99% of the time, my breakfast during the week is steel cut oats. On Sunday, I make a pot of them and once they cool I divide it up into 5 containers so I have one for each week day morning. I usually switch it up by putting apples in them one week, cranberries another, raisins another, or sometimes berries. This week is a combo of cranberry and apple. For those of you that have never tried steel cut oats you really do not know what you are missing! They are not the pile of mush your grandma used to feed you when you were two. Depending on how long you cook them, you can leave them pretty firm or make them more tender. I like them with some chewiness to them. I always put cinnamon in the pot when I'm cooking them too. Yum!
I wanted to be prepared with snacks today. We were doing interviews for nearly four hours for a new faculty member today. Since I'm on the interview committee I knew I'd be tied up. Alberta did bring in a big pot of white bean chicken chili that was to die for though! I've asked for the recipe so once she gets it to me I will be sure to share! Anyway, this is what my desk looked like this morning:
Blueberries (my boss brought them in for me), an apple, a tangelo and a Trio bar. Have you ever tried Trio bars? I know I said I was getting away from packaged stuff but man these are good! They are called Trio because each bar has 3 kinds of fruit, 3 kinds of nuts and 3 kinds of seeds. Yes, they are a little high in calories at 260 and 16 grams of fat, but those are good wholesome calories and a great way to get a good supply of those needed fats in your diet once in a while. Speaking of fats, this was another one of my prepared snacks:
For those of you that know me, you know that I LOVE peanut butter!!! I absolutely love it! However, I'm trying to get away from the choosy mom kind and Skippy and moving on to natural peanut butter. I know it is a lot better for me because it doesn't have sugar or other oils added. It is kind of messy when you first open the jar and have to stir it up, but it is still really tasty. And yes, you do have to refrigerate it or else it will go rancid too fast! If you stir in the oil though, it really doesn't get too hard in the refrigerator. Give it a shot and see what you think! This bag of celery from Costco is SUPER crunchy so it was quite a treat with the peanut buttery goodness!
I ended up only eating the blueberries, apple and celery so I still have the tangelo and Trio bar for tomorrow.
Dinner was another creation. Gerald ended up getting to come in from the mine for a few days because someone stole their ramp so they can't load the miners at echo cove right now. I was excited to get to try my new creation out on him but I think he was a little weary when I told him I was making spaghetti squash. He had never even heard of it much less had it. It is a great substitute for pasta! Stick it in the microwave whole for about a minute and a half. Take it out and cut it in half lengthwise. Scrape out the guts and put it face down on a plate with a little water on it. Microwave it for about 12-13 minutes and then scrape it out with a fork. Soooo good! While the squash was cooking, I cooked some extra lean ground turkey and stirred in diced up red onion, red, yellow and orange bell peppers, a heaping spoon of garlic, pepper, Mrs. Dash (tomato basil flavor) and some rosemary. Once the peppers were tender I added 4 diced up tomatoes (I don't like really mushy cooked tomatoes so by adding them later they don't turn to yuck!). I let it cook for about 10 minutes. I also steamed some broccoli. Overall, it turned out quite satisfying and I didn't miss the pasta at all! Gerald actually put his turkey/pepper/tomato mixture on his spaghetti squash and stirred it in just like he was eating a plate of spaghetti. Now I need to start thinking about what I'm going to cook tomorrow!
We discovered spaghetti squash when we started eating healthy and it became a favourite.
ReplyDeleteAs for breakfasts, my husband buys a tub of plain yoghurt, puts it in a bowl and adds some squashed berries and a couple of cups of raw oatmeal, mixes it up and puts it back in the tub and the left overs in a cup. In the morning I'll set out a cup of his parfait for him to grab for breakfast. It makes such a big difference having food like that prepared.
I like that breakfast idea too Laura! What ways do you cook spaghetti squash? Do you have a favorite recipe with it? I'd love to use it more!
ReplyDeleteMichelle, do you put dried fruit or fresh fruit in the oatmeal?
ReplyDeleteI almost always use fresh fruit. However, I do use dried cranberries on occasion but you have to be careful with those because they are sugar loaded! It isn't easy to find fresh cranberries year round in Juneau though. Frozen berries are a good choice but I think fresh apples are my favorite.
ReplyDeleteAwesome Michelle! We live off of winter squash during the winter. for Spag. Sq. we bake it (same result as the microwave) then I scape it into a large fry pan. I add butter (real!) and dried dill, garlic and sometimes a pinch of chili flakes. Saute until warm and covered completely with butter. We will often cook a huge squash and put it in the fridge for quick deserts (butter, brown sugar and walnuts) or squash pudding (think pumpkin pie filling without the crust).
ReplyDeleteThose squash ideas sound delicious Marci! I have a spaghetti squash on my counter at home right now so maybe I will try your idea out with the dill!
ReplyDeleteSquash seems so expensive to me up here so I don't buy it as often as I would like to. I guess I just need to get over that and do it!