I am finally back guys and I have never been happier to be home and sitting at my desk! We actually got home on Friday but it has taken a few days for us to get through mountains of mail, email, orders, voicemails and well, just life! I hope you enjoyed all the lovely guest bloggers that were kind enough to post here on Tasty Yummies while I was away. It was so fun for me!

Our road trip to SXSW was so wonderful, overall one of the best we have ever taken. It had a few bumps along the way, but it is always so nice to be on the open road with the person I love more than anything, to see our friends from all over the world, meeting and chatting with customers and clients new and old! Plus the insanely warm weather, delicious food and rowdy nights don’t hurt either. This yearly trip is by far one of my favorites. This year’s 4-day Rock Poster Convention, Flatstock, was our most successful one yet. All of our hard work in preparing our booth and products felt like it really paid off. Oh and in addition to all the awesome work goodness, we even got to attend a private party at Willie Nelson’s ranch with a client.

In between all of the work and hangouts I was able to sneak in some yoga where I could either in hotel rooms or at a great little studio I found around the corner from our hotel in Austin, and we were able to stay on track with our eating both by enjoying all of the foods I made for us and a couple of trips to the Whole Foods flagship store. All in all a really great trip!

Unfortunately, on the way home from Austin, as we were making our way back to Louisville to spend time with my husband Mark’s family for a night before the last leg of the trip home to Buffalo, we got a phone call when we were just 5 hours away that his Grandmother, “Momo” had passed. We all knew this day was coming and although it was a sad one and she will be deeply missed, everyone was happy that she was no longer suffering. Mark and I were lucky enough to have stopped by the hospital on our way down to Austin, and we spent a few hours with her. She knew we were there and was able to speak with us, so we both feel insanely blessed for those precious moments. Thankfully we were able to extend our trip by a few days to attend the funeral, be with family and celebrate the life of one of the most amazing women I have ever met. It’s funny how life works.

So after two weeks on the road with many emotional ups and downs, when we pulled onto our street all I could think about was cuddling with my pets, who I missed dearly, getting back to my daily yoga practice, juicing, cooking in my kitchen, sleeping in my own bed and of course, all the amazing client projects we have lined up for the coming months. Even though I am doing a simple and quick cleanse this week to get my body back to feeling like itself after all of the traveling, I plan to finally have some recipes for you this week and next.

What is your favorite part of coming home after a long trip?

This first recipe is something I thought up on one of our long stretches of driving when I was thinking of all the mornings I get home from yoga and I want to get right to my desk and get to working. Many times I will just grab a homemade bar of some sort or make some juice or a quick smoothie. I wanted to come up with another simple breakfast like my overnight cinnamon raisin chia pudding or my banana cream chia pudding (which can also be made overnight). I have seen many versions of overnight oats made in a similar way so I thought up this fun version. Overnight Chai Oatmeal.

This tasty breakfast treat can easily be put together the night before, popped into an airtight glass mason jar or a covered bowl and left to soak. By the time morning rolls around you will have a delicious breakfast that can be served chilled or warm. You can have fun with your toppings, adding dried fruit or nuts or maybe even some shredded coconut. I just added a small handful of raisins.

Play around with this spices and get it to your liking. I like my chai spicy, as I am sure you recall from my chai concentrate recipe. I add in a pinch of black pepper, but you can leave that out. Have fun with it and make it your own.

Much like the chia puddings I make, I cannot wait to make this again and play with different flavor combinations. Imagine sinful chocolate peanut butter overnight oats. Mmmm…

Have you ever made overnight oatmeal or chia pudding? What is your favorite flavor combo?

When I arrived home from our trip, I came in to a large box of goodies from NuNaturals. They asked me to give their products a try, see what I think of them, develop some recipes with them, etc. I haven’t really done much official research and reading on stevia products yet, but I have been meaning to try them for sometime, as many bloggers who I follow love to cook and bake with it, so I am excited to get to experimenting with all of this. Look for more recipes in the coming weeks using NuNaturals products. I decided to use the Pure Liquid Clear Stevia for this overnight oatmeal, feel free to use whatever your favorite sweetener is, just add it to taste when mixing or when serving.

[print_this]Overnight Chai Oatmeal – Gluten-free, Vegan + Sugar-free
serves 2

• 1 cup gluten-free rolled oats (not quick cooking) – make sure they are certified gluten-free
• 2 tablespoons chia seeds
• 1 cup unsweetened almond milk (you can also use soy, hemp, flax-seed milk, oat milk, whatever your favorite is)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 5-10 drops of liquid stevia (or to taste of whatever sweetener you wish, maple syrup or coconut sugar would be great)
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground anise
• a pinch of ground black pepper
• a pinch of ground cloves

Mix together all of the above ingredients in a glass jar or a bowl, cover and refrigerate overnight. Serve the oatmeal chilled or slightly warmed up. Top with a dash of cinnamon, some raisins or whatever other toppings you wish.

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