No cook "refrigerator" oatmeal: GOOD!
Usually I eat the same breakfast every day: A Quest protein bar. They're very yummy, but quite expensive, and as I like to also have one in the evening after dinner, I somehow got up to eating two of them in a day. So I was poking around, looking for other (cheap, low calorie) breakfast options. The fact that I don't like eggs much restricts things further.
I subscribe to The Hungry Girl's diet newsletters. And while I don't often have much success with her recipes, when I saw the no cook oatmeal idea, I was interested to try it. A GIANT helping of oatmeal for 300 calories? Especially when the oatmeal has fruit, nuts, yogurt, milk and other stuff in it? I was willing to give it a try!
Then I made it, and I started to have serious second thoughts. Who wants to eat oatmeal straight from the fridge? Cold and probably wallpaper paste-like? But I had made it, so I brought it to work -- worse comes to worst, I could toss it out and eat one of my Quest bars.
But know what? This is absolutely delicious! (Except when I get a bite where I didn't mix the yogurt in enough, those are kind of icky.)
Somehow that it's cold doesn't matter, it almost seems like it works better cold. Even though I had no maple extract, it still tastes pretty darned close to banana bread. Yummy!
Entire recipe: 303 calories, 9g total fat (1g sat fat), 268mg sodium, 45g carbs, 6.5g fiber, 10.5g sugars, 13.5g protein -- SmartPoints™ value 7*
((My note: I'd half the recipe in the future for sure, for many reasons. Half is all I can eat, but also 10g of sugar is supposed to be my limit per meal, and I added raisins so I pushed it into the danger zone. Edit: If you or a friend or a loved one had the surgery and can eat more sugar, please do NOT tell me! I don't want to know how far I could push it and be safe. Here be dragons. :) ))
Ordinary banana bread is loaded with sugar and low on protein. Not this bowl of creamy, dreamy goodness! P.S. Actual serving size is larger than it appears...
Prep: 5 minutes
Chill: 6 hours
Ingredients:
1/2 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
1/4 cup fat-free plain Greek yogurt
1 packet no-calorie sweetener (like Truvia) ((I used more than this, I think.))
1/8 tsp. cinnamon
1/8 tsp. vanilla extract ((Added a TINY bit more since I didn't have the maple.))
1/8 tsp. maple extract ((Skipped this, didn't have any.))
Dash salt ((I used more than a dash... whatever the heck a dash is. Give me official numbers!))
1/2 cup old-fashioned oats ((I'm not sure if I bought the right thing, but I think so. Not steel-cut oats, anyway...))
1/4 cup mashed extra-ripe banana
1/4 oz. (about 1 tbsp.) chopped walnuts ((I'd skip next time. They don't add anything to my taste.))
((I added maybe 15-20 raisins. Raisins make everything better.))
Directions:
In a medium bowl or jar, combine almond milk, yogurt, sweetener, cinnamon, vanilla extract, maple extract, and salt. Mix until uniform. ((And then mix even more, you do not want pockets of the yogurt.))
Stir in oats and banana. ((Oops, I mixed the banana in the above step.))
Cover and refrigerate for at least 6 hours, until oats are soft and have absorbed most of the liquid. ((I went almost 12 hours on the nose, and it's still good.))
Top with walnuts.
MAKES 1 SERVING ((Or two... Hopefully it'll hold well and I'll eat the rest tomorrow morning.))
I subscribe to The Hungry Girl's diet newsletters. And while I don't often have much success with her recipes, when I saw the no cook oatmeal idea, I was interested to try it. A GIANT helping of oatmeal for 300 calories? Especially when the oatmeal has fruit, nuts, yogurt, milk and other stuff in it? I was willing to give it a try!
Then I made it, and I started to have serious second thoughts. Who wants to eat oatmeal straight from the fridge? Cold and probably wallpaper paste-like? But I had made it, so I brought it to work -- worse comes to worst, I could toss it out and eat one of my Quest bars.
But know what? This is absolutely delicious! (Except when I get a bite where I didn't mix the yogurt in enough, those are kind of icky.)
Somehow that it's cold doesn't matter, it almost seems like it works better cold. Even though I had no maple extract, it still tastes pretty darned close to banana bread. Yummy!
Entire recipe: 303 calories, 9g total fat (1g sat fat), 268mg sodium, 45g carbs, 6.5g fiber, 10.5g sugars, 13.5g protein -- SmartPoints™ value 7*
((My note: I'd half the recipe in the future for sure, for many reasons. Half is all I can eat, but also 10g of sugar is supposed to be my limit per meal, and I added raisins so I pushed it into the danger zone. Edit: If you or a friend or a loved one had the surgery and can eat more sugar, please do NOT tell me! I don't want to know how far I could push it and be safe. Here be dragons. :) ))
Ordinary banana bread is loaded with sugar and low on protein. Not this bowl of creamy, dreamy goodness! P.S. Actual serving size is larger than it appears...
Prep: 5 minutes
Chill: 6 hours
Ingredients:
1/2 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
1/4 cup fat-free plain Greek yogurt
1 packet no-calorie sweetener (like Truvia) ((I used more than this, I think.))
1/8 tsp. cinnamon
1/8 tsp. vanilla extract ((Added a TINY bit more since I didn't have the maple.))
1/8 tsp. maple extract ((Skipped this, didn't have any.))
Dash salt ((I used more than a dash... whatever the heck a dash is. Give me official numbers!))
1/2 cup old-fashioned oats ((I'm not sure if I bought the right thing, but I think so. Not steel-cut oats, anyway...))
1/4 cup mashed extra-ripe banana
1/4 oz. (about 1 tbsp.) chopped walnuts ((I'd skip next time. They don't add anything to my taste.))
((I added maybe 15-20 raisins. Raisins make everything better.))
Directions:
In a medium bowl or jar, combine almond milk, yogurt, sweetener, cinnamon, vanilla extract, maple extract, and salt. Mix until uniform. ((And then mix even more, you do not want pockets of the yogurt.))
Stir in oats and banana. ((Oops, I mixed the banana in the above step.))
Cover and refrigerate for at least 6 hours, until oats are soft and have absorbed most of the liquid. ((I went almost 12 hours on the nose, and it's still good.))
Top with walnuts.
MAKES 1 SERVING ((Or two... Hopefully it'll hold well and I'll eat the rest tomorrow morning.))