Antioxidant Smoothie

I've been eating Oats for breakfast for a long long time. Quite a few months actually. So this morning I decided to change it up a little bit. I decided that an antioxidant rich smoothie would be a perfect pick-me-up to start the day on a strong note. And it was ... !!! 

Prep Time: 5 min

Ingredients (Serves 1):

1. 2/3 cup Almond Milk (Chilled)
2. 2/3 Medium Banana, preferably frozen
3. 3 oz Red Raspberries (fresh, half pack)
4. 6-8 Medium Strawberries (fresh)
5. 1/3 cup Blueberries (frozen)
6. 2 tbsp Non-Dairy Chocolate Chips
7. 1/2 tbsp Chia Seeds

Directions:

Blend almond milk, banana, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries and chocolate chips together until smooth. Add Chia seeds and mix well. Pour and enjoy!! 

Nutrition Facts (Per Serving): Calories 281 (Fat Calories 9.2)
Total Fat 9.2 g; Carbohydrates 51.7 g; Fiber 10.2 g; Sugars 30.5 g; Protein 5.5 g

Salted Brownie Baked Oatmeal

So I'm on an oatmeal kick this weekend and I've found just the site to help me through it .. The Oatmeal Artist. A whole blog just dedicated to oatmeal. I tried one of her recipes yesterday (Poached Pear Oats) and so in my quest to find another great recipe I went back to her site this morning!! 

Salted Brownie Baked Oatmeal

Adapted from: Salted Brownie Baked Oatmeal, The Oatmeal Artist

Prep Time: 40 min

Ingredients (Serves 1):

1. 1/2 cup Old-Fashioned (Rolled) Oats
2. 1/3 cup Apple Sauce
3. 1/3 cup Unsweetened Almond milk
4. 1/4 tsp Vanilla Extract
5. 4 tsp Cocoa Powder
6. 1/4 tsp Baking Powder
7. 1 tbsp Dark Molasses
8. 1 tbsp Pecans/Almonds/Cashews
9. One large pinch of coarse Kosher/Sea Salt

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 F.  I used a Pyrex 'Ramekin style' Soup dish since I wasn't sure how much this mix was going to rise. I should have just used a single serving ramekin dish as the rise was not super high, just enough to form a nicely rounded crust. I sprayed the dish with non-stick spray and then used a dry paper towel to wipe off all the excess, leaving a thin film all around the dish. Mix wet ingredients in a large bowl and then add the dry ingredients. Mix well. The original recipe did not call for any sweeteners and although I don't like my oatmeal to be super sweet, I do like some sweetness, especially in chocolate based dishes. I added an extra tbsp of molasses. And I added a tbsp of crushed pecans to add some crunch to this dish. Transfer contents of the bowl to the greased dish, sprinkle with a pinch of coarse salt. I wasn't sure if the original recipe called for covered, or uncovered baking, so I just baked it uncovered. I started with 20 min at 350 F and since it was still too runny, I baked it for another 10 min. I might have taken extra time as my dish was more deep than wide. The original recipe calls for 18-25 min. 

My Assessment: I liked it. But it felt more like I was eating dessert for breakfast. I've never been that person who eats chocolate for breakfast so I was skeptical to begin with, but tried it nevertheless. I think I will definitely have this again, but more as a dessert than as a breakfast cereal. 

Nutrition Facts (Per Serving): Calories 323 (Fat Calories 91)
Total Fat 10.1 g; Carbohydrates 57.4 g; Fiber 8.1 g; Sugars 19.8 g; Protein 7.4 g

Update: July 28, 2013: I baked this tonight as a combined dinner/dessert since we were both feeling lazy this Sunday evening. I made a double batch, split into 2 shallow ramekin style dishes. Once baked, I layered each one with fresh sliced strawberries for an even more appetizing look. 

Even Tony, the self-professed Oatmeal hater cleaned up his dish. Call anything a brownie ;) and he'll eat it!! The fresh strawberries (about 1/3 of a cup/dish) only add 15 additional calories but make for a very decadent dessert, that is filling enough to be a supper. 

Overnight Chia Chocolate Oats

I've been moving away from my beloved spinach smoothie for a few weeks and concentrating on eating more whole grains for breakfast and have gravitated towards Old Fashioned Oats. I can eat them cold after soaking them overnight, I can heat them in the microwave for 3 minutes and still have a nice chewiness remain in my bowl of hot cereal. Adding the chia seeds also adds a little bit of crunch which is great in the morning (at least for me!). It's a win-win situation!

