There's no excuse not to have a good breakfast! Even busy mornings. This is my go to recipe for my husband and kids that I can be sure everyone is off to a healthy start to the day. Making oats for breakfast yourself guarantees you are eating nutritious ingredients rather than packs full of sugar and artificial ingredients. This overnight oatmeal recipe will serve you and your family and will give you a healthy oatmeal breakfast any day!

Best Overnight Oats Recipe

I keep things simple and fresh here so you will have the best overnight oats recipe to work for you. You will be hooked once you achieve it — once and you'll want to make this recipe every time because it comes out right!

Overnight Oats Ingredients

• Rolled oats: The main ingredient in this overnight oats recipe.
• Almond milk: Or whichever milk you prefer.
• Plain Greek yogurt: For that nice, rich texture.
• Chia seeds: These give it almost a pudding-like consistency.
• Cinnamon: Due to its spiced sweetness.
• Espresso: To give it a good kick start.
• Honey: Instead of sugar, to add sweetness in a healthy way.
• Toppings: You're going to want your favorite fruits and granola to go with it.

Easy Overnight Oats Recipe

There is no cooking. There is no baking. You just put it together and go to sleep. This easy overnight oats recipe is easily one of the simplest overnight oats you'll ever make!

How to Make Overnight Oats from Scratch?

1. Grab a glass container (like a mason jar with a lid).
2. Mix all the ingredients together until well combined.
3. Cover and put it in your fridge for at least 2 hours, though leaving it overnight is best.
4. Add toppings either during the night or right before you serve.

Expert Tips and Tricks for Perfect Overnight Oats Every Time!

• Use old fashioned rolled oats for the best texture.
• Wait at least 2 hours, ideally overnight. The longer it chills, the creamier it becomes.
• If your overnight oats are too thick, add a little milk to get the desired consistency.
• Get creative with toppings. Follow the suggestions in the recipe or come up with your own creations.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are overnight oats healthy?

Yes, they're full of fiber, protein, vitamins, and minerals. Overnight oats are great for your general health and nutrition, and they're super easy to make healthy!

Can you eat overnight oats every day?

It's completely okay, but if you have digestive issues when eating uncooked oats often, you might want to add some cooking to the process.

Do you need chia seeds for overnight oats?

Chia seeds are optional, but they make the overnight oats taste more like a pudding and add nutritional benefits.

What is the best kind of milk for overnight oats?

You can use your favorite plant-based or dairy milk. This recipe uses almond milk, but feel free to substitute.

How to Store Overnight Oats

Store overnight oats in a container with a lid in the refrigerator.

How long do overnight oats last?

You can enjoy your overnight oats for up to 5 days when stored in the fridge.

Can you freeze overnight oats?

Yes, you can freeze them for up to 3 months. It's best to pre-portion them first.

How to thaw overnight oats?

Place frozen oats in the fridge overnight. They will need 8-12 hours to thaw completely.

When we were little I had a problem getting my kids to eat zucchini. My zucchini bread used to always get eaten when I made it. It's hard to go wrong with something like this zucchini bread when you are trying to get your kids to eat their veggies, something fabulous for blanket breakfast, desert, or snack to crunch into later with hubby while on his way into work…

Best Zucchini Bread Recipe

This is definitely one of the best zucchini bread recipes because it just uses good stuff and it's so simple to make. It's bread that you do not need to be an expert in. I promise you'll be stunned how delish this zucchini bread is and how zucchini helps make this bread!

Zucchini Bread Ingredients

• Zucchini: Steal the star at any healthy zucchini bread recipe! It will need to be grated and you won't drain it.
• White sugar and brown sugar for both sweetness type.
• Applesauce: It balances the flavor of this delicious bread and helps you keep your zucchini bread moist.
• 2 eggs for binding.
• All-purpose flour: Helps with creating batter.
• Baking powder: Makes your zucchini bread what it should be.
• Vanilla extract: Lends that beautiful sweet taste, never to be had out of a synthetic tube.
• Cinnamon: Rounds out sweetness.
• Orange zest.
• Chopped walnuts (optional): These don't take long on the pan, but feel free to skip.

Easy Zucchini Bread Recipe

You don't need to make this zucchini bread from scratch. The ingredients are all household things and the directions are easy. Once you have it together it will bake up and your home will smell amazing!

Zucchini Bread From Scratch?

1. Preheat the oven to 350F and grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan.
2. Mix: zucchini, sugars, applesauce, canola oil, eggs and vanilla.
3. Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.
4. Mix the batter briefly, then pour it in the pan.
5. Bake until a skewer or toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
6. Cool completely, set on a wire rack and let cool for 15 minutes.
7. Chill and serve from your fridge or freezer.

