Overnight Oats

Good morning! It has been so interesting having to keep a food diary for the past week and a half. It really helps me to balance out my meals and reminds me what else I need to eat that day. Not to mention it encourages me to add variety to my diet. Because I've been recording every meal, I'm now motivated to try to photograph and post here more often. We will see how that goes. :-)

This morning I had overnight swiss oats for breakfast. Last night I let soak in the fridge 1/2 cup oats with 1/2 cup soymilk, a couple tablespoons of walnuts, and some cinnamon. This morning I added about half a container of soy yogurt, 1/2 a banana, and a couple chopped Medjool dates.

It turned out to be so creamy and delicious! The dates really added the perfect chew and sweetness. I think other dried fruit like raisins or cranberries would have the same effect. Must remember that next time.

Breakfast Concoctions

Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day, and hence the one that I photograph most often. The only thing is that I keep taking pics in the morning but forget to upload them to my computer. So today I have a few to post.

At Whole Foods last week, I found these waffles and decided to give them a try.


Ever since I had to eliminate dairy from my diet, waffles and pancakes just haven't been the same to me. So this time, I tried to add a little more flavor excitement with yogurt, a pear, and walnuts. Sure enough, it hit the spot!


This is the yogurt I used - a new-to-me brand. Not bad! Next time I want to try their other flavors.


I finished it off with the rest of my pear and some walnuts.


Another day last week I had one of my new favorite oatmeal combinations: oats made on the stove with soy milk and cinnamon, topped with ground flax seeds, walnuts, banana, blueberries (SOUR ones, bleh), and almond butter. Trust me, there IS oatmeal under there!


And finally, another day I had overnight swiss oats with oatmeal, soymilk, soy yogurt, walnuts, and banana. For this bowl I don't think I added enough yogurt to drown out the uncooked oats taste, but it was still good. I added some agave nectar near the end to add some sweetness.

Easy-to-Chew Meals

For breakfast today I had quinoa flakes made with banana. I've never tried them with banana before because when I tried making oatmeal with banana a couple months ago, I really didn't like the taste.

But oh what I have been missing! Quinoa flakes with banana tastes so good! And it smells divine while cooking. I'll have to try oatmeal with banana again sometime to see if I like it now.

For lunch I made a thick veggie omelet and had a piece of toast (GF) on the side. (After the pic I prettied the toast with raspberry jam.)

My omelet made with Eggbeaters included shredded rice cheeze, cut up zucchini, green bell pepper (from our garden!), tomato, and spinach. Not bad!

Tomorrow I go back to the dentist to have my stitches taken out.

Raw Food Cooking

I bought a new cookbook at Borders this past week: Ani's Raw Food Kitchen by Ani Phyo. I have to say, I'm intrigued by the idea of eating more raw foods for health, energy, and mental clarity. I've noticed that I feel most inspired with writing ideas after I've eaten healthy foods. So I'm excited to try some of the recipes in my new book.

This morning I made her almond cinnamon oatmeal. The only thing is, we don't have oat groats, so I used regular rolled oats instead. Yes, that means the recipe wasn't completely raw (because rolled oats are cooked while processed), but oh well. At least I got the taste! And never fear - I plan on making a grocery list soon. :-)

Here's how it turned out:

The taste of it was very sweet. I substituted agave nectar for dates (because of course, we don't have any dates - I'll put them on the list!), and next time I don't think I'll use as much.

At first, I tried adding some soymilk to tone down the sweetness:

Then I tried it with a bit of almond butter (sorry, no pic). That worked better.

One thing I liked about this recipe was the cinnamon. I loooove lots of cinnamon in my oatmeal, and this definitely had an intense cinnamony flavor. Yum. I'll be making this again - hopefully next time with completely raw ingredients!

Thursday Love

[Note: This is a cross-post from my main blog.]

It’s Thursday. *Hearts* Thursday is my favorite day of the week because that means I have two whole glorious free days at home before I have to go to work again. On Fridays I have the thought looming over my head that the next day will be a long day in the office, but Thursdays I feel free.

I woke up this morning in the middle of a dream when my alarm clock went off at 6. Ugh. My stack of books next to my bed reminded me that I am WAY behind in reading for book club, which is TONIGHT, so I guess I had better get up and get a move on. Devotions this morning was very convicting, and I’ll leave it at that.

After taking a shower I decided to turn on my computer and start writing next week’s post for my column on the HSB Front Porch. I did a little bit of work on it, and then went downstairs to have a nectarine. I ate it outside in the garden. There is just something about fresh, early morning air that makes me feel at peace. I watched the sun rise up over our house, then I went back in.

Next I did some more computer stuff. When I felt hungry again, I made oatmeal which included: oats, oat bran, soymilk, ground flaxseed, lots of cinnamon, 1 tsp. maple flavoring (smells just like old fashioned maple donughnuts, which I used to love, but can’t have anymore), and agave nectar. I heated up some Bing cherries and had those on top.

As I assembled breakfast, I thought about the long list of things on my to-do list for today. What to do first? I don’t know! I need to go dump my brain. Be back later.

