With a Spoon

The first recipe in Budget Bytes is "Banana Bread Baked Oatmeal". There are three flavors I detest; marzipan, spearmint, and banana- so banana anything just isn't happening. Moving along I spotted "Breakfast Parfaits" known other places as overnight oats.

After grocery shopping I was too tired to cook but I could assemble some fruit and oatmeal in a Mason jar..... crap.... I don't have a Mason jar. My Pinterest account will be revoked!

With some digging I found a mostly empty jar of pesto in my fridge and after eating it up with a spoon I was able to assemble a Breakfast Parfait.

The jar even says Mason. Take that, Pinterest.

It might look hefty in the super sized photo but that is a really small jar packed with 276 calories. That is a mighty calorie punch for what looks like a small snack and it's not at all meal sized. I'm dubious it will keep me full.

When I had it for lunch it was not good. Not good at all. The oat and flax seeds had soaked up the moisture from the yogurt leaving them gummy and the yogurt the consistency of cheese. I don't know how long it would have kept me full as I spent the rest of the day with friends noshing on vegetables, dip, and nachos.

The next jar (it had Mango Salsa that I polished off with a spoon) is better. It looks meal sized in volume and at 320 calories is a meal. I added pineapple juice with the pineapple so the texture is better but overall it was uninspiring. This batch was a bit like paste and it was difficult to mix in the jar. It did keep me full for hours so it was acceptable but it's doubtful I'll ever make overnight oats again. My goal in life is to eat tasty food not acceptable food.

Budget Bytes isn't the only gift I've received this year. I was given two tasty tasty skiens of malabrigo in my favorite color. Malabrigo is the dark chocolate of the yarn world and as far removed from overnight oats as possible. They are an excellent addition the to the 2017 Stash rebuild.