"Mango Sticky Rice" Inspired Overnight Oats

& woa may is kicking off with a lot

Hi! Welcome to “good mood food” from Kale Me Maybe’s Carina Wolff. If you’ve made it here and aren’t yet a subscriber, come join! You can expect recipes, musings, and faves in your inbox every Wednesday! Paid subscribers get even more on Fridays! Learn more about the paid tier of my newsletter here. You can also try a week for free!

CATCH UP!

I feel like I went from being in a slow, lull-phase to suddenly scrambling around with projects, appointments, dance classes, and mini trips.

As I mentioned in a previous newsletter recently, I’ve been DYIINGGG to book a trip, but we are holding off on any ~large~ commitments until we have a more solid plan for the timing of our fertility treatments. I told Grant that I would love just a day by the pool, phone off, so we booked a little one-night getaway to Palm Springs for our 2-year wedding anniversary.

The older I get, and the more busy and complicated life gets, the more I find myself attracted to the idea of a vacation where I just lay around, eat, swim, and read. When I was younger, those types of vacations bored me to death, and although I still absolutely LOVE a big adventure trip (Tokyo has been my favorite place I’ve traveled to recently), I have also come to appreciate a vacation that encourages slowing down. We booked ourselves a nice hotel, and I will be baking in the sun (with SPF…and a hat).

I have to admit, though, it feels a little nice to be busy, although I always find it funny how things have to swing so far in extremes — it’s either dead quiet or I’m overloaded. I think that’s just the nature of the freelance bizz, though. Overall, I’m just happy to have things to do, so I don’t sit and ruminate all day long. I feel like I’ve been taking good care of myself (which can also, sometimes feel like a full-time job), so I’m going with this positive forward momentum.

THINGS I’M LOVING!

In addition to listening to the fertility podcast episodes Grant and I just put out, I also highly, highly recommend this episode from Liz Moody with the Egg Whisperer. So much great, general information about fertility in the episode — there is always so much to be learned!

I love tepache, and De La Calle always has such delicious flavors! I’ve been particularly digging the Tamarind Citrus and Mango Chile. If you’re not familiar with tepache, it’s a Mexican fermented beverage made from pineapple rind. It’s similar to kombucha but doesn’t have caffeine. And I find this brand to be less sugary, which I like!

I was so excited to try out the new Our Place Titanium Always Pan Pro! I’ve personally had great experiences with my Our Place products, and I think it’s so cool that they’re always innovating. This new pan is a non-stick, but it isn’t made with any coating, just titanium! There are no PFAS or other forever chemicals, and you can sear with it, which I think is awesome. Our Place did sponsor me on Instagram, but they did NOT pay for this newsletter mention, and they actually have no idea I am writing it. I genuinely enjoy their products and cooking in this pan!

RECIPE!

I’ve been teasing these overnight oats for a while on my stories, and they’re finally here! I saw my dear friend Justine Snacks make a mango oat bowl the other day, and now I can’t stop making mango oats. One of my favorite Thai dishes is mango sticky rice, so I based these overnight oats on those flavors, aka it’s filled with coconut milk and mango and topped with black sesame seeds to emulate the delicious dessert.

I’m typically not a sweets girlie in the morning, but I have been in such a rut and not in the mood for my usuals, so I’m back on the overnight oats train. I like to add a lot of chia seeds to my overnight oats, but you can even take it a step further and add some protein powder if you want even more nutrients!

“Mango Sticky Rice” Overnight Oats

Ingredients (serves 2-3)

Overnight Oats

• 1 cup old-fashioned/rolled oats

• ¼ cup unsweetened shredded coconut

• ¼ cup chia seeds

• 1 cup canned coconut milk

• 1 cup milk of choice (I used almond)

• 2 tbsp maple syrup (use 1 tbsp if you want less sweet)

Toppings

• 1 mango, diced

• Black sesame seeds

1. Mix together the overnight oats ingredients in a small bowl until evenly combined. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

2. In the morning, top the oats with mango and a sprinkle of black sesame seeds, and more coconut, if you’d like. Enjoy cold!

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT!

We have two posts again this week! The first was another in my 30-Minute Budget Meal Series: Sticky Chicken and Rice Bowls with Broccoli!

The second is our Part 2 of our Fertility Journey Q+A Podcast! We got a bit more personal this week, so be sure to check it out! We had a good time doing this series, and I really hope sharing our experience so far has been helpful in some way!