Well hello, Spring!

This overnight oats recipe can be made in advance – so it’s ready for you to eat or take to work on those bleary eyed mornings!

This is my absolute favorite time of year. Living in Toronto means that Spring is the end of a usually-brutal winter (although this year was mercifully not so bad), and I’m always really excited to see the first Spring produce trickle into the stores.

One of the first Spring fruits  (yes, it’s technically a vegetable..but I count it as a fruit) to show up in stores is rhubarb. The gorgeous, iridescent red stalks are irresistible to me – I love not only the look of them, but their tart, fragrant flavor. I’m a rhubarb purist, preferring it cooked without other fruits (sorry, strawberries), and sweetened only to the point that it’s yummy but not cloying.

The very nature of rhubarb is that it’s totally sour, so it does need to be sweetened. You can accomplish that by using anything you want – maple syrup, sugar, sweetener…but I just use plain sugar. That’s because I prefer not to have the flavor of something like maple syrup in my rhubarb, and white sugar is essentially flavorless. It’s important to keep in mind that the body sees all sugars as, well, sugar – so use whichever one you want and just use as little as possible. In this recipe, I sweetened the rhubarb but not the oats, and the final product worked well, because it wasn’t too sweet. You can always sweeten the rhubarb more if you want, or add sweetness to the oat mixture. It’s up to you.

Rhubarb is a great source of vitamin C, and also a source of fiber. So eat up and enjoy!

Taking my last year’s rhubarb compote a step (and several more ingredients) further, I’ve developed these incredible rhubarb overnight oats to make your breakfast easy, healthy, AND delish. Really, what else do you need?

Rhubarb Overnight Oats1

 

Rhubarb Overnight Oats2

 

 

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Rhubarb Overnight Oats
Servings: 3 people
Ingredients
  • 1 cup plain 2% or 4% Greek yogurt
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1 cup oats – either large flake or quick oats
  • 4 cups rhubarb
  • 1/3 cup sugar or more to taste
  • ½ cup water
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • ½ t finely grated fresh ginger I use a microplane
  • ¼ t freshly grated lemon zest
Instructions
  1. Mix the yogurt, milk, and oats in a bowl and place into the fridge overnight or for at least 3-4 hours.
  2. In a medium pot, combine the remaining ingredients, and bring to a simmer.
  3. Cook until the rhubarb is broken down, about 10-15 minutes. Remove from the stove and refrigerate.
  4. Once the rhubarb is cooled and the oats are soaked and ready, you can combine the two in a bowl or mason jar…and eat!

 

How easy is that!