Another day, another snow storm—this New England winter does not seem to be lightening up on us anytime soon. Over the past several weeks, we have become accustomed to hunkering down at home during each storm—which means forging for breakfast on your own.

After seeing this week’s snowfall forecast, it became apparent there was a need for a warm, filing and nutritious breakfast—somehow I rationalized that a great breakfast would provide enough motivation to start shoveling at dawn–that’s for another blog post.

I spent an hour or two cruising through my usual inspirational websites—from Foodgawker.com to Food & Wine—and finally stumbled upon something deceivingly simplistic—overnight oatmeal. Now I have never been a huge fan of oatmeal—there’s always been a somewhat lackluster allure for this breakfast staple, but perhaps this recipe was enough to make me a believer.

Preparation took about 5 minutes to assemble, pour and shake—then into the refrigerator it went. When we woke up to another 14 inches of snow on Sunday morning, we simply took the jars of oatmeal out and popped them (sans the metal tops) into the microwave for a few minutes—and voila, a tasty oatmeal concoction and the hint of lemon, combined with the cinnamon and brown sugar blended perfectly–and was anything but simplistic tasting.

Food & Wine made me a believer when it comes to oatmeal and this breakfast idea will come in handy for the additional storms forecasted this week.  The cooler version of this recipe (everything sans the microwave) will taste refreshing when the warm weather eventually returns to New England—which might be June at this rate.

For those interested in a tasty, quick and hearty breakfast here’s the recipe:

Overnight Oatmeal (as adapted from Food & Wine)
Ingredients:
½ cup steel cut oats
¾ cup milk
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
1 teaspoon of lemon zest
1/8 teaspoon of vanilla extract
½ cup of blueberries, or any berries you have on hand (fresh or frozen)
3 tablespoons brown sugar

Combine all ingredients in a glass jar—I used a glass mason jar—shake the jar and place in the refrigerator for 6 hours to overnight. Top with some slivered almonds, real maple syrup or additional brown sugar and enjoy!

For a warmer version—take metal top off of mason jar and place in the microwave for 1.5 – 2 minutes.

Note: In terms of milk, I have used both dairy and almond milks, both have worked great.