All my life I’ve hated porridge.

And so, when recipes for Overnight Oats started appearing in my  social media feeds a few months ago, I wasn’t enticed. Not in the slightest. Who wants to eat cold porridge?

I was perfectly happy with my home-made granola, natural yoghurt and home-made fruit compote.

Fast forward to the beginning of this month, when I accidentally watched a five minute video about the (horrific) lives of dairy cows. Although I was having niggles about my dairy and fish-eating for the whole of last year, the idea of moving to all-out vegan was too overwhelming for this cheese-loving and occasional black pudding-eating “vegetarian.”

If I’d known what I was about to watch, I would probably have chosen not to—leave it for the day when I was feeling “ready” for the implications of it.

But it’s too late now—ready or not, I’m done with dairy.

So for the past three weeks I’ve been trying to figure out tasty and not-too-inconvenient alternatives for breakfast and sandwiches.

And people were asking me if I was feeling great. I wasn’t. I was hungry—all the time.

But I kept coming across reminders about the value of oats in our diet, not least being how they fill us up. I needed to figure out how to still incorporate them into my diet, so I decided to dip my toe into the overnight breakfast variety.

It turns out that overnight oats aren’t like cold porridge—well, they don’t smell like it and it was the smell that I found so wretched. I was also a bit wary of the texture and was convinced I simply wouldn’t like them.

But they’re actually not that bad.

In fact, lots of people swear by their deliciousness—especially when you snazz up the recipe with fruits and other toppings. (I’ve seen chocolate shavings!) Some of the pictures you’ll find will look more like a dessert than a breakfast.

Anyway, I opted to mix my oats with banana and peanut butter and I have to say: I don’t hate them.

Better than that—I rather like them. And they’re definitely filling me up for longer than peanut butter on toast. I’m quite pleased overall and thought I’d share my simple recipe. But please feel free to embellish—most recipes I saw included vanilla extract and honey, but I didn’t find it necessary. The banana provides plenty of sweetness on its own.

So, to make two helpings of banana and peanut butter overnight oats, simply do the following:

Mash your banana in a bowl and then mix in two dessert spoons of peanut butter (preferably a non-palm oil variety).

Add one cup of oats, a teaspoon of cinnamon and a cup of almond milk.

Stir all ingredients until well mixed.

Cover the bowl and refrigerate overnight.

Et voila!

In the morning, I simply stir in a handful of mixed seeds (because I like the crunch factor) and enjoy with a cup of tea.

Relephant reads:

3 Easy Recipes for Dairy-Free Milk.

If it Contains Palm Oil, is it Vegan?

Author: Hilda Carroll

Editor: Catherine Monkman

Photos: Author’s own & Meal Makeover Moms/Flickr