A Not-Hungry Kind of Morning

This morning I woke up around 6ish and kept opening and closing my eyes, trying to rest, but not fall back asleep. Last night I stayed up later than usual reading in bed. Not good, but I knew I had to get up, so I did and did devotions.

I finally got out of bed at 6:25 to take a shower. But instead of going downstairs afterwards, I stayed in my room getting ready for the day and listening to a sermon mp3. I didn't feel hungry for breakfast.

See, if I eat too late at night after dinner, I'll wake up in the middle of the night with a tummy ache. That's what happened last night. Sigh. In the morning my stomach will still be bothering me, hence the not hungry feeling.

At 7:30 I finally went downstairs and had something easy on digestion: a peeled nectarine. (I peeled it after the photo.)

By about 8:45 I knew I should have a real breakfast, even though I still didn't feel hungry, so I made quinoa flakes. Only as it turned out, we were completely out of bowls. They were all in the dishwasher. After searching the cupboards, I finally found our Bunnykins bowls! My sisters and I used these china bowls when we were toddlers! Such memories...

I just might have to use it every morning from now on.

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Here are some more food pics from yesterday that I just uploaded this morning:

Soy mint marble fudge ice cream with vegan chocolate pound cake (from Whole Foods)

Soy yogurt with fruit (bananas, blackberries, and grapes) and honey:

That's all for now!

Oat Bran

This morning I tried oat bran for breakfast for the first time. Mom and I got it on our last Whole Foods shopping trip. What did I think of it? Yum! I like anything smooth and creamy.


It ranks right up there with quinoa flakes...

2nd Breakfast

I already posted this on my other blog, but I'll post it here too. For breakfast yesterday I made a hot, bubbling pot of quinoa flakes and enjoyed that by myself on the couch before anyone else in my house was up. Yes, it's July 1st, but we're still having foggy cold mornings, so hot cereal works. It's cozy, and it reminds me of winter, which reminds me of Christmas!

By about 9:30, it was time for "2nd Breakfast!" (you have to say that phrase with an English accent just like Pippin - or was it Merry?) On Sunday I bought cherries at the farmers market, and I wanted to have them with oatmeal. So I made oatmeal with plain soymilk, ground flaxseed, cinnamon, and topped it with a cherry compote and a drizzle of agave nectar.

On the side of my plate in the pic below are some extra cherries that are kind of hidden by the bowl. I also have more compote in a bowl that's not pictured. I like being able to put it on when I want, so that not every bite is overloaded with fruit. Sometimes I like spoonfuls of plain oats in between bites of oats with fruit. It cleanses the palate!

Mmm, cherry goodness.

Jury Duty Day Breakfast

This bowl of oatmeal held me over well the first morning I had to go in for jury duty last week. Features oats, soymilk, cinnamon, fresh blueberries, banana, walnuts, and a drizzle of maple syrup. The weather was warm enough to eat outside!

Muesli Concoction

This morning I tried something new for breakfast: Muesli! We're finally getting some 80 degree weather here, so I was able to eat in the garden. Absolutely lovely. If I could, I would always eat outside.


My muesli concoction featured oats, soy yogurt, vanilla soymilk, cinnamon, blueberries, and raspberries. I also cut up a banana and threw some of it in as well. It helped with the sweetness.


My opinion? I actually didn't think it was that great. Even though I let the mixture of oats soak in the fridge the night before, I still didn't like the uncooked flavor of them the next morning. It might've helped to squeeze in a bit of honey, but I didn't feel like going back inside the cold house just for that.

It wasn't bad though, and I might try a different combo of ingredients sometime in the future.

My New Addiction

I think I might make oatmeal for breakfast every day for the rest of my life! Lol. This morning's "flavor" was apple cinnamon.

While my oatmeal stewed in its pot, I cooked half a cut up apple with 2 tbsp. water and a teaspoon or so of cinnamon.


The finished product:


I think the apples could've been cooked for a little longer than 10 minutes, but it was still good!

Oatie Goodness

Inspired by the blogger Jenna at Eat, Live, Run, I decided to make oatmeal on the stove for breakfast yesterday. Whenever I've made oatmeal in the past, I've made it in the microwave because it's quick. After yesterday though, I can't believe what I've been missing all these years! Oh the creamy, chewy goodness of oatmeal! I had no idea!

Here's how I made mine yesterday: I brought 1 cup of plain soymilk to a boil on the stove. Then I added 1/2 cup of oats and stirred occasionally for about ten minutes. Once almost all of the milk had reduced down, I added a teaspoon or so of cinnamon. That's it! Delicious.

French Toast and a Veggie Burger

For breakfast yesterday I made a yummy and healthy French toast recipe called "Decadent Strawberry-Cream Cheese Stuffed French Toast." Yes, it really was healthy and low fat! Ingredients below.

The stuffing consisted of tofu cream cheese, chopped fresh strawberries (from our garden!), and honey. I dipped the bread in a mixture of egg whites, vanilla soy milk, and vanilla. That's it. So simple and so good. French toast used to be my most favorite menu item whenever we went out to breakfast. So I was glad to find this dairy-free recipe.

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Here's what I had for lunch: A leftover tofu veggie burger from the other night with a tapioca rice flour bun spread with a touch of Veganaise.