I love having oatmeal in the morning. It’s comforting and it’s healthy. And now that I’m still nursing the baby, it’s good for milk supply too (Well, I won’t count on just oatmeal to boost supply, but it sure helps in that department). I like the old-fashioned (or known as rolled oats) cooked oatmeal, as I like rustic type of presentation 😉 Recently, there is also steel-cut oats. I’m sure you heard of that too. Tried it at Costco during food sampling and yes, I like steel-cut oats too. The shape of the oats are rounder (more like a grain) and it does taste nuttier, which I like. I never really taken into eating instant oatmeal and I won’t suggest using that for this refrigerated raw oatmeal.
My mom told me she’s been eating her oats raw sometimes ago. She soaked her oats in water until the next day and it’s ready for consumption. Well, I was never really attracted to that because the thought of raw and soaked in water didn’t sound very appetizing (sorry mom:) ). Recently, eating raw oatmeal has been quite a hype and people are pinning them everywhere at pinterest and facebook. I was intrigued to try it this time only because it’s soaked in milk and refrigerated, and many toppings can be added. Wow….. sounds really good. And another major reason why I decided to do this is…………………..(drum roll)
I’m lazy to wash the pot every morning after cooking the oatmeal. I have to be honest, it’s not the easiest thing to wash, especially when they boiled over !! So, this refrigerated raw oatmeal sounded like a really great solution to my laziness. And it is. Not only I find this really convenient, I find it exciting trying to decide what I want to put into the jar (hopefully the healthy stuff of course 😉 ). My husband loves the idea and enjoys eating them too.
If you google about this raw oatmeal, you’ll find tons of people are doing it and many interesting delicious recipes too. Because I’m trying to stick with “no cook” (including the topping), I pretty much just use things like fresh milk, dried fruits, fresh fruits, seeds, yogurt , and peanut butter (yes, peanut butter without the jelly ha..ha..) in my experiments so far.
Whether you eat it cooked or raw, they offer the same nutritional benefits. Some people prefer cooked, while lazy me okay with both, but the raw one wins because…oh well, you know why! If you think the raw oatmeal is going to taste like you are chewing a cardboard, I can tell you, it’s not. Not after you soak it in a liquid for at least 5 hours. Mine is overnight in the fridge, so it’s longer than 5 hours and ready for me the next morning. It is soft (of course not as soft as the cooked one) and you can be rest assured that you are not eating cardboard 🙂
The fun part is, you can add whatever topping your heart desires. It’s like eating an oatmeal parfait ! and…. all the glass bottles that I’ve been keeping can be used for this purpose. I won’t recommend using large bottles. I think 1 cup-size bottle or a bit bigger is okay because it’s good for one serving in the morning without having left over.
Refrigerated raw oatmeal (overnight oats)
Ingredients
CINNAMON RAISINS
- 1 cup -size glass jar
- ¼ cup rolled oats
- 2 Tbsp Greek yogurt
- 1 Tbsp chia seeds
- 1 Tbsp flax seeds
- 1 Tbsp raisins or sultanas
- ¼ tsp cinnamon powder
- ¼ tsp vanilla extract
- ½ Tbsp Turbinado or brown sugar optional
- Milk skim or whole it's up to you
STRAWBERRY VANILLA
- 1 cup -size glass jar
- ¼ cup rolled oats
- 2 Tbsp Greek yogurt
- ½ Tbsp chia seeds
- ½ Tbsp flax seeds
- ½ Tbsp honey
- ¼ tsp vanilla extract
- Milk skim or whole it's up to you
- 1-2 strawberries washed and cut into halves
RASPBERRY PEANUT BUTTER
- 1 cup -size glass jar
- ¼ cup rolled oats
- 2 Tbsp Greek yogurt
- ½ Tbsp chia seeds
- ½ Tbsp flax seeds
- 1 Tbsp creamy peanut butter
- ½ Tbsp honey
- Milk skim or whole it's up to you
- 3-4 fresh raspberries washed
AVOCADO BANANAS
- 1 cup -size glass jar
- ¼ cup rolled oats
- 2 Tbsp Greek yogurt
- ½ Tbsp chia seeds
- ½ Tbsp flax seeds
- ½ Tbsp honey
- Milk skim or whole it's up to you
- ¼ pieces of avocado or more
- 4-5 slices of ripe bananas
Pineapple Almond Butter
- 1 cup -size glass jar
- ¼ cup rolled oats
- 2 Tbsp Greek yogurt
- 1 Tbsp Almond Butter
- ½ Tbsp chia seeds
- ½ Tbsp flax seeds
- ½ Tbsp Turbinado or brown sugar
- Milk skim or whole it's up to you
- 5-6 chunks of fresh pineapple you can use canned too if you prefer
Instructions
- Fill up the jar with oats, seeds and the rest of the topping (except for fresh fruits). Top it up with milk. Allow a little room as it may expand a bit as the ingredients soften and gelled up (the chia will swell after being soaked). Cover with lid and give it a shake. If use fresh fruit, top it up with the fruit, cover with a lid and put in the fridge until the next day
Notes
PIN IT!
