I can’t wait to get home from this business trip tonight and make a batch of these strawberries and cream overnight oats. It’s the perfect recipe for an oaty breakfast for my awaited homecoming tomorrow morning.
I’ve been on the road for nearly ten days straight, stopping home for 24 hours to see my family. Luckily, this is my last trip scheduled in my calendar for a while… so it’s time to hunker down and finish testing recipes and writing my second cookbook. You can find the first cookbook on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
One of the things I’ve learned recently is that sometimes, things don’t always go according to plan. I’m learning to be be more graceful and not so hard on myself with the unexpected. Last Thursday, I traveled to Miami to a conference where I was hosting a dinner for a group of bloggers in behalf of California Strawberries.
That morning, I dropped the kids off at school and drove myself to the airport. “On time” is what the flight status said when I left (I live an hour away from the airport).
When I went to park my car, the long term parking lot was closed (they were filming a movie). I was re-routed to another parking lot to a floor that was mid-construction. I immediately felt that something was off already. I normally park somewhere around 4F –consistency is the only way I remember where my car is parked when I am traveling often. Ok, so I parked in 2C. Bad juju is what I felt coming on.
Typically, New Orleans to Miami is a 1h 55min flight. Around 1h 45min, the captain said that there was bad weather in Miami and we would circle around to wait for the bad weather to pass. Another hour goes by. Captain makes another announcement that we would circle until we were able to land or be re-routed to Tampa (5hr drive time to Miami) to refuel.
After two additional hours of circling, we needed fuel, and they rerouted the plane. 5 hours or more in a plane… and I only got to Tampa! Once landed, we sat on the runway for another hour before they refueled the plane and another hour before we were able to get off the plane to stretch our legs (there were no open gates). Two hours later, I was off the plane, grabbed coffee, and picked up a Starbucks “I was here” mugs. This, my friends, is what 9h in an airplane looks like.
Half the plane left, others stretched out sleeping, and a few sat at the gate waiting to hear news. Me? Happy to get another “I was here” mug from Starbucks (the ONLY thing I collect), stinky, and hungry.
Needless to say, the dinner went on without me. I was pretty mad at the situation, not at the inconvenience, but at the fact that I wouldn’t be able to honor my commitment. Of course, the weather wasn’t something I could control and the awesome people at California Strawberries understood. The rest of the weekend was awesome.
Sunday morning I left Miami and mentally prayed that my flight would be on time. My daughter’s recital was that afternoon and I didn’t want to miss it. Just when I thought “oh-oh” … we boarded on time and landed on time! I was able to drive myself straight to the recital and show up 2 dances before hers. All was good in my world.
When I saw her face light up upon seeing me right before her performance –you know I snuck in the back to give her a kiss– I felt calmer.
I was home for a day and then went to New York for work all week. I’ve been there meeting magazine editors, meetings with my attorney, and developing some potential projects.
Instead of leaving some of these strawberry overnight oats for my husband to have for breakfast, I left him with the Bananas Foster Overnight Oats and Almond Butter Overnight Oats. These strawberry ones are my favorite. It’s nice to have a his and hers recipe, you know?
The process of making the oats is essentially the same as the other recipe, but the topping is different. I like to make this with steel cut oats but you can also use old fashioned oats. Quick oats won’t work as well. The “cream” comes from using whole milk or coconut milk… so if you use non-fat milk it won’t be as creamy.
All you have to do is put your jars in the fridge overnight and they will be ready in the morning. I sometimes eat them hot, other times I eat them cold, right out of the jar. I hope you like these as much as I do.
Strawberries and Cream Overnight Oats
These homemade strawberries and cream overnight oatmeal jars are fresh and delicious. Enjoy them cold out of the fridge or warmed for 30 seconds to 1 minute in the microwave.
- Yield: 1 1x
- Category: Breakfast
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup oats, old fashioned or steel cut (not quick oats)
- 1/2 teaspoon ground flax seed
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/4 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup strawberries, sliced
- 2 teaspoons maple syrup
Instructions
- In a glass jar, layer oats, ground flax, milk, and vanilla. Stir to combine. Top with strawberries and refrigerate.
- In the morning, stir to combine, top with maple syrup and enjoy.
Notes
You can use steel cut oats or old fashioned oats for these. Quick oats will be runny so you’ll have to reduce the liquid.
If you like warm oats, heat them up in the microwave for 30seconds to a minute.
Want more overnight oats? Check out these other delicious recipes
I would love to see an apple cinnamon overnight oats recipe!
Sherill, you ask… I deliver. Check out the recipe for my apples and cinnamon overnight oats here.