Overnight oats are all the rage, but it never occurred to me that overnight oats would be considered raw vegan!!
I was super excited last week when I realized you could still have oatmeal on a raw vegan diet, because oats are so filling! I actually did get really excited when I learned that lol. #rawvegannerd
Mind you, it does depend what oats you buy. They need to be oat groats or steel cut oats to be considered a raw grain. Quick instant oats have already been cooked.
When you think of the raw vegan diet, typically you think smoothies, salads, juices, and fancy raw gourmet recipes that use a lot of nuts and dates like raw cheesecake or raw lasagna. So a very limited diet, high in fruits and nuts.
But recently I've been learning more about sprouting grains and legumes in my raw vegan books, and it has been really interesting. Sprouted grains and legumes open up so many more recipe possibilities for the raw vegan diet. I think grains and legumes are very very important for the vegan diet because of their protein content, and they tend to be very satisfying--which makes them a good replacement for meat. Sprouts also have tons of nutrients.
This isn't a perfect raw recipe because I used store bought almond milk and maple syrup. To make this a perfect raw recipe use homemade almond milk made from raw almonds, and you can use 1-2 dates instead of maple syrup. Dates actually taste better, but I was out of dates yesterday =(.
Ingredients:
1 banana
1-2 cups of steel cut oats or oat groats depending on how wet or dry you like your oatmeal
1 cup of almond milk
1-2 TBS maple syrup
1 TBS cacao powder
1 TBS hemp seeds
1 TBS peanut butter
Cacao nibs for decoration
Directions:
Place all ingredients except for the oats in the blender. Taste your chocolate shake mixture to make sure you like the flavor, adjust it if needed. Then add the mixture to 1 cup of oats in a mixing bowl. I later ended up adding another cup of oats because it seemed too wet to me. Then I carefully poured the mixture into my mason jars. Top with a drizzle of peanut butter and cacao nibs. Leave mason jars in refrigerator overnight. Very important to let your raw oats soak-you need to let them soak for at least 8-12 hours so they are easier to digest. You won't get sick but you might get hella bloated if you don't let them soak long enough. Before serving add more almond milk and fresh berries.
