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Even though school started nearly a month ago, my Tuesday/Thursday 9 a.m. Spanish class continues to be my biggest struggle this academic year.
No matter how many alarms I set the night before, my eyes insist on blinking open around 8:45 a.m which leaves me just under 15 minutes to get up, get dressed, grab something to eat and still manage to arrive promptly to Chicago Hall. Trust me, this task is certainly easier said than done. Especially when you consider my mental state, having just woken up.
I’ve convinced myself that my distorted sleep schedule stems from my newly formed habit of falling asleep to anything food related. Whether it is Guy Fieri (in his one million shows on Food Network), Top Chef or an episode of Cutthroat Kitchen, I inevitably wake up starving each morning and am forced to simultaneously make sense of last night’s homework and my grumbling, distracting stomach.
My roommate and I have had several sit-down discussions in an effort to decipher a solution to this problem and while our wallets have certainly been affected by the amount of LUNA bars we’ve purchased and subsequently consumed, our appetites still remain the same.
In an ideal world, I’d solve this problem with the “pause” feature on my very own time machine, but unfortunately this solution is solely accessible in my dreams.
So, in an effort to feel both well-rested and well-fed, I’ve discovered a Sunday night solution that might delay some of your weekend rituals, but will promise to provide you with a substantial and simple meal to start out your day.
Even though my Tuesdays and Thursdays consist of waking up in an absolute rush, my taste buds have yet to realize that I have no time for a sit down meal.
Consequently, I’ve discovered flax and blueberry overnight oats–a recipe not only capable of fooling my appetite with its savory goodness, but also able to get me to class both alert and on time.
Many people get turned away from this recipe when they see the word flax and associate the seed with its organic stigma. However, when conducted properly, this recipe (with the help of flax seeds), promises to exceed any experience you’ve encountered in a Whole Foods organic food isle. Trust me on this one.
All it takes is a little coffee, cream, vanilla, oats and a grapefruit to transform this recipe from a list of random ingredients and into a breakfast bowl of goodness.
Aside from this recipe’s simple instructions, this overnight oat breakfast seconds as a convenient, on-the-go meal which you will certainly find tasty, healthy and filling to boot!
Begin by collecting an extra food container to store the ingredients (in order) overnight. This will include rolled oats (or quick oats, depending on the preference), water, low-fat yogurt, flax meal and salt (save the toppings for the morning of ).
After assembling the main components, allow this mixture to remain refrigerated overnight before adding blueberries, pecans, brown sugar and any other fruit or nut snacks foods when you are ready to eat it the next morning.