This guest post is from our favorite ladies, Natalie and Holly, over at The Modern Proper. Their mission is to reinvent proper for the modern homemaker, one delicious meal at a time. Check out more of their delicious recipes here. 
“Breakfast is the most important meal of the day,” “You’ll be sorry if you don't start your day with protein!,” “The key to success is waking up early enough to take care of yourself before the chaos of the day begins,” These are just a few of the thoughts that I have jumping around as I pull the covers over my head most mornings, thankful that my little humans survived another night, but regretful that they haven’t chosen to sleep longer. Despite the resolve I have to follow my own advice (and the advice of so many others before me) and start my day off right by caring for my body with a nutritious meal, there's nothing like dragging myself out of bed to the picky demands of a 2, 4 and 6 year old (while simultaneously one of them is asking you to find dad’s tools to put new batteries in his favorite toy, another is sticking their hand in a dirty diaper, and the third...where is the third?!) to completely squander all my good intentions. In other seasons of my life it's been a nursing baby who just can't seem to remove her latch long enough for me to reach for the coffee pot (let alone fry up an egg), or a twelve week old fetus keeping me so far away from my kitchen for fear of what I smell that would kick my nausea into high gear. Anyway, I think you get the point. And as fellow moms, women and caregivers, I'm sure you have your own set of reasons as to why you don't properly care for yourself in the morning, either. As justified and real as my excuses are, when I finally sit down to have my first meal of the day (whether it be 8 am of 12 pm), I’m reminded yet again that starving myself for the sake of others IS detrimental to the outcome of the rest of my day, and completely not worth it.
So here’s the scoop: Bacon and eggs? Love em. Mushroom omelettes? Fantastic! Blueberry chia seed muffins with a healthy serving of grass fed butter? Even better! Let's face it though, for most of us the reality is such indulgences are for the weekend, but that doesn't change the need to not just survive the weekdays, but to thrive and be our best selves Monday- Friday, as well as those lovely brunching days we also call Saturday and Sunday. And so with this in mind, I've put together an ingenious round up of overnight oatmeal. That’s right, breakfast that you make the night before! Now we all know there is no replacement for the sound and smell of sizzling bacon in a cast iron skillet, but let's get real. We need to eat, we need it to require little of us and we need it to be delicious, and these overnight oats are all those things. Tasty, hearty, effortless and nutritious. So, here you are, eat, enjoy and thrive!
Apple Cinnamon ¾ cup old fashioned oats ¾ cup coconut milk ¼ cup apple sauce 1 tsp vanilla 1 tsp cinnamon 1 tbsp maple syrup Pinch of sea salt Apple slices for topping off oats
Peaches and Cream ¾ cup rolled oats 1 cup coconut milk 1 tbsp vanilla protein powder ½ cup fresh peaches cubed (plus extra for topping off oats) Pinch of sea salt
Almond Honey ¾ cup rolled oats 1 cup almond milk 1 tbsp raw honey 1 tsp almond extract 2 tbsp almond butter pinch of sea salt sliced almonds for topping off oats
Creamy Coconut Berry ¾ cup oats ¾ cup coconut milk ¼ cup shredded coconut 1 tsp vanilla extract 2 tbsp berry jam pinch of sea salt ¼ cup fresh berries for topping off oats
Method Simply combine all ingredients in an airtight jar. Tighten the lid and shake until combine. Place in refrigerator overnight and enjoy in the morning topped with fresh fruits and/or nuts!
