Sentiments by Denise

A Healthy Breakfast - Plan Ahead!

You may have heard a rumor about my love for oatmeal :)

Oatmeal, in any form, is a favorite breakfast food of mine. I especially enjoy steel cut oats because of their least processed form and their mega health benefits (fiber, lowers cholesterol, immune system booster, contains phytochemicals that fight cancer, and vit/min: iron, zinc, selenium and Vit E).

About a year ago I wrote a post about overnight oats and soaking the oats (rolled oats, in this case) in a combination with other healthy ingredients to create an awesome breakfast meal the following morning.

Over the past several months, I've been using muesli (a dry combination of oats, dried fruit, nuts, seeds) as a substitute once in awhile for my oats. I like to use the muesli in my overnight oats soakings and it turns out quite well.  I enjoyed this combo on Saturday morning and posted about it on my Facebook status, which prompted some interesting comments. I'm sure there are people who view the way I eat as "strange" or different, but for me, it works just fine and in line with my healthy agenda!

For muesli overnight goodness, start with this line up:
 
1/3 cup dry muesli
1/3 cup pumpkin puree
1 T. chia seeds
1/2 cup kefir (I used coconut kefir)
1/3 cup almond milk
sprinkling of dried cranberries and cacao nibs (opt.)

Cover and refrigerate overnight. In the morning, heat for one minute in microwave (or can be eaten cold, but I prefer hot!). Add toppings and enjoy. (makes one serving)

 
Here's what it looks like after the overnight soak. The liquid melds wonderfully with the chia seeds, which swell, and makes a thick cereal base.

 
I love adding a tablespoon of nut butter (almond butter shown) and stir it in with a bit of almond milk to top it off. This is such a hearty breakfast and keeps me full for several hours. So much better than cold cereal. You can substitute the pumpkin for mashed banana or chopped apple or pear. If you're not a fan of kefir, but prefer yogurt, you can substitute that. And of course, use regular milk if that is your preference also. The above recipe is the vegan version, which I like to follow now and then.
Invest in the chia seeds, though - they are marvelous additions to many foods (baked goods, smoothies, oatmeal, yogurt, etc). I've posted about these several times and continually sing their praises as a healthy boost to my diet!

Instead of grabbing a pastry with your morning beverage or rushing through a bowl of cold cereal, give this hearty, healthy meal a try and see if it doesn't change your mind about one of the best ways to start your day!

Restful Sunday

We slept in this morning (I got 10 hours of restful, glorious sleep!) and relaxed the morning away. We went to church last night again and I really enjoyed Pastor Chris' message conclusion on Philippians - which he has preached from the past four weeks. The 4th chapter of Philippians is my favorite chapter in the Bible, as it contains my life verse (Phil 4:8). God used the sermon last night to speak to me on several things I'm struggling with in my life right now and I know God is really coaching me on my faith-walk these days. Lots of opportunities coming my way to stretch my faith and trust fully on Him!

 
Breakfast this morning was an amazing green smoothie made with frozen banana, 2 handfuls of raw baby spinach, frozen mango, kefir, chia seeds, and almond milk. Served with an oatmeal breakfast cookie topped with almond butter. Good flavors loaded with protein, healthy fats, veggies & fruits, and even whole grains! See - this breakfast has it all!

Emilee came over this afternoon to have lunch with us and, as she usually does, made something delicious! Homemade vegetable soup - with a lot of the great veggies we picked up at Whole Foods Market yesterday during our grocery shopping outing!

 
She came bearing edible gifts, too! Homemade corn muffins - the recipe from her vegan cookbook that we gave her for Christmas. Em loves to bake and has been doing a lot of experimenting in the kitchen lately. So much so that she has resurrected her blog and has begun posting about all her great creations! Check her out here. (She's actually putting me to shame with all of her posts lately...I need to get busy and start blogging more!).

 
The homemade vegetable soup is loaded with some great vegetables like carrots, onions, cabbage, zucchini, celery, mushrooms, red pepper, broccoli slaw, and some fabulous aduki beans! This was tasty today - it will be even better tomorrow when I have it for leftovers! I enjoyed the corn muffin with a couple squirts of honey. The muffins were dense and flavorful, just the way I like them! Perfect with a bowl of soup!

 

My Favorite Meal is Breakfast

I could never understand when people would tell me that they didn't eat breakfast - it's my favorite meal of the day!
I'm usually famished in the mornings and look forward to taking in some healthy and tasty nutrients to start my day. Since I've started eating with better intentions (healthier) this past year, I've tried to add some variety to my morning meals. Here is a list of my favorites:

Oatmeal

 
I dress it up with lots of healthy options. Above is banana oats with almond butter stirred in, some coconut shreds and cacao nibs on top.