How Long Should Zucchini Bread Bake?

The bare minimum will be bake them at 350F for 45 to 50 minutes.

How do you know your zucchini bread is done?

You can check the baking time done by using a toothpick or skewer, when there's still a little moistness left. And it's ready if it comes out with nothing on it.

What do you eat with Zucchini Bread?

Zucchini bread is great anytime since you can eat it for breakfast, snack, or dessert. In the morning you can have it with coffee. Have a slice as a snack at lunch time. Your zucchini bread can be served as a dessert after any meal. In fact, it's actually pretty delicious unto itself, well.

How to Store Zucchini Bread

If you don't want to freeze your zucchini bread, put a slice or two in the fridge, and/or layer in an airtight container on the counter.

How Long Does Zucchini Bread Last?

With your zucchini bread you have 2 to 3 days on the counter to finish it off. It will keep up to 5 days in the fridge to finish it off.

How to Reheat Zucchini Bread?

Take your zucchini bread out of your fridge and let it thaw on your counter or in there. You can just grab a slice then, or refuse to eat it if you don't have to serve it right then.

Lemongrass Vermicelli Salad – a summer showstopper! A twirl of vermicelli noodles, pan-fried tofu, fresh herbs and veggies, and a lime-and-lemongrass-based sauce that just slips all over the plate.

Holy moly. This salad is a summertime flavor showstopper for your mouth, and it's all thanks to the simple but incredibly lime-and-lemongrass-based sauce that just slips all over the plate, coating every bite and putting flavor into every last delicious corner and crevice.

And as a person who really enjoys big, savory-sweet, nuanced flavor, even though I always always question the fish sauce, I really cannot say enough how much I love this salad.

Like most of us, my favorite kinds of salads are based around noodles. In this case, thin, delicate skinny little rice noodles called vermicelli. Team carb salads!

But listen – I also live a real life where I don't always have time to FIND something to eat for before 3pm much less assemble beautiful salads? Know what I mean?

So I wanted to give you two options for this salad.

• Pretty Method: that's what's pictured above.
• Meal Prep Method: that's what I most often use and it's what's pictured below.

With the Meal Prep Method, we cut our losses with a slightly less beautiful bowl, but we embrace some advance assembly and have a really quick way to throw a meal together come lunchtime.

Or breakfast? And I'm not just saying this: I woke up the next day and craved this salad for breakfast.

I hope you love your lemongrass-loaded, sauce-slicked summer showstopper as much as I did.

A super fresh, super summery Lemon Herb Pasta Salad! Packed with tangy marinated chickpeas, chewy pasta, lots of herbs and garlic, lemon juice and olive oil, and a handful of parmesan to top it off.

Consider this your weekly (daily?) reminder that really delicious food does not need to be complicated.

The basics – garlic, lemon, herbs, olive oil – are prepared to deliver. They are usually somewhere in the pantry or fridge, and they are always going to serve us well.

I give you Exhibit A: The Lemon Herb Pasta Salad with Marinated Chickpeas which involves deliciously squishy pasta coated in a silky "sauce" of olive oil and lemon juice (I'm all about no-recipe dressings), tossed with chickpeas that have been soaking in a flavor bath of fresh garlic and herbs and such, and finished with more herbs and lots of salt and pepper and some Parmesan cheese. Is it good warm? Is it good cold? Is it good as a side or a main or a… snack? The answer to all of the above is Y-E-S.

This is all you need:

• Chewy, tender, appropriately noodley pasta
• Hearty little chickpeas
• Olive oil
• Lemon juice
• Basil and parsley
• GARRRRLIC
• Salt and pepper
• Parmesan cheese

Thank you for understanding the amount of effort I'm prepared to give right now (minimal) and the delicious results I am expecting in return (major).

This served me so right on both levels.

"Marinated chickpeas" is how you make it FEEL fancy, but all it really is is giving a shot of big garlic / lemon / herb flavor into the whole thing with very little effort.

First, grab your pantry ingredients. DeLallo all the way.

We're working with fewer ingredients here, so QUALITY MATTERS! Phenomenally textured authentic Italian pasta, good solid olive oil that actually, um, tastes like olive oil, and a can of never-fails-you chickpeas, and you're basically halfway there.

The pasta gets cooked.

The chickpeas get… marinated. Overnight would be ideal, but lol. If you are short on time, I promise your mouth will still be happy with the work that's been done. Just let the chickpeas hang out with all their flavors while you prep the rest. If you are bold, give them a little mashing with a fork so they soak up some extra flavor.

