Cinnamon Raisin Overnight Oats

Ingredients

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp salt

pinch allspice & pinch nutmeg (I cannot get over how much these two pinches enhance the flavor!)

1 tsp brown sugar (or more if you like it sweeter)

2 TBSP raisins

1/2 cup rolled oats

3/4 cup milk of some variety (I usually use almond milk and I usually don't measure it. Oats absorb milk so I usually just make sure to cover the oats by an inch or so.)

Directions

Measure the ingredients into a jar in the order listed. A pint-sized mason jar seems to be the right size for me. (I like the jars with wide mouths.) Screw on the lid and give it a little shake, then put the jar in the fridge till you are ready to eat.

DONE. How quick and easy was that? The oats should be ready to eat in as little as one hour but taste best if allowed to rest overnight -- just perfect for making ahead to save time in the morning. As previously mentioned, the oatmeal should stay good in the fridge for up to 5 days.

When I was a kid, I used to eat a lot of instant oatmeal. Did I say a lot? That might be an understatement. I mean I ate it almost every day for probably the better part of elementary school.

It was quick, something I could make for myself and my parents were willing to buy it for me even though it did not come in one of those bulk, generic, cereal bags.

When I grew up and became a mother, I got super busy and pretty much stopped eating breakfast in favor of doing other things with my time. Getting my kids out the door to school comes to mind. In fact, I seem to remember that my breakfast of choice when my son was in high school was a cappuccino from the gas station near his school. The boy was late for the bus and asked for a ride every day -- every day, all four years. (Eye roll -- teenagers!)

Now that I am an empty nester, I'm doing my own thing and one of those things is trying to figure out what to eat that is simple, cheap, single-serving and not terrible for my health. In fact, I'd prefer to eat things that promote getting back to a healthy weight if that's possible. Enter the rediscovery of, yes, oats!

Oats are supposedly really good in all sorts of ways that I'm not going into because I'm not qualified. What I will say, though, is that I have a tendency to get dehydrated and eating my oatmeal seems to help my stools stay soft (sorry if that's gross), which means to my simple mind that oats help me maintain better hydration. The claims that oatmeal is heart healthy and weight friendly are also appealing, but I haven't noticed them in my life.

Admittedly, I do often forget to eat breakfast after years of not doing so but I also often get a little rumble in my tummy in the mornings. My personal guideline is that if my tummy rumbles before 9:30 am, then I'll eat something -- as long as I finish eating before 10 am. Otherwise, I figure that I might as well just eat lunch. I prefer lunch to breakfast, so this is a good guideline for me.

As I have become very lazy about cooking in my empty-nester age, it's good to have something easy and quick on hand for those times that I choose to eat breakfast. Assuming there are at least 5 days left before the milk expires, my jars of oats stay good in the fridge for up to 5 days, which makes them great for preparing in advance. I use several recipes but above is the recipe I use for the Cinnamon Raisin overnight oats.

Product Links (Affiliate)

Sorry, no affiliate links today. The links I found for wide mouthed mason jars were WAY too expensive. I bought some of my jars in person at Walmart and some at Menard's.