Baked Apple Date Oatmeal For cold mornings, hot cereal is great, but baked oatmeal is even better. It's a step up from the slow-cooker recipes for overnight oatmeal, with just a little more effort. Leftovers are great too--I just warm the pan up in the oven in the morning before the kids get up. Add a dollop of plain yogurt, especially Greek yogurt, and you are adding protein to balance with your carbohydrates.
2 Cups Steel Cut Oats
1 Cup Almonds, Chopped
2 Tbs. Plain Yogurt or Kefir
1 Cup Water
6 Eggs, Beaten Lightly
1 Cup Almond Milk
3 Tbs. Real Maple Syrup
1/2 Cup Golden Delicious Apples, Chopped
1/2 Cup Dates, Chopped, Soaked in Water, then Drained
1/4 Cup Coconut Oil, Softened
1 Tbs Cinnamon
1/2 tsp Cardamom
Dash of Sea Salt
Grease a 9x13 glass baking dish with a bit of coconut oil or butter. Combine the steel cut oats, almonds, yogurt, and water in the glass baking dish. Allow this mixture to sit and soak. Soak the dates whole, in a separate bowl of water. Chop the apples and set aside. In a larger mixing bowl, beat the eggs lightly, then add the almond milk, maple syrup, coconut oil, cinnamon, cardamom, and salt. Pour this mixture into the glass baking dish with the oat mixture, and stir well. Fold in the chopped apples. Drain the soaking dates, chop these up now that they are softened. Fold in the chopped dates. At this point, you may decide to cover the pan with a lid or plastic wrap and let sit overnight in the fridge, so that preparation is easy and fresh in the morning. When ready to prepare breakfast, bake at 375F for 40 minutes. Serve warm, with a dollop of plain yogurt.
It’s Easy Being Green Smoothie This smoothie is very creamy. If you like it to be a thicker consistency, use more avocado and banana. If you like it to be a little less creamy, use a little less. The avocado provides a sustaining source of healthy fat and protein to stabilize blood sugar at the start of the day. Also, both avocados and bananas are known to raise serotonin levels, which makes for happier moods.
1 Cup Coconut water
½ cup plain yogurt
2 cups frozen mango
3 leaves of swiss chard (removing stems)
1/2-1 Frozen Banana
1/2-1 Avocado
1 teaspoon Raw Honey
Breakfast--The Most Important Meal of the Day~
Have you ever noticed how a bowl of cold cereal, especially sugary cereal can leave you feeling hungry and unsatisfied? Have you ever had your kids come asking for a snack only an hour after breakfast is over? Have you ever felt tired, irritable, or emotional, and then realize that you haven't had breakfast or lunch yet?
Well--you can do something about that. It's pretty easy, as long as you put in a little more effort.
I'd be lying if I said we never ate cold cereal at our house. That would be completely impractical. Some mornings, we are just in a hurry, or we are lazy. Sometimes, cereal just sounds so good--like when I'm pregnant. Often cereal is my snack before bedtime too. It has it's place, and I am ever grateful for it's wonderful invention!
Break-fast. You have just slept hopefully 8 hrs. through the night without eating anything. Now it's time to feed your body the right fuel to start your day. It's time to break the fast, not continue starvation, right? So, breakfast is all about stabilizing blood sugar levels. In order to do that, you need a combination of protein and fiber. It's not usually a good idea to load up on carbohydrates on an empty stomach. This just starts the cycle of cravings, and blood sugar crashes. There are three standard go-to meals to start our day at our house:
Some kind of Hot Cereal or Whole-Grain Breakfast
Some kind of Eggs
Some kind of Smoothie
Whole grains naturally contain a combination protein and fiber. Refined carbs have been stripped of this value. Usually if we are having hot cereal or pancakes, I try to encourage a little plain yogurt with it to level off blood sugar. For example, we just had whole grain pancakes with plain yogurt and strawberries for dinner last night.
Eggs are always getting a bad rap for cholesterol, but eat your egg yolks--they contain your Omega 3! We probably eat eggs 1-2 times a week. Omelets, fritata, scrambled, fried, poached, boiled, breakfast burritos, there are so many ways to enjoy them. With it being St. Patrick's day recently, we had classic "Green Eggs n' Ham." I colored scrambled eggs with a little chlorophyll--(found in the supplement department of your health food store.) It looks disgusting, (which is why I decided not to show a picture here on the blog,) but the kids ate it up smiling and asking for more every day since. I also splurged and gave them Lucky Charms...it was like Christmas, and I didn't have to worry about them bouncing off the walls later, because I gave them eggs to feed their little growing minds.
As far as smoothies go, they are all the rage. Everyone is making smoothies these days and adding veggies to the mix, making it easy to get your greens. There are so many recipes circulating out there for smoothies, you simply have no excuse, unless you need to buy a good quality blender. I chose to share one of our favorite green smoothies with you; also a great idea for breakfast on St. Patty's Day if you need ideas for next year.
Here's to a happier breakfast time!
