Monday, July 18, 2011

Healthier Eating - New Breakfast!

I've been reading a few fitness and healthy eating blogs and have been inspired to attempt to make more of my own meals and vary what I'm eating. 


Here's one breakfast dish that I’m going to work into my diet a few times a week.  It’s really easy to make and contains a good amount of insoluble fiber, Omega 3s (see my recipe), and even some protein. 


Overnight Oatmeal


There are a lot of recipes for Overnight Oatmeal on the internet and I don’t think you can really mess it up, but I based my recipe on one that I read about on Peanut Butter Runner.  I think her dishes look a lot more appealing than mine, but I'm still learning!  Here's what I used:
  • 1/3 cup regular oatmeal
  • 1/3 cup almond milk (You could use any kind of milk, but I’m partial to Blue Diamond’s Unsweetened Vanilla, which has 1 gram of fiber for 8 oz., but only 40 calories.)
  • 1/3 cup plain Greek yogurt (You could probably use any flavor you like, but I like buying plain so I can use it in place of sour cream or add honey, granola, and fruit to it to make a different type of breakfast dish.)
  • ½ diced banana
  • 1 Tablespoon Flax Seeds (You could skip these.  However, 1 Tablespoon contains only 35 calories, but a whole 4 grams of fiber and a lot of Omega 3s.  I just happened to have a bag in the cupboard waiting to be used.)
  • Dried cranberries (You could probably try any dried fruit here.  I'd suggest dicing up any larger dried fruits, like mango or apricot.)
  • Cinnamon
  • Any other fruit that’s in season (I added blueberries, but you could experiment.  I’m thinking about shredding up some apple next time.)
Put all of these ingredients in a covered container, stir, and leave in the fridge overnight.  In the morning the oatmeal will be nice and soft.  You can add other things if you wish, like nuts, other fresh fruit, coconut…the sky’s the limit!  I’ve been adding a tablespoon of Trader Joe’s Mango Butter, but you could also add any other kind of jelly or jam or even some more milk. 

This makes one serving, but if I'm eating it on the weekend (when I'm not rushing to get to work) I like to have half of it first thing when I get up and then the second half of it after a workout (if I head out right away to exercise) or right before I leave the house (if I've been puttering around for a while). 


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