 
This is non-cooked oatmeal called "overnite oats" where I mix raw oatmeal with yogurt, chia seeds, pumpkin (or banana or apple) and almond or coconut milk, then let it "soak" overnight in the fridge. In the morning I heat it for just a minute, add my toppings (here it's almond butter, almonds, and blueberries) and it's ready to eat! Saves a lot of time.
Other times I make steel cut oats in my rice cooker (my favorite way to make them now). I've experimented with additions to my oats - oat bran, ground flaxseed, or buckwheat groats. All of these raise the bar to a healthier breakfast.

 
Mixed in some fresh peaches, pecans, and peanut butter!

Sometimes I get fancy and make amaranth:
 
(yes, there's whole grains under all those yummy toppings!) I try to always add some kind of raw nuts or nut butter (sometimes both!) to my whole grain cereal - a great source of healthy fats and protein. Here I've also added a tiny scoop of coconut butter and some cranberries - this is a winning combination!

Smoothies

 
The green ones are my favorite! Simple recipe of a frozen banana, a couple handfuls of raw spinach, chia seeds, yogurt, other frozen fruit (like mango, strawberries, or peaches - although this is optional), and some almond or coconut milk. Lately, I've been adding a 1/2tsp of Matcha (green tea powder) to my green smoothies.

 
This is known as the Purple Slurple - same ingredients as above except add frozen or fresh blueberries as your other fruit option. I make a Cherry Banana Slammer, too, with frozen cherries. There are all kinds of options for great smoothies. You just have to be creative!

 
Besides adding the green tea and fun ingredients like the POM juice pictured above, I love to add pumpkin (1/3 cup) to my smoothies. What a great way to get some extra beta carotene in your diet!

Pancakes, Cookies, Muffins, and Bagels

 
Chocolate spelt pancakes with blueberries. I've even made them with fresh raspberries, too.

 
Skip the high calorie butter and syrup - add a mashed banana, some coconut shreds and some cacao nibs. These are amazingly filling at only about 500 calories for 3 medium pancakes. I love that these are made with spelt flour - a whole grain that is full of protein!

 
Whole grain muffins (blueberry flax) with a 1/2 cup of Greek yogurt and fresh fruit. Most of the time I eat yogurt as a snack (the Greek kind is higher in protein!), but for a heartier breakfast I'll have a small whole grain muffin with fruit and yogurt.

 
Mini wholegrain bagel with nut butter (almond - my fav!) and a sliced nectarine. This photo is from a few months back (archived). I like to eat fruit in season as much as possible as it's so much better tasting that way.

 
Sometimes something as simple as millet french toast with nut butter, sliced banana, and a few favorite toppings. I don't even miss the syrup anymore, but if I ever do eat it, I like to choose pure maple syrup (though it's very rich tasting).

 
Oatmeal breakfast cookie! If you're friends with me on Facebook, then you probably saw this posted on my page a few weeks ago. Here's the recipe -

Breakfast Oatmeal Cookie

1/4 c. quick oats
1 egg white (1/8 c.)
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 T. dark chocolate chips
1 T. chopped nuts
1 T. dried cranberries
1.5 tsp raw sugar or honey
2 tsp flour (whole wheat, spelt, or your favorite)
(sometimes I add a couple tablespoons of pumpkin puree, too!)

Mash ingredients together to combine. Form into a cookie shape on a plate. Microwave for 45 seconds on high. Let cool. EAT!
*this cookie is great with a thin spread of nut butter spread on top!**

 

I hope I've given you some ideas for breakfast and that you will try these to add a healthy start to your day. As you can see, my morning meals are never boring. And every once in awhile I'll have a bowl of cereal - I love it when I find a great nutrient-loaded one like this:

 
What are some healthy choices you make for breakfast?

Cooking Grain-y Goodness

Tonight's dinner:

 

When I came home from work tonight I started soaking and cooking a variety of whole grains to have them readily available for easy meals this week (even popped some portions into the freezer). 