Overnight Chia Chocolate Oats

Prep Time: 5 min

Ingredients (1 Serving):

1. 1/2 cup Old Fashioned Oats
2. 1 tbsp Chia seeds
3. 1/2 tsp Raw Cocoa Powder (unsweetened)
4. 3/4 cup Silk Pure Almond Unsweetened Almond milk
5. 1 banana (sliced)
6. 4-6 Strawberries, sliced
7. Maple Syrup (optional, to taste)

Directions:

Soak oats, chia seeds and cocoa powder in almond milk overnight. In the morning, mix well, and add sliced banana and berries. If you prefer a warm cereal like me, microwave the overnight mixture with a half a sliced banana for 3 minutes on high. Remove, mix well until the mushy banana is well mixed with the oats (this imparts a lot of sweetness i.e. you don't need to use maple syrup). Then add the remainder of the banana and sliced strawberries. Enjoy!

Nutrition Facts (Per Serving): Calories 559 (Fat Calories 130)
Total Fat 14.4g; Carbohydrates 94.0g; Dietary Fiber 18.6g; Sugars 20.5g; Protein 16.4g

Flax Seed Chocolate Oats

We haven't been grocery shopping in a few days. Last night, I realized I had no almond milk for my morning smoothie and since I'm addicted to my Red, White & Blue Smoothie, I couldn't imagine changing it up by making it in water. Frankly, the thought of making a smoothie without some kind of nut-milk to add smoothness was somewhat revolting. I polled the New Herbies page on Facebook on what to make for breakfast and the recurring response was Oats, in water. While that seemed somewhat revolting at first, I slowly warmed up to the idea and finally around 11pm last night I went back into the kitchen and soaked some Old Fashioned Oats in water to make overnight oats.  

Flax Seed Chocolate Oats

Prep Time: 5 min

Ingredients (1 serving):

1. 1/2 cup Old Fashioned Oats
2. 1 cup water
3. 1 tbsp Ground Flax Seed Meal
4. 1 tsp Unsweetened Cocoa
5. 1 Banana, sliced 
6. 4-6 Strawberries, sliced
7. 1 tbsp Maple Syrup (optional). 

Directions:

.. just out of the microwave!

Soak oats in water overnight. Transfer to a microwave-safe bowl, add ground flax seeds, cocoa and half of the sliced banana and microwave on high for 3 minutes. Remove from the microwave, allow to cool for a couple of minutes, mix well and top off with the rest of the sliced banana and strawberries. The banana cooked into the oats provided ample sugar for me, but if you like it sweeter, drizzle a tablespoon of pure maple syrup on top! Enjoy!! 

My Assessment: Compared to my usual breakfast of a spinach smoothie with Chia seeds, this breakfast was loaded with nutrition and substance too. I loved the chocolate mixed in with the flax seed meal. It also kept me full for quite a while more than the smoothie does. I've been meaning to move away from drinking my calories for a while and this seems like a great substitute, although I might decide back-off some on the flax seed meal because of its fat content. Its all good fats, but it does add to my caloric intake which I'm trying to limit these days. 

Nutrition Facts (Per Serving): Calories 365 (Fat Calories 97)
Total Fat 10.8g; Cholesterol 0g; Carbohydrates 63.6g; Dietary Fiber 11.6g; Sugars 18.8g; Protein 10.0g

3 Rice, 3 Berry, 3 Herb Salad

Summer Days call for chilled salads, Summer Days are Berry Days, and Summer Days are Fresh Herb Days as well. We had a 3x Birthday party in the family today and I wanted to make sure I had a plant-based dish to take along. I wanted to try Chef AJ's Quinoa Salad with Currants and Pistachios - but our niece is allergic to nuts and I wasn't sure if she'd ever been tested for Quinoa. But now, my mind was hooked on to memory of that salad :) !!! I decided to make a variation of it. Here's what I came up with. 

3 Rice & 3 Berry Salad

Prep Time: Overall 30 min, or so in 2 stages.

Ingredients: 

1. 1/2 cup White Basmati Rice
2. 1/2 cup Brown Basmati Rice
3. 2-3 tbsp Long grain Wild Rice
4. 2-3 tbsp Raisins
5. 1 cup fresh Red Raspberries
6. 1 cup fresh Blackberries
7. 1 cup fresh Strawberries
8. 2 tbsp Agave Syrup, or Honey
9. 1/8 cup Soy milk
10. 2 tbsp fresh chopped Basil, 
11. 2 tbsp fresh chopped Mint 
12. 2 tbsp fresh chopped Oregano

Directions: 

Boil rice, all 3 kinds together, in ample amounts of water until tender. Add the raisins to the boiling water for the last 2 minutes (this helps plump them up!). Drain and spread thinly on a cookie sheet and put in the refrigerator for 30 minutes (chill completely). Meanwhile wash and drain berries and slice strawberries and set aside. Put Agave syrup (or honey) in a small microwave safe bowl with the non-dairy milk and heat for 10 seconds to dissolve it in the milk. Once rice is chilled, move to a mixing bowl, add agave/milk mixture and toss well. Add chopped herbs and berries and give a final toss. Do a quick taste check - the rice should be just slightly sweet - add more 'agave in milk' if needed.