Toss with herbs and cheese and salt and pepper and lemon zest and the other good things you like….

And YOU'RE EATING THIS YUMMY LUNCH.

Or second lunch. Or bedtime snack.

Lemon Herb Pasta Salad with Marinated Chickpeas – it is there for you this week. THERE. FOR. YOU

Loaded up with crunchy veggies, chow mein pasta, edamame and roasted cashews, it'll make you ACTUALLY WANT TO EAT A SALAD! Sesame dressing – OMG!

Let me fire you a question and you can tell me what it's called: you want something that tastes damned good… but it's also basically a high pile of fresh, vibrant, feel good in your body vegetables. That's what you call it, you call it Cashiew Crunch Salad.

This Salad Is Checking All the Boxes.

Lunch rolls around and my internal conversation goes like this:

• I'm hungry.
• What would taste so tasty right now?
• Well then, no, wait, what would really be super healthy right now? Let's face it: because…mocha peanut butter pie?
• No, and what would really fill me up?
• WAIT WAIT WAIT WHAT ABOUT THAT SALAD WITH SESAME DRESSING THAT IS FLAVORTASTIC, AND HEALTHY, AND FULL OF SO FAR FRIENDLY FAT AND GOOD STUFF AND MAKES ME FULL?
• Yes! I love salad!
• I love vegetables!
• I love life!

That is actually an actual transcript of my internal dialogue. These are the terms I think in: though it tastes amazing, mostly healthy, and still fills me up.

Ingredients For This Salad – Let's Discuss.

This mix up might be great for the dressing.

It's a sweet, oil and vinegar dressing you shake up in a jar, sweetened a bit with a little sugar, seasoned just a bit with a little sesame oil, … if you are me, then creamified with a dollop of Greek yogurt or mayo. A vinaigrette drenched salad just isn't for me, even if it makes me full. All I really need is some more creaminess in my salads, so I just creamed up my favorite retro dressing (gotta love Kim Harcey from my old First Baptist Church cookbook ♡) a teeny bit.

And the rest of what's a lot of crunch here. Crunchy veggies, crunchy cashews, crunchy chow mein noodles. I mean, chow mein noodles were so absolutely retro. I love this for us so much.

Make This Salad Your Way

• For non vegans – drop the creamy stuff!
• Gluten free-ers, here's what to leave out: the crunchy chow mein noodles!
• If you're a protein lover then add some grilled chicken! Or shrimp! Or… I don't know, tofu?! This makes this a dinner entree salad with juicy grilled chicken cut across the top.

This would be my lunch for the rest of the summer, and I wouldn't be sad.

Gooooo team vegetables!

Whipped Feta and Tomato Salad! Socca! HELLO. All summery, on one plate, creamy, tangy, and crispy.

Let's talk about Socca first. The origin of Socca is heavily debated between France and Italy (known as Farinata there) but one thing is certain: This crispy rich snacker of your dreams is made with just chickpea flour, olive oil, water, and salt—this simple street food is what you've been looking for.

And here is how you make this meal that isn't really a meal but also is everything a meal should be: pull your piping hot, freshly baked socca out of the cast iron, break it up into a few crispy chewy pieces, swish it through a tangy dollop of herby whipped feta and finish it with a scoop of juicy vinegary tomato and cucumber salad above all for a crunchy top.

I am so over this meal that isn't really a meal because that's how I want to eat in the summer time.

Or, if you're add chickpeas or roasted chicken? Do it.

I even want to eat right out of the food processor straight spoonfuls of whipped feta. You're not wrong.

I want to help you make the golden crunchy edges of that socca a part of your regular life routine. I support you.

This whole combo platter meal is low key, summerish and happened to be my favorite (healthyish) thing to eat. The variations are endless. Served it for Bjork's parents out on the deck the other night, they liked it. It works well for people because they make it what they want.

I know you can't even bring yourself to even open your oven now that you don't have to. And personal opinion, oven in the AC > grill outside. It is HOT out there.

Whip that feta, load up your socca, make it your own, go forth.

This Simple Green Salad is necessary for every table! Maple balsamic dressing drizzled on fresh spring greens and topped with whatever crunchies you wish your salad to be made with.

We just want to say thank you so much for listening when we need saving and in a way that saves us, day after day after day, with something as simple as bright spring greens and an incredible homemade maple balsamic dressing. Did you get a vegetable on the table with the meal? Sure did! We have been eating this super delicious, slightly sweet, super flexible, the flavor and texture of which you can add whatever you want, nix whatever you don't, green salad every freaking day with wild abandon and and it turns out that it is such a super delicious thing and I want to also make sure we're not missing it by having this as a staple in our diet.