First  - Steel Cut Oats:

As I'm sure I've mentioned before, steel cut oats are my favorite type of oats to eat. They are very minimally processed, which means I'm getting the full effect of the nutrients they contain.
Since steel cut oats take awhile to cook (about 25-30 minutes) I like to cook four servings at once (1 cup of oats to 4 cups of water). Then I portion the servings out during the week when I want to have oats for breakfast. And I never eat them plain! Oh no! I add all kinds of goodies to my oats to make them really fun to eat! Such as nut butters of all kinds, dried or fresh fruit, special "milk", seeds (chia, sunflower, pepitas, flax), and even cinnamon, coconut shreds, or cacao nibs. Whenever I make oatmeal for breakfast I make sure it is nutritious and calorie dense to keep me full for several hours since I do a lot of moving in the mornings.

While the oats were cooking, I put my little rice cooker to work and started a small batch of short grain brown rice (this is the grain that is in the photo at the beginning of this post). My rice cooker will also steam veggies while the rice is cooking, so after debating whether I wanted asparagus or broccoli tonight, I opted to toss some fresh asparagus into the steamer:

Then the quinoa was set to soak for about 30 minutes. It is important to rinse quinoa thoroughly before cooking to remove the bitter outer coating. I do this by soaking it and then giving it a quick rinse.

Quinoa can be cooked on the stove top or in a rice cooker. I found this great website recently and this link will take you directly to some really tasty quinoa recipes (in case you were wondering what on earth you do with quinoa - I know you're thinking this!) and tips on cooking it. I don't have any finished photos of the quinoa, but there are several servings tucked away in my fridge/freezer that can be used for breakfast (substitute it for oats!) or stir fry (in place of rice) or as a side dish (imagine a pilaf-like creation with some almonds and dried cranberries mixed in!).
I only recently "discovered" quinoa and can't believe I have lived so long before without this grain in my diet! One of my favorites now!

Wheat-berries:

This grain - called Hard Red Wheat-berries - has a high protein count (like quinoa). It takes longer to cook than the other grains I've mentioned (about 45 simmering minutes on the stove top), but is well worth the effort. I like to toss a tablespoon of cooked wheat-berries on a green leafy salad or mix them in my morning oats. I'm searching the internet and my cookbooks for more recipes to incorporate these little gems into healthy meals. If you have a favorite, please send it my way!  

Tonight's meal started with heating some grapeseed oil (a stable cooking oil that is good for high heat - does not smoke) and stir-frying onion and orange bell pepper together, adding the steamed asparagus and brown rice, mixing in some seasonings for a little kick and enjoying to the fullest!

Simple, quick, and very nutritious!

I ended my meal with a cup of fresh pineapple. I try to eat at least 3 whole (raw) fruits each day. 
Today I had a white peach about mid-morning, a cup of fresh blackberries after lunch, and the pineapple tonight. All organic and loaded with vitamins.

Are you trying any whole grains? If so, I'd like to hear your comments about them and please share any good recipes you have - I'm always looking for different ways to cook grains and make them a part of my daily meals. 

Ode to Oatmeal

My favorite breakfast is oatmeal.

I enjoy it a couple different ways. Sometimes I make overnight oats using old fashioned rolled oats (not quick or instant) and other times I use steel cut oats which have a bit more "robust" flavor and weight.

I cook a pot (four servings) of steel cut oats either in the evening or on a morning when I have extra time. Then I'm able to enjoy them in the mornings without feeling rushed for time - they take about 20+ minutes to cook on the stove. I hear they can be cooked in a crockpot or rice cooker but I haven't tried that yet.

Looking at this photo, you're probably wondering where the oats are! Under all the fabulous toppings, of course!
I wanted to show you a sampling of what goes on my oats on any given morning - I like to change it up for variety, so this is what I added recently to a cup of cooked steel cut oats: (starting clockwise from the top behind the spoon)

• ground flax seed - it's benefits: lowering total cholesterol and LDL, rich in fiber, cancer-fighting lignan (alpha linolenic acid), and helps to lower blood pressure
• chia seeds - it's benefits: slows the conversion of carbs into sugar, fuel for the body -> energy!, electrolyte balance is maintained, and aids in digestion
• pecans - it's benefits: lowers cholesterol, a natural antioxidant (highest among nuts!), good source of protein, excellent source of good fats - monounsaturated and polyunsaturated, and very nutrient dense containing more than 19 vitamins and minerals
• pomegranate seeds - it's benefits: improves blood flow (heart healthy!), full of antioxidants, high in fiber and healthy fats (unsaturated), and even has some antibacterial effects
• almond butter - it's benefits: lowers total cholesterol, reduces heart disease risk, rich in magnesium and potassium, and promotes weight loss

Not to mention that this makes an incredibly tasty breakfast! Also fun to eat in this cute latte mug!

