Overnight Oats Suggestions

Asked by hmlane. Answered on 17th March 2016

Full question

I love Nigella's recipes and share her love of good wholesome food. I need to loose some weight as I tend to over-indulge from time to time depending on my mood. However, I'm cutting down on refined carbs and sugars and fat. Have you any ideas for breakfast dishes with oats as a breakfast? I've eaten porridge or a full Irish breakfast all of my life but now the full-Irish option is definitely out!

Our answer

Nigella's latest book, SIMPLY NIGELLA here, has a chapter devoted to breakfast options and includes a mixture of healthy and indulgent recipes. The recipe for Pomegranate Museli (p364) would be a great option. It is a Swiss Bircher-style museli and the oats are soaked overnight. You can use the milk of your choice, so a skimmed milk would reduce the fat content and dried and fresh fruits provide natural sweetness. It is also a very flexible recipe as you can also adapt the recipe to use seasonal fruits or fruits of your choice.

There is also a recipe for Toasty Olive Oil Granola (p367), which has some sugar, in the form of maple syrup, and some fat with the olive oil, But it makes 6-8 portions, so the amount of fat and sugar per portion is lower than for a commercial granola. You may also like to look at Nigella's recipe for Andy's Fairfield Granola (from FEAST here and on Nigella.com here) which also has some fat and sugar but again will be less than a store-bought version. Serving the granolas in controlled portions, with skimmed milk and fresh fruits, should help to make more interesting breakfast options to run alongside the traditional porridge.