Cover and chill until ready to serve. The longer it sits, the better the flavors combine - the berry flavors and juices penetrate the rice, the herbs release their essential oils and flavor the rice and the berries! This is a salad where the wonderful aromas invite you to dig in.

My Assessment:  Loved it. What's not to like! The family liked it too :)

Red, White & Blue Smoothie

For the past few weeks, I've started my day with a Green Smoothie. I've given up my morning coffee (although I still drink a couple of cups of tea a day). Its a super-refreshing start to the day and I love knowing that I'm starting the day with a boost of antioxidants and vitamins and minerals. Here's my standard single-serve recipe. Today's patriotic version is full of Red, White and Blue goodness!! 

I typically make it in a tumbler that I can take in the car with me. For the first couple of weeks, I used a stick blender which works just great if the fruit is fresh. For the last week, I've used my new Ninja Pro Blender, which comes with 2 single-serve blender cups/tumblers. The Ninja works great with frozen fruits as well and is much quicker. 

Red, White & Blue (Green) Smoothie

Mix Red Strawberries (4-6 pieces), White Almond Milk (1/2 cup) and Blueberries (10-15 pieces) in a tumbler with one pitted date (optional) and fill the rest of the tumbler (between 1/2 to 3/4) with Baby Spinach. Add ice, if needed. Blend and Enjoy!! Happy Independence Day!!!

Recipe Update (December 12, 2012): For an especially nutty flavor, add 2 tbsps of Chia Seeds to the smoothie. Umm Umm good!

Farmer's Market Smoothie

Our Amish neighbors from just down the road (The Yoders) opened a farmer's market about a mile from our house a couple of weeks ago. I've been wanting to stop by ever since it opened but they close at 5pm on weekdays :( and when we stopped by last Saturday afternoon, he had already packed up shop as they close at 4pm on Saturdays. Being Amish, Norman doesn't open shop on Sunday. I was determined to stop there this weekend. For those of you who live in countries and cities where farmer's markets are common and food doesn't come from a supermarket, you can't even begin to imagine how excited I was to have this one open less than a mile from the house. Li'l Nikhil and I showed up at Norman's barn shack in the BP Parking lot bright and early this morning. It is early days in the growing season yet so he didn't have a huge variety but what he did have ... looked lovely!! Among other things like fresh tomatoes, zucchini and spring onions, I picked up a large basket of fresh strawberries ... 

... and some ready to eat ripe and fragrant peaches ... 

On my way home, which is barely a mile, I could smell the lovely flavor of the peaches in the car (yes, I was salivating at the thought of eating them!) ... and I started dreaming of what recipe I could use both the peaches and the strawberries for, because I couldn't just eat one ;-) ... now every fruit based (breakfast or dessert) I know of drowns fruit in sugar and in my opinion that ruins it completely. You lose the multitude of flavors that are in the fruit itself and I didn't want to ruin these lovely babies :) I also didn't want to eat them just as is cause that's just boring ;-) So I decided to make .. a Farmer's Market Smoothie!!

Prep Time: less than 5 min.

Ingredients:

1. 1/2 cup strawberries, rinsed and halved.
2. 1 medium ripe peach, washed and sliced, with skin
3. 1/4 cup frozen blueberries
4. 2-4 large leaves of Spearmint and a sprig for garnishing.
5. 1/4 cup almond milk, or regular milk if you prefer.

Directions:

I used a stick blender and make my smoothie in the large 3-cup measuring cup that came with the blender, but its just as easy to make this in a regular jar blender. Add everything to the blender puree until smooth. This recipe made a single (2-cup) serving. 

My Assessment: A+++ for breakfast!! I really enjoyed it.  

Some Additional Comments: 

• Next time, I'm going to include some green veggies in my smoothie as well. Kale and Spinach come to mind first as I've heard so much about green smoothies lately. So I'm going to be trying a few new variations soon. 
• Since I used frozen blueberries and refrigerated milk, I didn't add any ice to my smoothie, but ice can be used just as easily. I also didn't want to dilute the flavors with water/ice. 
• I used spearmint leaves because that is what I had growing in my herb garden. If you have regular mint that should work just as well. 
• I also didn't add any sugar or syrup to this smoothie for the same reasons as listed above (ruins the flavors) and because I am not a huge fan of super-sweet drinks in general. Feel free to use some sugar or honey, if you prefer. 
• And finally, I made this smoothie today with peaches and strawberries and blueberries because that is what I had on hand. Feel free to blend away whatever fruits you have on hand to make this Farmer's Market Smoothie for a refreshing antioxidant boost :)