Toasted Overnight Oats with no added sugar

 

This is a very filling breakfast to make. It does need some preparation the night before but the result is well worth the effort. The oats have no added sugar. That's not the same as saying it's sugar free. Just that I have not added additional sugar other that what is found in the stewed fruit and cranberries. The Cardamom and ginger make up for the fact that this is not very sweet. Toasting the oats enhances its flavor. I use Kefir as the milk base and the juices from the stewed fruit make up the additional liquid required by the oats to soften them. You can add 1-2 teaspoons of seeds to the oats (hemp, chia, flax, sesame etc). If I'm using apples as the stewed fruit, I use 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon and 1/2 teaspoon allspice as the spices. For Peaches, Plums and Nectarines, I use Cardamom and ginger, or cloves and ginger.

1/2 cup Old Fashioned or thick cut oats (not instant)

a fruit of your choosing (apple, peach, plum etc)

1/2 cup water

4 cardamom pods

1-2 thin slices ginger

2 tablespoons dried cranberries (raisins or other dried fruit e.g mangoes, blueberries, apricots, prunes etc may also be used)

1/2 cup of Kefir

Couple of pecan halves

 

1.       Spread the oats on a small cookie sheet and toast in an oven for about 12-15 minutes until golden brown. Toast the pecan halves for the last 8 minutes by sprinkling them over the oats. Remove and set aside.

2.       In a small saucepan, add the cranberries and thickly sliced or cubed fruit (I do not peel them), cardamom pods, ginger, and water. I also add a pinch of salt just to balance the flavor. Bring to a boil then simmer until fruit stewed to your liking. Remove from heat, and set aside (I put it in the fridge to get cold). Just before putting on top of the oats, I remove the ginger and cardamom pods (they are left in during the cooling process so that their flavors can be further extracted by the stewed juice).

3.       When the oats have cooled, mix in the Kefir and yogurt in a container of your choosing. Add the cold stewed fruit, using a spoon to make little “wells” in the oat mixture so that the liquid from the stewed fruit can soak into the oat mixture. Cover with foil and refrigerate overnight.

4.       Just before you are ready to eat it the next morning, toast a couple of pecan halves (if you did not toast them with the oats as described above, I use a convection oven, 8 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit) and sprinkle the pecans over the top.