Here's everything mixed together, which is the way I prefer to eat my oats - lots of goodness in every bite! The nut butter gets melty and the seed/nuts add just the right amount of crunch - perfect creamy, melty, nutty goodness!

Now, doesn't this make you want to have a bowl of oatmeal soon?  

 

Farmers Market and Homemade Egg Salad

This morning Stephen came over so we could go together to the farmers market. We try to go at least every other week, but will probably start going more often once the farmers begin to get more produce in.

Before we headed out, I made him a bowl of steel cut oats topped with almond butter, golden raisins, chia seeds, ground flax seeds, and milk. He usually doesn't eat oatmeal, but I think he really liked  this combo.

I didn't take any pictures at the farmers market, but we picked up several more herb plants (cilantro, curly parsley, tarragon) and also several plants for the garden - orange bell pepper, sweet banana pepper, grape tomato, black krim tomato, mexican mini tomato. As soon as we get these transplanted into the ground or into pots, I'll show photos of our little garden.

Additionally, I purchased some green onions that looked really good. When I returned home I decided to make an egg salad sandwich for lunch for myself (Stephen headed home to get ready for graduation ceremonies today at the school where he teaches).

 

I purchase a dozen eggs each week from a gentleman at our church who has his own chickens. The eggs are always so fresh and great tasting.

First I chopped up four hardboiled eggs, then added:

• 1 sliced green onion
• 2 sliced red radishes
• 1 sliced stalk of celery

 

 I also added a few squirts of yellow mustard and about a half cup of plain Greek yogurt. This gives the salad a fabulous tangy taste!

Then I headed outside the back door to snip a few leaves from my chive plant that I have growing in a planter in the back yard.

The fresh chives were a perfect finishing touch (along with some pepper and paprika) to the homemade egg salad.

I mixed all the ingredients together and stuffed a couple small spoonfuls into a mini whole wheat pita (sliced in half) with some organic lettuce leaf that came in my CSA delivery this week.

 

Great lunch! This recipe makes two servings, so there's enough for leftovers!

My Favorite Meal - Breakfast

As I work toward a healthier ME, I'm learning more about nutrition and the benefits of whole foods - clean eating.

As you know, breakfast is my favorite meal of the day and oatmeal is my standard fare. Amazingly enough, I don't tire of it - probably because I try to make it different and appetizing every day. Last night I fixed a bowl of overnight oats that also contained a half diced pear and a 1/4 cup of pumpkin. This was a great combination.

Lots of cinnamon was added to this mix, too! Did you know that cinnamon is a "super spice" and you should use it frequently?  It's effective in maintaining blood glucose levels as well as triglyceride and cholesterol levels.

This morning I added some almond butter, chopped pecans, and a overflowing teaspoon of cacao nibs.  

I found these at my local health food store. These can also be added to recipes in place of dark or unsweetened chocolate.

A splash of almond milk and it's a bowl full of bliss! I love this breakfast! This usually averages about 500 calories with all my toppings, which is perfect to get me going for the day and keep me full for 3-4 hours. 

To see my recipe and other topping ideas, check out my post on overnight oats.  

This past Saturday, my son Stephen and I made a grocery trip to Whole Foods Market and Trader Joes - similar to the trip Emilee and I made about a month ago. Both of our kids are foodies at heart and enjoy shopping for good food. Stephen had never been to Whole Foods before so he took his time browsing the aisles and then practically camped out back near the cheese counter. The lady working there chatted with him and gave him many samples to try. He ended up buying about four different wedges of cheese that were very delicious.

We had our own little cheese tasting party that evening after dinner to try them, served with crackers, Black Mission figs, and some dates.

While shopping at Trader Joes that same day, I found these and couldn't resist bringing them home with me! I normally don't purchase store baked goods, but I've been wanting some bran muffins and these looked especially wonderful - organic, healthy, and full of blueberries!
So, guess what I ate for breakfast on Sunday morning?

 
This muffin went perfectly with the Greek yogurt and kiwi combo. I even heated the muffin a bit and added a couple teaspoons of almond butter - so yummy! 
Someone commented recently, asking me about my kiwi - whether I ate it with the peel. Yes, I do! It's full of wonderful fiber and really isn't that much different than eating the skin on a peach. Kinda fuzzy, but full of wonderful nutrients! Do you eat the peel/skin on your fruits and veggies? I'm amazed at what a high fiber diet can do to encourage a healthy balance in the body.

 As I read and learn more about nutrition, eating whole foods, exercising regularly, and paying close attention to my sleep patterns I feel like I'm moving in the right direction towards health and wellness.