Overnight oats 3 ways

Hey, y’all!  I’m looking forward to sharing this recipe with all y’all.  It can be so difficult to stay healthy and in shape as we get older, (can I get an amen?), but what we have going for us and also makes this process a bit easier are a couple of things.   One factor is the number of new products available to the public which just weren’t around when we were growing up.  I don’t know about y’all but chia seeds weren’t in our south Florida grocery stores until some time after about 2013 or 2014.  They were available in “health food stores” and served in restaurants, here in the States, around 2010.  And, of course, who can forget the dreadful chia pet?  That is NOT anything I ever wanted.  Another reason a healthful lifestyle is now more manageable is we have new ways of preparing food and countless nutritious products at at our fingertips.  Not so growing up.  I’ve mentioned my father was a pretty strict vegetarian.  He was the only person we knew who owned a juicer, a monstrous machine which weighed a ton and was a bear to clean.  When Daddy came home from work nothing made him happier than concocting mysterious blends of vegetable and fruit juice.  It mattered not to him whether the flavors married well; it was all about nutrition.  Ugh.  Some of the combinations were brutal.  Every evening spinach, string bean, celery and zucchini juice was delivered to each of the four of us in great, big tumblers, with a dark, green cap of vegetal foam on top just waiting to gross us out.  When I hit my mid-teens I learned to race to the bathroom and either be right in the middle of washing my face or putting on make up when my glass was presented to me.  Never making eye contact with the delivery boy or girl,  I could motion with the shrug of a shoulder while splashing water on my face or point with my finger while putting on mascara, and at the same time mutter, “Just put it over there.  I’ll drink it in a second”.  Ha.  The moment my little brother or sister’s back was turned I threw that vile potion straight into the sink and down the drain faster than you can say “lickety-split”.  However, I have to admit and tell y’all that, as adults, all four of us practice and honestly enjoy a pretty clean lifestyle.  We’re all crazy about salads and vegetables and love juicing after having learned there are so many delicious combinations of fruits and vegetables.  We don’t eat much meat because we kind of don’t want it.  Chicken and fish a few times a week is more than fine.  Where we all seem to splurge is on organic produce.  I wouldn’t want to sip on a cup of Round-Up… why would I eat berries or peaches or green beans which have been sprayed with all manner of carcinogens?  Nope, not for me or my precious family.  The point is we have one body and one life.  We need to be good to ourselves and treat our bodies with dignity and foresight.  The hair, skin and certainly the weight I sported at age 25 or 30 is gone… a most faint memory.  Whatever I’ve lost, I can’t get back but I can most assuredly hang on to what I DO have, in terms of health.  So, Gentle Reader, take care of yourself.  Be conscious of everything you put in your body.  It’s perfectly fine to have french fries every couple of months but once a week?  That would be disaster and it would show in your digestive system and skin, never mind your weight.  Take the opportunity this summer to be the best you can physically be.  The holidays will be here in the wink of an eye and with a little creativity and a lot of perseverance you’ll be back in that size 8 or 10 Christmas dress that’s been lounging in the back of your closet since 1991.  Good lifestyle habits will reward you inside and out!

I have for y’all three different flavors of overnight oats so you don’t get bored with them.  Plus, each is pretty in its own way and we all savor with our eyes before even taking the first bite.  The combinations for oats are endless…truly.  One constant, though, is I always begin with a layer of rolled oats then chia seeds.  Chia seeds are incredibly healthful and absorb up to 12 times their weight in water expanding in your stomach and staving off any hunger pangs.  They are highly nutritive and super good for your digestive system.  And for those who don’t eat meat, chia seeds are an impressive form of protein.  I like to include flax seeds as you get a huge bang for your nutritive buck so don’t forget about them.  After that I continue to layer the different seeds, nuts, fruits and milk.  I never add sugar.  The minute I sugar hits my taste buds my hot flashes return with a vengeance and my knee reminds me it is, without doubt, NOT the same knee that danced until 4a.m. at the Limelight in Atlanta.  I may add a little honey, very little, but I also use frozen organic fruit as it’s packaged at its ripest thus at its sweetest.  Often I chop 2 or 3 pitted dates or I slice anywhere from 1/4-1/2 of a small to medium size banana, both adding sweetness without resorting to refined sugar.  I use almond butter in several different combos and instead of peanut butter, which can be super high in fat, I use peanut powder which is considerably lower in fat and is found in the nut butter and jelly section of Publix.  Typically I make my oats with almond or coconut milk, however, cashew, soy or rice milk may be used.  Whatever floats your boat.  I hope you’ll take a quick stroll down the frozen organic fruit aisle and experiment.  I think you’ll love the results, both inside and out.