Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Most important meal of the day?

I have bipolar breakfast disorder. When I have my younger son, I always make a full breakfast for him and, as a consequence, for myself. Usually, a scaled-down version for me. I think he'd consider my part to be a snack compared to the larger plateful I give him. But I'm not a growing 16 year old boy.
When I saw this heart-shaped potato in the bin at the grocery store, I had to get it. I guess it's really two potatoes that grew together, now that I think about it. I split it in half and broiled it with olive oil and paprika.
I enjoy making a colorful breakfast for my son and am always glad to have it myself. But. I virtually never make breakfast for myself on the weekdays when I don't have my son with me. I don't know why, but I usually make do with a cup of coffee. And then a couple of hours into work, I'm starving.
During my yoga and nutrition class, we did a section on whole grains. I bought a few to try, but never got very organized about it. The beauty of my newly de-cluttered kitchen, though, is that it frees up the mental energy to do things a little differently. I filled a canister with several grains: steel cut oats, barely, farro, chia seed, wheat germ and a little 10 whole grain cereal mix. I keep it on the counter where I can see it.
One cup of the mix with four cups of water makes a five little bowls (almost 2 cups of cereal in each). In each little pyrex bowl, I add chopped walnuts and pecans, raisins, chopped dried apricot, cinnamon, honey, maple syrup and a little milk.
Now I have a week's worth of breakfasts at a time. Which I actually don't eat until mid-morning because I usually hit the ground running when I get to work. Still, when I have them all ready to be heated, I do eat them and it beats snacking on junk food. I'm finding it interesting to watch how clearing out the excess lends itself to making practical changes in my life.

48 comments:

  1. This might be the perfect solution for me! I am a terrible breakfast eater. Confession, I had coffee cake for breakfast today! I just know planing ahead would make a difference!

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    1. It makes all the difference for me - I just get lazy when I'm not forced to cook better.

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  2. Great strategy. I try to have a week's worth of work lunches planned or I end up eating crackers or something and getting crabby. I definitely have to plan ahead in order to eat at least somewhat healthfully.
    I keep on trying, but I find I just really don't like eggs unless they are practically unrecognizable as eggs. All other breakfast foods are fair game :)

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    1. I've been making salads ahead , too - at least a couple day's worth. I'l also hard-boil several eggs in advance. But then, I love eggs in nearly any form.

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  3. yum....doesnt sound half bad...i love me some hashbrowns though...and some bacon...or just spice the potatoes...and coffee...

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    1. It's really good. I like hashbrowns, too, but they aren't nearly as healthy as the oatmeal mix.

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  4. Great idea on the breakfast bowls. Those breakfast plates look deelish!

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    1. I've tried ot tell my son that I bet most of his friends don't get breakfasts like that. :-)

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  5. Hey Girlfriend, love your breakfast philosophy (and success with organization). I stumble through coffee and oatmeal on autopilot most mornings, then it's like "Damn! I could have eaten those fresh strawberries and cooked the eggs Celia gave me..."

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  6. I never have a breakfast like the top photo unless I'm at a restaurant. My usual is whole grain waffles with a little apple or pumpkin butter and coffee. Cuz I'm lazy!

    How are the chia seeds? I can't get past the ch-ch-ch-chia thing to try them.

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    1. The chia seeds don't taste like anything - they just blend in with whatever you put them in. And apparently they are one of those superfoods. like, flax, except they don't need to be ground.

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  7. I find it pretty interesting how one led to the other too!

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  8. I love the heart-shaped tater! I once found some dryer lint in the laundry room that was heart-shaped. I ran down to my apartment and grabbed the camera so that I could take a photo of the lint.

    Your cereal sounds really good and healthy! Before I head off to work, I usually grab some yogurt, fruit or dry cereal (mini wheats).

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    1. I am always grabbing my camera for shots like that. I actually took the top picture because when I dropped the giant strawberries on the plate, they rolled together like a heart.

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  9. Strange how difference people see different patterns. We had a similar potato (I've posted the pic in the past) except it was a bit more round and less in length. I turned it in a way that reminded me of those stupid truck nuts. Now that I see your picture I'm thinking I could flip it and have a heart.

    The cereal grains sit in the water/milk so I assume they soak up the liquid over time. Sounds like a good tasty mix.

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    1. Truck nuts would never have occurred to me.

      You ave to boil the cereal in water to cook in, and then they do soak up the little bit of milk I add.

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  10. Okay, my mouth is watering just LOOKING at all these amazing photographs of your breakfast!

    Breakfast is actually my favorite meal of the day. I could actually breakfast for every meal, I enjoy it so much!

    LOVE your strategy for setting up your breakfast ahead of time. BRILLIANT!

    X

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    1. I love breakfast foods, too, I'm just not one to want to cook first thing in the morning for myself if I'm feeling rushed. In fact, I'm sitting here now not cooking! Getting prepared in advance really helps me.

