Overnight Steel-Cut Oats Soaked in Homemade Hemp Milk

For most of my adult life, I've regularly shaken up my breakfast routine in search of something that's delicious, nutritious and — most importantly — filling, so that I'm not searching for a snack halfway through the morning.

Some mainstays have been grits with an egg mixed in (not quite filling enough), smoothies (OMG they just make me ravenous!) or a egg-meat-cheese-muffin sandwich (very yummy and filling ... and my waistline responded accordingly).

But this year, I do believe I've discovered my perfect whole-grain breakfast: Overnight Steel-Cut Oats Soaked in Homemade Hemp Milk.

The Soup Cleanse

First, let me start at the beginning. A while back, I read an article in Mother Earth Living on Soup Cleansing for a New Year Detox. The New Year was right around the corner, so I thought, why not give it a try?

I borrowed The Soup Cleanse from the library, and filled the fridge and the freezer with a variety of soups. Although the book only recommends doing a cleanse for a few days, I ended up following my own path and tried it for a month, with amazing results.

The takeaways for me are similar to the comments of the Mother Earth Living writer. Besides always having a freezer full of hearty soups that I can grab for an instant lunch at work, I also start my work day with a big glass of room temperature water and a steamy cup of broth, plus an afternoon smoothie (beet-cucumber-apple-kale is my go-to).

You'd be surprised how much a mug of broth can do for you in the morning. It wakes up the digestive system and gives me the energy to start my day satiated enough to drink a cup of dandelion tea at the office before busting into the oatmeal.

Meal Prep Sundays

That means I spend a lot of Sundays doing meal prep. The Instant Pot is the star, first for my beets, then for the stock. Even though both require minimal hands-on time, planning is key. I like to let the stock sit in the pot for a few hours after the 30-minute pressure time, then it requires time and space to extract all of the liquids, pour stock into pint jars, and bring them to room temperature before refrigerating.

During all that waiting, there's always time to make the Homemade Hemp Milk that gives my oatmeal the fat to keep me full all morning in addition to a full day's supply of heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids.

The below recipe fills a little more than a quart-size mason jar when it's fresh and frothy, so I always get out an extra pint-size jar and fill it a little above the 3/4-cup line for my first oatmeal jar of the week.

Homemade Hemp Milk
3 cups filtered water
1 cup hemp seeds
1 teaspoon vanilla extract*
2-3 Medjool dates

Blend all ingredients in Vitamix for about 2 minutes, gradually increasing speed from low to high. Pour into 1 quart-size mason jar and refrigerate.

*For a special treat, use 1 whole vanilla bean instead. It is luscious!

Overnight Steel-Cut Oats
3/4 cup hemp milk
1/4 cup steel-cut oats
Spices to taste (I use cinnamon, cardamon, turmeric plus a tiny dash of salt and pepper)
Fresh or frozen fruit
Nuts

Stir hemp milk, oats and spices in a pint-size mason jar and refrigerate overnight. In the morning, add fruit and nuts (I use frozen mangoes and pistachios). Frozen fruit works great if you're transporting your jar, and of course cuts down on precious morning prep time.

Your oatmeal is ready to eat if you like cold oatmeal, but I prefer to warm mine for about 2 minutes in the microwave.

Prepare to make your co-workers very, very jealous.