If I could only eat one thing for the rest of my life, it would be oatmeal.

Yes, humble old oatmeal.

I would eat it everyday as long as I can give it some toppings, change up the flavor, and cook it in a variety of ways. Hopefully there is a leniency with that whole eat-one-thing-for-the-rest-of-your-life thing.

I’m rather oat obsessed, and I eat it nearly every morning, without fail. There is something so comforting and soothing about a nice bowl of oatmeal in the morning. Don’t you agree?

But wait, what about mornings when I’m in a rush, or worse, hot summery Arizona mornings of 105 degrees when eating hot food is the worst idea ever? Enter: overnight oats. O.O.’s are versatile, portable, delicious, and so filling with plenty of fiber and goodness in each bite. Plus they can be made into a chocolate version…squeal!

These overnight oats are like eating dessert for breakfast. Rich and chocolaty raw cacao powder mixes with creamy almond milk, sweet banana, and rolled oats to make a divine breakfast bite. Chocolate, you may have heard is a superfood. Yes, but this doesn’t mean you can start eating Twix bars as your afternoon pick-me-up. Raw chocolate, aka cacao, is the superfood here. Cacao comes from the seed of the Theobroma tree’s cacao beans. To make raw cacao, the beans are dried at a low temperature and can then be consumed whole, cut into cacao nibs, or ground up into cacao powder. The beans can also be processed beyond recognition at a high temperature, mixed with tons of refined sugars, and shaped into candy bars. Yikes.

We’ll be eating the unprocessed raw cacao powder here, the real superfood, and the one that packs in tons of natural antioxidants. These antioxidants include flavonoids, which are known to help destroy free radicals in your body, protect your heart, make your skin glow, and decrease inflammation.

You can even make these cacao overnight oats in the morning and have them for dessert at night, if you ever find yourself needing chocolate.

Which happens to me, quite often.

No judgments.

Cacao Overnight Oats

Serves 1

1 ripe banana, mashed
1-2 T cacao powder (depending on how chocolaty you want it)
1 cup unsweetened almond milk, or other non-dairy milk
1 T chia seeds
1 cup rolled oats
pinch of sea salt

Combine all ingredients in a bowl or jar and mix until thoroughly combined. Place in the fridge overnight, and enjoy in the morning. Top with berries, cacao nibs, or nuts if desired. Enjoy!