!
So, breakfast bowls…there are so many delicious combinations that you can make with grains and mix-ins! I love making overnight oats because I make enough that if I wanted to, I’d be set for the next 6 breakfasts! But I also like to change it up a bit and use quinoa, or even black or brown rice!
First, the overnight oats recipe that I use:
Easy instructions:
Measure 2 and 2/3 cups of steel cut oats (preferably not quick-cooking, I find that these get soggy) into a large saucepan. Add a little bit less than 4 cups water (I used to always do 4 but have started doing a bit less and I prefer the final texture). Add a dash or two of salt, cover and bring to a boil. Turn down heat and simmer for 3 minutes. Then spoon into jars. This can get a little messy, so you will probably need to experiment with what spoon is best for you and your jars. I still haven’t found a perfect one, but it’ll do. So here’s where I get a little neurotic – I use a large spoon (and scoop about two scoops into each jar and then continue going around the jars until it’s gone. My logic is, as you will see, it separates and is a bit soupy, so I want each jar to get the same amount of oats and liquid. Probably don’t need to be so particular, but…that’s me!
Once you have the oats divvied up, you can close up the jars and wait until you are eating to do all your mix-ins, or you can experiment with mix-ins before. When I used to be able to eat coconut (sob!) I would mix in a TBSP or so and it made for a delicious creamy flavor throughout the next day. I have also tried mixing in about 1 or 2 tsp brown sugar right away, but now I don’t prefer to add any sweetener at all.
To heat up, the quickest method is, of course, the microwave. I find that heating it about 1 minute then mixing it around and doing another 30 seconds is just about perfect. If you are adding frozen blueberries you might want a little more. The morning after you make it, if it’s been sitting out as opposed to the fridge, you will probably only need about a minute.
If you don’t prefer to use the microwave, you can easily heat up in a saucepan. If I could do coconut or almond milk, I’d for sure add a little bit of either of those!
They will keep in the fridge for about a week or even freeze quite well!
And as I mentioned earlier, I like to have a few grain options to combine or just to have some variety from day-to-day. But I am not going to pretend that I have any tried and true method for quinoa or any variety of rice – every time I make it it’s a little different and usually imperfect in some way. But it always serves the purpose!
Now let’s talk mix-ins –
I have a few staple mix-ins, but I really like getting inspired by leftovers I have in the fridge or colors I want to photograph as well.
Black rice topped with fresh strawberries and thick cashew milk
Brown rice mixed with pumpkin, thick cashew milk and cinnamon. Topped with nut sprinkle
Overnight oats warmed up with cashew creme, tons of frozen blueberries, pepitas, sunflower seeds and a little cinnamon
Overnight oats with pureed roasted red kuri squash, pepitas and sunflower seeds, dried cranberries and a little granola crumble
Overnight oats mixed with black rice and topped with cashew milk, pepitas, sunflower seeds and granola crumble
Quinoa mixed with pumpkin cashew creme, cinnamon and a touch of maple syrup. Topped with dried cranberry, and toasted pepitas and sunflower seeds.
Quinoa cooked in cashew cinnamon milk (replaced water for cooking) with raisins and apples
Overnight oats mixed with cooked quinoa and butternut squash puree. Topped with blueberries, pepitas, sunflower seeds, puffed quinoa and cinnamon
Rainbow quinoa mixed with overnight oats, fresh peaches, blueberries, honey, pepitas and sunflower seeds
Overnight oats in black bean/honey puree topped with pepitas and sunflower seeds
Black rice topped with cashew creme and dried cherries
And one more that I had to add just before this goes live because I had it this morning and it was ridiculously delicious and felt oh-so-healthy! “Zucchini bread” overnight oats – prepare with usual steel cut recipe but before closing jar (use a larger jar so you have room!), add 1/4 c. very finely shredded (or pureed) zucchini, 1/4 tsp cinnamon, and 1/4 tsp brown sugar. Mix well and leave on counter for a few hours. Then store in fridge.
I added a little sweet crunchy granola on top after heating!
Get creative, have fun, make it thick or crunchy or creamy…get excited about breakfast and enjoy! I always like to hear new ideas too so shoot pictures and #foodiefluential or #momfluential or share in the comments here!
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