healthy eating – Eco Home Ideas

Overnight Oats That Are Healthy And Delicious

What are overnight oats? They are simply the easiest, most delicious way to have a healthy breakfast waiting for you every morning. And the best part is that you can pretty much customize the recipe to fit your tastes. Here are some ideas.

Banana-Cocoa Overnight Oats

This recipe will keep in the fridge for up to three days, so you might want to adapt it to make it in larger quantities. You will need two cups of rolled oats to mix with 1 ½ cups of milk (you can use almond milk if you want). Add half a cup of yogurt, one chopped banana, two tablespoons of cocoa and one tablespoon of honey or maple syrup for sweetness. Mix all the ingredients together and stick them in the freezer overnight. When you wake up, take a portion out, top with nuts if you want and munch away. This is a great breakfast choice because it will fill you up with healthy fats and proteins and it contains slow-digesting carbs that will keep you going until lunchtime.

Apple-Cinnamon Overnight Oats

This recipe is like an apple pie for breakfast, but in oat form. Mix half a cup of rolled oats with half a cup of milk, a quarter cup of plain yogurt, a quarter cup of apple sauce, one teaspoon vanilla extract, one teaspoon maple syrup, half a teaspoon of cinnamon, half an apple (diced), a pinch of ground cloves and a tiny bit of ground nutmeg. Leave in the fridge and come back in the morning for breakfast that will make you think of the holidays.

Carrot Cake Overnight Oats

Veggies for breakfast? Check. Breakfast that tastes like desert? Also check. Healthy breakfast? Super check. Blend two pitted organic dates, half a peeled banana, one peeled and chopped carrot and a cup of your favorite milk, dairy or non-dairy. Add half a teaspoon of cinnamon, a quarter teaspoon of ground nutmeg, a quarter teaspoon of ground ginger and a pinch of ground cloves. Mix with half a cup of rolled oats and let it sit in the fridge overnight. You can top with chopped walnuts, raisins and coconut flakes before eating for an even better experience.

Strawberry Shortcake Overnight Oats

These oats don’t contain actual shortcake, but they do taste like ice cream, which makes them perfect for the kids. Mix 12 chopped strawberries, two cups of rolled oats, one and a half cups of milk, half a cup of Greek yogurt, one tablespoon of strawberry jam and a quarter teaspoon of vanilla extract. Keep in the fridge covered overnight and enjoy the next morning while still cold. You can substitute regular milk for almond milk if that’s more to your taste.

Up Your Summer Fruit Game, Like, Right Now

Fruit salads are so last summer. Simply putting some fruit in a bowl and eating it with a fork is not enough anymore. If you want to jazz up your fruity summer treats, here are some great recipes to up your summer fruit game.

Bomb fruit popsicles

All the refreshing taste of popsicles without all that added sugar, this easy treat is a must for any freezer. The best part is that you can make them any flavor you want, all you need is fruit and fresh fruit juice. Slice up your fruit and mix some berries in for good measure. Arrange the mix inside popsicle molds and pour your favorite juice until you fill them up. Now stick them in the freezer and wait around six hours until they are frozen solid. These are perfect to make once and keep in your freezer for those moments when you are screaming for ice cream but still want to avoid extra sugar.

Banana blueberry vegan ice cream

Speaking of ice cream, you can make it yourself using only two ingredients. Slice up two bananas and stick them in the freezer overnight. Put the banana slices in a blender, add half a cup of blueberries and blend away until you get a smooth, uniform consistency. Keep it in the freezer and munch away while watching Netflix. You can make other flavors by replacing the blueberries with other fruits and even adding cocoa powder to make chocolate ice cream that is way healthier than Ben & Jerry’s.

Leftover fruit smoothie

Whenever you go overboard and buy way more fruit than you are able to eat, you can save some to make leftover fruit smoothie. Before your fruit goes bad, grab those you know you won’t eat, slice them up and freeze them. Next time you are craving fruit, take your frozen slices out, mix them with some fresh fruit and add a tablespoon of honey if you want to sweeten the deal. Now blend them with some fruit juice until you reach perfect smoothie consistency. You can mix up the ratio of fresh and frozen fruit to get the texture you want, remember that the more frozen fruit you add, the thicker the smoothie will be.

Two ingredient berry jam

This is the easiest jam recipe ever. It only takes an hour to make and it will result in delicious homemade jam you can keep to eat on breakfast toast or give as a gift to impress people. You need two cups of fresh raspberries, blueberries, cranberries or any kind of berry you want. You can even mix and match. Put them in a pot on medium heat and mash them a bit so the juice come out. Depending on the texture you like, you can turn them into complete mulch or not. Cook them until they have a uniform consistency, then add one cup of sugar without taking the pot from the fire. Try to add the sugar slowly while sprinkling it over all the berries, but trying to avoid the sides of the pot. Stir and cook the mixture together until it has reduced by ¼ of the original volume.