A few months ago I wrote about one of my favorite make ahead breakfast recipes. Refrigerator oatmeal in a jar. An easy breakfast that can be made ahead of time, it is packed with nutrients and can be made in a variety of flavors. Today I am excited to share a new twist on that great breakfast idea.

Make-ahead oatmeal smoothies is everything you love about oatmeal in a jar but in liquid form, which makes them the perfect breakfast on the go. No bowl or spoon required. Just one free hand and a cup full of oatmeal and fruit goodness.

Making these oatmeal smoothies is a snap too, no steam, no heat, no cooking. Just 5 minutes the night before will ensure that you have a wonderful breakfast ready the next morning with no effort what so ever.

For this month’s secret recipe club  I was assigned Jenna’s Cooking Journey. Jenna is  a transportation engineer by day and in her spare time she loves to cook and explore new recipes. I chose to make her Oatmeal smoothie. I played around with the recipe a little. I added some chia seeds to increase the nutritional value of the smoothie, used cherries and peaches instead of blueberries and finally I used honey as my sweetner instead of maple syrup and added a pinch of cinnamon to boost flavor.

The smoothie was refreshing, filling and full of flavor. The kids actually loved it so much that I decided to try again and use the recipe to make popsicles. They were a huge hit with the little ones and now they have a long list of flavor combinations to try both in smoothie and popsicle mode 🙂

Cherry and peach oatmeal smoothie

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup uncooked old fashioned rolled oats
• 1-1/2 teaspoons dried chia seeds
• 1 cup milk (you can use non-dairy milk or juice)
• 1 cup greek yogurt
• 1 cup fruit (I used cherries and peaches but for other options see notes)
• 2 tablespoons honey (you can use your favorite sweetener like maple syrup, agave syrup, or sugar)
• 1/8  teaspoon cinnamon (optional)

Instructions

Add oats and chia seeds to blender; blend on high until texture of flour.

Add the milk, yogurt, fruit, sweetener and cinnamon if using.Blend on high until desired smoothness.

Taste and adjust sweetness, if needed.

Transfer to a jar and refrigerate overnight, the time is needed to allow the oatmeal to soften and the chia seeds to absorb water.

The next morning check the consistency. If it is too thick, add a little milk or juice to the jar and give it a good shake

Notes:

For the fruit you can use any fruit you like , fresh, frozen (unthawed preferably to give your smoothie a thicker consistency), or canned (drained)

To intensify the fruit flavor, consider adding a tablespoon or two of jam or preserves to replace the sweetner. This way you will get the sweetness and the fruit flavor.

You can also play around with spices. I added some cinnamon but you can play around with different spice/fruit combinations