Quick Oatmeal for Busy Mornings

If you're anything like me, mornings are always hectic. It doesn't matter what day it is, I'm always running behind--making sure my lunches/snacks are packed, the dogs have gone out to do their thing, I'm dressed in my appropriate uniform and ready (believe me some days I forget...pjs are acceptable work attire right??), and Did I actually eat breakfast?

Well, for today's edition of Scrumptious Sunday, I'm going over some of my fave grab and go oaty breakfasts. These are great to prep ahead of time....and will be ready to just pop open or heat up and eat once I get to my destination.

As the holiday season gets busy, I wanted to give new life to your regular old oats! Hint....my bowls usually involve pumpkin 🎃.....a lot of pumpkin 😉. But I've tried other recipes too, so I'll share a few other ideas to get your creative juices flowing!!

The first is my simple hot pumpkin oats. I mix 1/2 cup old fashioned rolled oats in a 12 oz wide mouth mason jar with pumpkin (usually 2 big spoonfuls), cinnamon, ginger, and slivered almonds to taste. I screw on the lid, then when I get to work, I add hot water out of the coffee machine (or just plain ole tap water if coffee isn't on), and stir. If I use tap water, I'll heat in microwave for 2 minutes, then stir it all to combine. Very easy to grab and fix/eat when I'm starting my day!
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Next one is my overnight yogurt oats. In this one, I use 1/4 cup steel cut oats, 1/3 cup pumpkin, 1/2 cup yogurt (I used plain Icelandic style, but any type will do), cinnamon (to taste), ginger (to taste), and 2 handfuls of frozen cranberries.

I mix this in a container the night before to let the oats soften and the cranberries thaw. In the morning, I'll just grab a spoon and my container and I'm rolling! You can customize the fruit...whatever you've got...I've used apricots, medjool dates, deglect noir dates, figs, papayas...the possibilities are endless. Note the first pic I posted above is a variation of this recipe with medjool dates....so caramely and wonderful!!!

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Once you've got either your hot oatmeal or your overnight yogurt oats base fixed, then it's time to get creative! Here are some ideas:

• ​Pumpkin, hempseeds, dried black mission figs, cinnamon, and ginger (pictured below)
• Cherries, cinnamon, alcohol free vanilla extract, slivered/chopped almonds
• Medjool dates, cinnamon, shredded coconut
• Slivered almonds with shredded coconut and alcohol free almond extract
• Raspberries, blackberries, hempseeds, pumpkin pie spice
• Tropical oats: bananas, pineapple, mango chunks with shredded coconut
• Pomegranate arils with almond butter
• Savory: Banana and Tahini
• Chopped apples and raisins with almond butter
• Cherries, cinnamon, pistachios, and dark chocolate chips (mine are dairy free!)
• Wild blueberries, mangos, and shredded coconut

​Can't wait to see what you come up with. Post your pics with #scrumptioussunday to give me some new ideas for my own grab and go breakfasts.....I'm hungry 😋

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