Banana Pudding for Breakfast

My children are obsessed with having oatmeal for breakfast.  Everyday they wake up and ask, "Are we having blueberry oatmeal today? Or peach?"

Oiy.  I am tired of oatmeal!  So, I have been trying to dress it up a bit recently.  Also, in my endeavor to go more raw, I wanted to try oatmeal raw.  Plus, in my musings with soaking grains, I wanted to try soaking my oatmeal. And then eating it raw. But at the same time, making it taste delicious.  I came up with Banana Pudding for breakfast!

Now, some of you are saying "Ew!  Why would you eat oatmeal raw?!" And the rest of you (who made it past the raw oatmeal) are thinking, "What is soaking grains??!!"

Cooking food kills the enzymes in the food that are good for you and help you digest it. So, eating raw food helps with digestion and with most foods, is more healthy.

Soaking grains helps to unlock some of the other enzymes/properties of the grain that make it more easily digested and more nutritious.  (Ever feel bloated after eating some really delicious, processed white bread?) Soaking the grains before eating them, or even cooking with them can help stop that feeling... I don't know a whole lot about the whole process, but Katie from Kitchen Stewardship has done a great deal of in-depth scientific research on the subject.  You can read all about it here.

All that to say, here is my newest recipe:

Banana Pudding Breakfast

2 Cups Oats
1 cup water
2 TBS yogurt (Or 1 TBS apple cider vinegar, if you want to do the vegan thing)
2 bananas
Milk, of any sort or water or juice would work, too!
spinach (Optional!)
Toppings: Walnuts, almonds, raisins, craisins, coconut, etc.

Mix 2 cups of oats, one cup water and 2 TBS yogurt in a bowl the night before you want to eat this for breakfast. Leave it on the counter until the morning.  In the morning, blend the bananas, spinach and the milk or juice in the blender until just smooth.  Try not to make it too thin.  Add the oats and pulse until desired smoothness. Pour into bowl and add desired toppings.

This recipe is SOO good!  The bananas are so sweet that you don't even need any other sweetener.  You can even hide good-for-you things in the pudding like spinach that will be willingly gobbled down with everything else.  My kids LOVE this!  Like I said, they go nuts for oatmeal, and love having toppings!  It's almost like having a sundae for breakfast.  (almost.)