This little babe is yew'r to meet any ol time. Dinner, of course. Lunch, yes that makes sense. Oh, you just know she's going to be shining along side a quiche next to brunch. It's honestly all so easy and so good.

The BEST Homemade Dressing

Since we can't take any credit for the spring greens, they're just doing their thing, so let's talk about this dressing. It's got all the elements you need to make it really special, even though it couldn't be easier and it's that jar-shake away from being yours all day every day. Maple sweet, some subtle garlic bite, a little bit of deep rich balsamic. All you have to do in the weekend is get everything in a jar and then that magnificence will be ready for you all week long in the fridge.

Here's what you'll need:

• balsamic vinegar
• olive oil
• maple syrup
• garlic powder
• salt + pepp

That's it, friends! Dressing dreams are yours!

It's Not Super Complicated To Make This Green Salad (And It's Simple!)

A step by step isn't really necessary here just shake up the dressing and throw handful of greens in a bowl and toss them nicely or however you'd like. Method: dressing ingredient jar shake, greens plop donezo. Then after that it's really just the greens plop step since that dressing lives in the fridge right there waiting for you.

1. Mix shake dressing ingredients together in a jar.
2. Instead, plop your greens in a bowl for tossing.
3. Donezo.

So we wrote it out anyway, just in case you weren't sure of us.

What makes this easy wonder a real beauty is it can go with anything! I've made it so much with soup, as a side with a pasta dish, and the pasta dish is one of my favorite places this has been brunch-fare around here and it has been WONDERFUL. Even if it took the effort of a split second (read: not much), it's so fast you can bring it to the table in under a minute to give any meal a little green to finish it out nicely. You won't have to ask how our fridge got stocked with spring greens and dressing swirls this last second — you better believe we've been doing it.

Dress It Up If You Like

This has been a meal plan staple around here just as is, but it's ready for any of your salad making artistry. If you want, you can add goat cheese, or any other, a few nuts or seeds make it as hearty as you like. Something a little dried fruit in there, or a heap more veg if you're chopping. Big hunky croutons? Someone mention it? They would definitely be great, yeah, that was us.

And you have yourself a whole meal outta this guy: get some grilled chicken going on that. But then ta just please stock up on some more spring greens so you can continue to pop those on the side at every meal this week and feel like a d*mn fancy champ with this tangy, barely sweet stunner.

It's just so great with all the things, ugh. Who is that Tina Turner song? The salad…that's lightly dressed …. YOU'RE SIMPLY THE BEST!

I'm not even sure if those lyrics are right, but they feel right.

Tastes like summer! This juicy salad! Pop of sweetness from fresh strawberries, this is served with chipotle chicken, sweet corn, avocado, cilantro vinaigrette and bacon crumbles for crunch.

Here comes summah summah summashhhhhtime!

It really is here (I kinda can't believe it since here in Minnesota we were all "April Blizzard" a minute ago), but you guys, it's totally here. I totally had it for dinner last night and And …

Here's what it tasted like:

• juicy strawberries
• crisp salty bacon
• sweet green lettuce
• bursts of sweet corn
• creamy avocado chunks
• … smoky chipotle grilled chicken! REPEAT: GRILLED!

And today from the What's Gaby Cooking Cookbook, a Summer Chipotle Chicken Cobb Salad is coming to our hearts: this dream team of ingredients, otherwise known as a Summer Chipotle Chicken Cobb Salad.

I am reminded that I published those BEST EVER chicken tinga tacos, I told you about my friend Melissa's amazing book, and then I started to talk about how I hardly ever promote books? So I turned around and told you how great THIS one was, too, but then? LOL to me. In fact, it's just dumb luck that both of these came out when they did.

I'm not being paid for the cookbook promotions – just the ones we like and let you see a glimpse of their best recipes.

This one is one that I like and that long list goes on. This might be one of its best recipes, and it is and. This salad couldn't not use the cilantro vinaigrette, tied with it was the cilantro vinaigrette. I don't know Gaby says but the salad needs the champagne vinaigrette but GABY COME ON WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT TO US?! After one good lick of that cilantro dressing, you're done. Goodbye. This is your life now.

Okay, salad ingredients. As mentioned, there is a lot of fresh summery goodness going on here, and it looks like so:

The "involved" part of the recipe if you can call it that, is just plopping your chicken in some spices and a few chipotle peppers and letting it marinate for awhile before grilled.

WORTH IT, you guys! So worth it.

But maybe normaler to take a picture of the grilled chicken than the raw marinated stuff who said nothing about normal.

We ate this salad on a deck on a random Tuesday night, and Bjork and I mega loved every lip licking juicy bite.

