Okay, today was a wash. It was Eva’s first day of school, ever, and I was very emotional and distracted. No juicing this morning, and no egg white omelet. I did grab a whole grain English muffin with some Smart Balance spread, and after the girls were safely at preschool, made my way to the health food store to stock up on organic baking supplies and fresh produce. I bought a few things I haven’t tried before, including an unusual looking head of lettuce and some rainbow chard. I even almost bought beets, but I have so much produce in the hosue right now I need to go through it first. After picking up the girls from school, it was almost one by the time I got home, so I had a slice and half of leftover pizza (with banana peppers and anchovies). And for dinner we ate out at Ivy Lane (Date Night!), so I had my favorite: avocado blinis with this yummy crabmeat sauce on top. The entire day was a disaster. Tomorrow I will start fresh, by juicing the cucumbers I just bought (Tracy Anderson says they are amazing for your skin, plus I love them), making another omelet, and starting fresh. I am trying to remember what Mark Bittman just said in the Bon Appetit article this month: A single meal doesn’t count, or even a single day, or a single week. It’s about the fact that you are making better choices, overall, then you used to. And I know that, most days, I am.
So for you, Andrea, and to get myself back on track, here’s my recipe for Overnight Oatmeal. It’s ridiculously easy to make, you can find countless variations online and in that favorite cookbook of mine, Not Your Mother’s Slow Cooker Cookbook, and you can use virtually any type of grain to make it, from steel cut oatmeal to rolled oats to millet to quinoa. You use a small, round slow cooker, which is so cheap to buy and easy to store. Add the appropriate amount of liquid – I use a combination of water and a can of evaporated milk, but regular milk works too – and whatever you want to season it with. Pure maple syrup and organic honey work very well, but you could add agave nectar, cinnamon, dried fruit, nuts, whatever you want. It’s so easy and so yummy! And there’s nothing better than waking up to a hot, healthy breakfast, ready and waiting for you. I don’t know why most oatmeal recipes call for you to make it with salt and water. Yuck. For oatmeal to be yummy, it needs sweetening and it needs milk. Here are a couple of my favorite recipes:
Creamy Oatmeal with Dried Fruit (from Not Your Mother’s Slowcooker Cookbook)
1 cup steel cut oats
2/3 cup dried tart chaeries or sweetened dried cranberries
1/3 cup chopped dried figs
1/3 cup chopped dried apricots
4 1/2 cups water
1/2 cup half and half or evaporated milk
Honey or maple syrup, to taste (my addition)
Combine all ingredients in slow cooker. Cover and cook on low for 8 to 9 hours or overnight.
Brown Rice Farina with Dried Fruit
1 cup Bob’s Red Mill Brown Rice Farina
4 cups water
1 can of evaporated milk
Honey, to taste
Dried chopped fruit (I used a combination of cranberries and apples)
Combine all ingredients in the slow cooker. Cook overnight on low. This comes out very creamy and fluffy and almost custardy. I just put it in a Tupperware and reheated some every morning, and it lasted me a week. It was soooo good! I am still perfecting the quantities, but there are some guidelines on the package. You can also make it on the stovetop!
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