Better Than Oatmeal—Oatmeal Smoothies

I’ve never really cared for oatmeal.  I don’t like regular oats cooked on the stove forever, and I don’t like the ridiculously overpriced flavored single-serve packets.  (They have a lot of mystery foods in the ingredient lists.)  And my husband is always telling me how incredibly healthy oatmeal is, yada, yada, yada, when he rarely eats it himself.  Oats make a fabulous addition to sandwich bread, and we make oatmeal cookies a couples of times a year.  So we aren’t really great about rotating through the oats. 

I think that’s about to change.

Last week a recipe for an oatmeal smoothie popped up on my internet home page.  (I think that’s what it’s called, the internet home page, I mean.)  Oatmeal smoothie already sounds sketchy, but I figured it wouldn’t hurt to read the article.  And then I decided to try the recipe, with some modifications.  I wanted it to be as food-storage friendly as possible.  And besides, there’s no way I’m shelling out big bucks for almond milk.  Also, as it’s still quite chilly here in the morning, I decided to skip freezing the banana and using ice cubes.

In all of the following recipes, you can use either old-fashioned rolled oats or quick oats.

Banana-Peanut Butter Oatmeal Smoothie

1/4 cup oats

1 banana

1/2 cup yogurt

1 tablespoon creamy peanut butter

1 tablespoon maple syrup

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 pinch salt

Ice, optional

Blend ingredients until smooth and creamy.

My review:  Wow, this was seriously good.  And filling.  I drank this down and headed out to work in the garden.  Not only did I not get hungry, I didn’t even think about food at all.  That’s a winning recipe right there.  Now add that it’s food storage (well, if you use dehydrated bananas—and no, you don’t need to re-hydrate first), and it gets 5 stars.

So, then I got to wondering, how good would other oatmeal smoothie recipes taste?  And I went searching.  Most of the recipes go a little crazy, trying to be super healthy—chia seeds, flax seeds, fat-free everything, vegan, you name it.  Oh, and some of them say you’ve got to cook the oatmeal first, or let it soak overnight.  Nope.  Not necessary.  Also, like the recipe above, most recipes call for ½ teaspoon vanilla extract per serving.  I’m thinking vanilla extract is going to be pretty valuable, and the smoothie will be just fine without it.  But that’s just me.  Add it if you wish.

 

Chocolate Banana Peanut Butter Oatmeal Smoothie

1 cup plain yogurt

1 banana

¼ cup oats

1 tablespoon peanut butter

1 tablespoon cocoa powder (would you believe it’s only 10 calories!?!)

 

Blend everything together.

 

My review:  Where have you been all my life?  I think I’m making a huge batch of this one and running it through the freeze dryer.

Blueberry Banana Oatmeal Smoothie

1 cup plain yogurt

1 banana

¼ cup blueberries

¼ cup oats

Blend everything together.

My review:  This one didn’t do much for me.  I could taste the oats.  More banana?  More blueberries?  Some sugar?  Not sure.  I mean, it wasn’t bad, but I felt it could be so much more.  It still warrants some experimentation.

Strawberry Banana Oatmeal Smoothie

1 cup plain yogurt

1 banana

½ cup strawberries

1⁄4 cup oats

 

Put all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.

My review:  I liked this one better than the blueberry, since I couldn’t taste the oats. 

 

Links to related posts:

All About Oats  https://prepschooldaily.blogspot.com/2021/06/basic-food-storage-oats.html

All About Cocoa  https://prepschooldaily.blogspot.com/2020/05/all-about-cocoa-powder.html

Homemade Yogurt  https://prepschooldaily.blogspot.com/2021/07/basic-food-storage-making-thick-creamy.html