the poverty luxe kitchen vol. 24: not boring oatmeal.

the one thing about living (somewhat) near the ocean is that its always freezing in the morning (and by freezing i mean below 60 degrees, yes, i know). doesnt matter what time of year it is or how hot its going to be later, mornings = freezing. and cold mornings are just begging for a hot breakfast. unfortunately, i am very much not a morning person and no matter how much i want a hot breakfast, im just not all that into putting that much effort into making that hot breakfast. 
thankfully theres oatmeal. oatmeal is super easy and takes like two minutes. except, oatmeal is kind of boring, and (for my bottomless pit of a stomach, anyway) not all that satisfying. so in the interest of getting the hot breakfast that i so wanted on cold mornings, i came up with a few super simple additions to make my morning oatmeal a little less boring.   oh, and fast too. none of this twenty-minute oatmeal business...
not boring oatmeal.  makes one serving. 
heres what you need:  1/2 cup rolled oats 1 tsp chia seeds 1 tsp flax seeds 1/2 tsp vanilla extract 1/4 tsp cinnamon  1 cup water brown sugar (optional, for topping)
heres what you do: 
combine all of the ingredients except for the brown sugar in a small pot and bring to a boil. 
reduce heat to medium/low and cook, stirring occasionally, until the oats soften and reach your desired consistency (i like mine really thick so this takes about five minutes, so if you like yours thin, they should be even faster). 
top with brown sugar (and/or any other desired toppings) and serve immediately. 
and thats how you make the exact same thing ive had for breakfast every day for at least seven or eight months maybe even longer I MEAN oatmeal thats super fast and totally not boring. 
whats your go-to breakfast? do you eat the same thing every day or prefer to mix it up? 

ok guys, im totally hooked on overnight oats.

so, ever since my stupid celiac diagnosis (yes, thats its official title. ive also taken the liberty of renaming celiac disease to stupid celiac disease) breakfast has been, shall we say... problematic. 

see, im not a morning person. at all. so cooking breakfast? yeah, not happening. for as long as i can remember ive been the cereal or granola bar for breakfast type. maybe if im feeling extra ambitious, ill make a smoothie. but thats pushing it. 

unfortunately i also have a variety of diseases that all work together to make me wake up STARVING, while also eliminating my ability to eat granola bars and almost every cereal except chex and cocoa pebbles and im also apparently allergic to bananas so smoothies are out of the question. 

so um... breakfast has been a MAJOR problem in my life. i mean, have you ever tried eating cocoa pebbles every morning for six months straight? it sucks. for a multitude of reasons, but mainly because immediately after youre done eating them, youre hungry again. and im about 9000% over being hungry all the time. 

well, things at the meyers house seem to have hit an unusually pleasant phase of problems being solved: james is working full time again, his three month battle with unemployment has been solved, im not currently working three jobs, and most importantly, IVE FINALLY FOUND SOMETHING TO EAT FOR BREAKFAST. 

chia seed overnight oats. 

which are probably the trendiest most pintrest-y breakfast i can imagine that the me from two years ago who was convinced that no good could ever come from pintrest is totally shaking her head at, BUT, you know what? its pretty decent. and cheap (even with my stupid expensive gluten free oats it costs less than $1 a day). and it keeps me full. FOR THREE OR FOUR WHOLE HOURS. which is basically unheard of since being gluten free and turning into a bottomless pit of starvation and despair. also (this part may just be a coincidence) since ive been eating my jar of overnight oats every morning, i seem to have stopped losing weight, which is very, VERY much appreciated. 

i literally can not stop singing the praises of the wonders of overnight oats to anyone and everyone that will listen to me. i got my mom making them. and james is even eating them sometimes (james has always been a eight eggs and bacon or no breakfast at all type of guy). and now im going to tell you how to make them. because theyre fantastic. 

heres how you do it:

chia seed overnight oats
(one serving)

ingredients: 
1/2 cup rolled oats (gluten free if required)
1/2 cup yogurt (exact type is up to you, i use a full-fat vanilla)
1/2 cup milk (or milk substitute if dairy is an issue)
1 tsp chia seeds (these can be expensive because they usually come in a 1lb container, but you dont need much so if you can find a health food store that sells them in bulk 1/4 lb will last you a VERY long time)

start by taking a clean empty mason jar (laura scudders peanut butter jars are the EXACT right size and i happen to be swimming in them, so win for me), and add each ingredient in the following order: yogurt, oats, chia seeds, milk. then stir. now put it in the fridge and wait at least overnight. stir again. top with whatever toppings you fancy. eat. 

and thats it. 

ive been topping mine with strawberries and nutella, because, well, anything for an excuse to eat nutella every day:

and one more great thing about this whole overnight oats thing? it is SO easy to make them in bulk (provided that you have enough jars on hand), a quart size tub makes exactly seven jars (dont ask me why, because mathematically it SHOULD be eight), and in 10 minutes, i can make a WHOLE WEEK of breakfasts. its awesome. i love it. the end. 

thanks for sticking around with me while i rave about oatmeal. you are a true friend. 

what do you normally eat for breakfast? have you ever tried overnight oats?