It's little spicy, a little crunchy, but the real sweet bite in-between are super, super rewarding.

It's Rainbow Roll-Up time Annnnd…

Of course, Rainbow Roll-Up doesn't immediately bring me thoughts of packaged, garishly colored fruit leather wrapped up in a teeny tiny packet of paper coil, until you ask me who I am. These are pretty comfortably one step away from the single greatest snack food of my childhood.

The rainbow roll-up you see in that photo here is not that kind. This is a rainbow roll-up that's a nutritional powerhouse with foods like: carrots, chickpeas, curry, red cabbage, peanuts, dark leafy greens.

See, mom? So after all, I can eat like an adult.

Inspired by these roll ups which are detox friendly in their own way and just as delicious, but with a little less oomph in the beautiful color department, these Rainbow Roll-Ups were born. I actually made THOSE roll-ups for a blog post, but then realized: I'd like to make a new version of these, give it more color and crunch.

Maybe a bit of curry hummus in there.

And just (A LOT) of peanut sauce so you can dip it.

These Thai summer rolls are different but equally delicious, and I've even been down the rainbow rolls path before with these.

If I had to tell the story of my experience with Detox Rainbow Rolls in photos, it would go like this:

But that would include one thousand heart eye emojis.

The creamy, salty sweet peanut sauce, the crunchy cool veggies, the thick smear of spicy curry hummus and that first bite? Yes. You're thinking it's every bit as satisfying as you're imagining it and you're absolutely right!

You can have Desk-lunch awesomeness!

OK here's my Roasted Broccoli Salad and it's EVERYTHING! The broccoli's perfect fried roasted mess of shape, crisp, bright lemon & tangy feta — everything's around a big bowl. A true hero of a meal!

Here's the thing I want you to know about this roasted broccoli salad:

It is quite possibly my favorite way that I have ever eaten broccoli in my entire life.

This salad was introduced to me by my friend Liz, who got it from another friend, Amanda, which I like to think is just how the best recipes come about. Now to your screen, here, to be eaten in 5 seconds flat, from one food loving person to another, and onto another.

The ingredients here are humble and low-key, but together they make a FLAVOR BANG:

• shallot
• bacon
• feta
• lemon
• broccoli
• sourdough

Now toss in some olive oil, salt, pepper and you are on the beautiful roasted broccoli ride.

It Has Everything You Want In a Salad

The flavors in this are just everything I want in all my meals ever: Roasted broccoli, tangy, crunchy, slightly bitter and bright from the lemon zest, salty from the crisped up bacon, built around a big bowl of roasted broccoli (in and of itself, is a real hero).

Reasons I love this as an SOS meal:

• It's incredibly delicious. Good food, good mood. Instant lift.
• This is actually so minimal hands on prep. It pretty much all happens on a pan, marinating you all the time for… not being in the kitchen.
• This is super customizable. To take an example, perhaps you'd like to really bulk it up; you could add something like some rotisserie chicken or even some more roasted veggies.
• And it actually does keep really well as leftovers. Obviously, just keep those croutons nice and dry in a separate container, and the bread is the one tricky thing that can get soggy. But I promise you that this salad can be eaten garlic and all, hot, cold, room temp – I know you're going to ask, but I've even eaten these leftovers for breakfast. On that SOS train to the very last stop.

I don't mean that you should be jealous, but at this very moment there is a sheet pan of broccoli, bacon, and shallots in my oven.

My house smells amazing, I already am eating this and IT IS A GLORIOUS DAY.

ROASTED BROCCOLI SALAD: FAQS

I'm all out of bacon! What can I sub?

Pancetta would be delicious! Dice it up into tiny cubes – or lots of grocery stores sell pancetta pre-cubed (SOS win!). Fry it up in a pan for a few minutes, and then throw it on the salad.

When do leftovers still taste delicious?

If you can store the broccoli and other ingredients separately from the sourdough croutons, this will keep for 3 – 5 days in a covered container in the fridge. If they go in with the dressing, other ingredients along with the croutons they might breakdown quicker and get soggy the next day. I think I've eaten it as slightly soggy leftovers and it's still really good. 🙂

This looks great! Is this a full meal?

So this salad is extremely filling! Not that this isn't already full of bread, bacon and cheese but if you want something else with it, these chicken meatballs or store bought rotisserie chicken would be good.

Can I use frozen broccoli?

Absolutely! What you should keep in mind is that the oven cooking on the frozen broccoli option takes more time. You can either remove the shallots from the pan after 20-30 minutes or begin the broccoli first, adding the shallots to the pan 10-15 minutes later so that your other ingredients don't overcook.