Banana Bread Overnight Oats

Dear Banana Bread,

I want you to meet Overnight Oats. Also, you’re my new favorite breakfast!

Think; mashed banana, walnuts, and old-fashioned rolled oats covered in the best vanilla almond milk, thick coconut yogurt and left to soften and expand overnight. Right before serving- top with more walnuts, fresh banana slices, a dollop of coconut yogurt, a dash of pure maple or coconut nectar and dark chocolate chips. Can you handle it?

I am not sure I can effectively convey how GOOD this is…. It’s like dessert for breakfast, best enjoyed with a cup of dark coffee or earl grey tea. Quite possibly, my two favorite things.

The best part: it’s a total guilt-free indulgence. All real food ingredients; yet no dairy, gluten or white, processed sugars anywhere. Totally my type of deal! I have to tell you that I’ve been testing this for a few days now; using coconut yogurt as a base & then switching to almond milk- only to finally settle on a combination of both for the very best texture.

And then trying it with coconut nectar and then with pure maple syrup; etc. The best news- it doesn’t even need unrefined sugar! I mean, you can add pure maple if you’d like, but it’s already sweet enough without it. It gets a hint of vanilla from the pure extract & the ripe, mashed banana sweetens this bowl amazingly well. Cinnamon also packs a nice little something-something. Natural sugars from the mashed banana concentrate overnight and will make this bowl even sweeter the following day- sans any of the nasty additives oatmeal has been riddled with in recent years.

This thing is so filling and so satisfying that many an afternoon I’ve eaten the little cups I have in the fridge as dessert. My youngest, Grace- can’t even look at oatmeal. Not sure why or when this started. BUT- she eats this. It has a different texture from your warm & grainy traditional bowl of oats. Once the oats soften and moisten overnight they kind of taste like bread pudding. It’s the best way I can describe it.

My favorite thing about this: I can walk or of the house bright and early with a portable, nourishing breakfast in hand! And not just any breakfast. THE banana bread breakfast.

• Servings: 1
• Time: 5 mins
• Print

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup gluten-free rolled oats
• 1/2 cup of your favorite nut milk. (I used vanilla, unsweetened almond milk)
• 2-3 tbsp of coconut yogurt
• 1/4 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp ceylon cinnamon
• 1 mashed banana
• 1/2 banana sliced
• a handful of walnuts
• a handful of chocolate chips ( I use dairy-free ones)

Instructions

1. In a little mason jar or tup, add the dry oats & top with the mashed banana, the almond milk, the coconut yogurt, the vanilla & the cinnamon. Mix it all up & cover.
2. Leave the jar or tup in the fridge overnight or for at least 4 hours.
3. Right before serving, top with fresh banana slices, walnuts & dark chocolate chips. Enjoy every spoonful!

Optional Superfoods to add on:

• 1 tbsp of collagen powder
• 1 tbsp of lucuma powder (it will give it a nice, caramel-like taste)
• 1 tbsp of chia seeds
• 1 tbsp of hemp hearts

Notes: for the optional add-ons, add them when prepping and let them soak overnight along with everything else- especially chia seeds.