FOODIE FRIDAY....OVERNIGHT OATS

Overnight oats aren't NEW to the blogging, pinterest, insta community....BUT they may intimidate you...DON'T let them!!! A few months ago my girlfriends and I had a meal prep day and one of the items on the menu was overnight oats. They were SHOCKED at how EASY and DELISH they were!! SO here I will give you a few options for overnight oats...variety is the SPICE of life...SO TRUE!!!

I like to experiment and try new things (oats are relatively in-expensive so if it sucks just start again!! BUT save this fir a day you are eating at home BECAUSE if you take them to work and they suck you'll be HANGRY).
Most recipes you'll find on-line include using almond, coconut or regular ol' milk as your liquid. You can do ANYTHING you want - water, milk, cream (this will give you a thicker more hearty oat BUT not diet friendly). I subbed the majority of my liquid for applesauce-  if you can use it in place of oil in recipes why not for oats?!?! Again, most recipes call for 1/4 cup of oats to a 1/2 cup of liquid...
For this particular recipe I used prepackaged oats & flax from Aldi....used a 1/4 cup of water and a 1/4 cup of UNSWEETENED apple sauce. Sprinkled some cinnamon and a pinch of coarse Chili salt for a lil kick (THIS IS MY ALL TIME FAVE "SECRET INGREDIENT").  Don't be afraid of salt -as with EVERYTHING in moderation it's perfectly fine, necessary and in fact salt aids in blood sugar control, it's a natural antihistamine, the body needs salt to maintain a proper PH in the stomach, lowers adrenaline spikes, improves sleep quality, encourages a healthy weight and fast metabolism, supports thyroid function - this is REAL people (the facts were found here http://empoweredsustenance.com/salt-is-good-for-you/). Of course I'm not suggesting you go out and buy a salt block to lick on daily and I have ZERO nutritional education (aside from trial and experiment on myself and research)

When choosing a healthy lifestyle (notice I did NOT say diet because that's just not REAL) sometimes you get a hankering for something sweet! Was the case this day....I used almond milk, added a teaspoon of Hershey's UNSWEETENED Cocoa and a half a banana...the banana helped bring out the sweet in the unsweetened chocolate!

Getting Started:

Gather your supplies (jars, ingredients). I will give you an amazing tip - I save jars from jams, cherries, salsa (you may not want to use that particular jar for your oats until after a million washes) and use these jars. If you don't want to be bothered with all that 9even though you are making YOUR green footprint a good one) you can purchase glass mason jars - sold er'where from Target to your local grocery store! 

I like to spend an afternoon food prepping - makes for an EASY week and y'all know by now how much I LOVE the 6P's!!
(see my overnight oats in the background?!?!)

If you have any other tips, tricks or fave recipes I'd LOVE to hear from you!!