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  11. i love a nice breakfast though i usually just do cereal and berries with almond milk and a glass of oj. i recently discovered chia seed as a nice little boost but your recipe does sound yummy!

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    1. I read about chia somewhere and decide to buy a bag. It's much easier to use than flax.

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  12. Lovely pics, could sit down with you anytime for bfast. I'm very organized when it comes to my food too. Always at least 20 meals in the freezer and always the same bfast - like yours but I make it fresh every day. I do have a recipe for a super energy breakfast and do 4 at a time and must do that soon to get a different energy boost.
    XO
    WWW

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    1. Then you are far more organized than I am! I rarely have meals in the freezer. Maybe when I'm kidless that will happen.

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  13. I've been reading for decades how breakfast is 'the most important meal', but I've never been able to eat until I've been up several hours. Coffee, two cups first thing, then the day starts. Even in the days where I was a long-distance runner, no food for me until noon.

    I once bought a can of the steel-cut oats, Irish Oatmeal, and decided to try it. True to form I didn't read the cooking instructions, instead followed the usual instant oatmeal method, boiling for a couple minutes, some sugar and milk, then ate a bowl. Around an hour later I noticed a swelling sensation in my stomach......didn't eat the rest of the day.

    I was also a researcher on one of the original egg studies done in the mid-seventies. A result was most of us eschewed eggs about halfway through the study. Not me, I love them in most of their forms.

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    1. If I'm on my own, I don't much feel like eating early. And if I'm running in the morning, I never eat first. But by about 9, I have to have some food.

      That's funny about the oatmeal - there's a best-selling diet book in that approach!

      I remember eggs falling out of favor in the 70's and then rejoicing when they were suddenly good for you again. Not that I ever stopped eating them.

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  14. The breakfast looks delicious. I like how you have your grains ready to eat in advance. I love to get a nice breakfast out but that never happens and I've always been to lazy to make the mess of cooking it. I have recently gotten into the habit of having breakfast each morning since I've had to add grains for my cholesterol levels.

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    1. Whole grains are so good for you, and this definitely makes it easier to get them.

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  15. That plate makes the strawberries look huge. The potato is perfect. I wouldn't have thought of olive oil, but it makes perfect sense.

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    1. Those strawberries WERE huge! Even on a bigger plate.

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  16. That looks like a very nutritious breakfast. My own breakfast is extremely lazy: supermarket granola plus a slice of bread and marmalade. I really should put together something more nourishing and more energy-boosting.

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    1. I've read that granola is often higher in fat and sugar than is ideal.

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  17. I do that once a fortnight or so. Mix up a large box full of grains, seeds, dried fruits, nuts and have three tablespoonsful every morning, without fail. It keeps me full until lunch.

    That cooked breakfast looks massively calorific. Ok for a growing lad but for a grown woman maybe not.

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    1. I can assure you that would not keep me full until lunch. Of course, nothing keeps me full until lunch - I get hungry again quickly. All the breakfasts I showed were mine. Fortunately I'm active AND I have a kick-ass metabolism.

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  18. I do try to eat something in the morning on the days I go to work so I have something down there to cushion the pills! But given a choice, I probably wouldn't eat until noon. Oatmeal works for me as long as I have more fruit and nuts in it than oatmeal....That story about the Irish oatmeal made me laugh!

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    1. I get hypoglycemic pretty quickly - I can make it until 9 or so, then I have to have food.

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  19. Aww, love that heart shaped potato. It's gotta be good karma or something.

    Breakfast is my fave meal of the day. Wish I was as organized as you so I could actually enjoy it more often!

    xo jj

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    1. I have a habit of buying oddly shaped fruits and vegetables when I see them, even if they aren't on the list.

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  20. I have steel-cut oats every morning with almonds and blueberries. I'm taking huge pleasure from the fact that they are MY blueberries and I froze enough last summer to last me until--oh shit! Next week!

    I planted more blueberry bushes this spring. I grow raspberries so the neighbors will graze on those and leave MY BLUEBERRIES alone.

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    1. Looks like you'll have to buy them at the store like the rest of us! When I was growing up, my grandmother had blueberry bushes.

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  21. The more I enjoy your writing, and the closer I feel myself coming to you, the sadder I am to find out that you're one of THOSE women...with the fresh blueberries and the....breakfast. And health. Crap.

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  22. MMmmmm! Much better than those envelopes of instant oatmeal.

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  23. I guess I'm the oddball here...I tend to eat leftover dinner for breakfast most days. Enjoy the weekend.

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    1. I did that in college, but now I really like breakfast foods.

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  24. I'm very boring at breakfast - fruit and hard boiled eggs. Before kids we used to go out for breakfast all the time. I can't imagine eating all that food anymore.

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    1. I like hard boiled eggs but virtually never eat them for breakfast.

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