My favourite breakfast

We love breakfast. Weekends are usually some kind of pancake, maybe a waffle. Friday night, the question is always, "What kind of pancake tomorrow?" And Greg will toss out an amazing flavour combo, and I'll make it happen. Lemon, coconut, blueberry, or pumpkin seed and bran, or dark chocolate cherry...During the week, breakfast is usually some sort of grain bowl with different flavours. Like our apple pie millet, pumpkin pie baked oats, chocolate chip coconut baked oats. Some inspired by others, like chocolatecoveredkatie.com, some our own invention. (Writing this already makes me excited for tomorrow morning!)

One of the week day favourites is cold oats. 

About five years ago, when I was pregnant with our second, my parents took us on a cruise. One of the best breakfast buffet features was an oatmeal bar with nuts, seeds, fresh and dried fruit and Bircher Muesli. My entire family loved it, and we'd load up a bowl with the Bircher, then pile on seeds, nuts, and fruit. We'd spend the rest of the morning wondering why we felt so awful. My brother called it seed belly, but researching Bircher Muesli on my return taught me it's made with cream and sugar.  Considering seeds never bother me and I eat them all the time, I'm guessing the richness of our "healthy" breakfast was the issue.

So, it inspired me to create what we lovingly call Cold Oats. We don't make it the night before like typical overnight oats, I just mix it up in the morning because we like the chewiness.

For 2 1/2 hearty servings (my 4-year old still doesn't eat much at breakfast)

1 cup rolled oats

1/2 cup milk of choice

1/2 cup applesauce, apple juice, orange juice or puréed pumpkin

1tsp vanilla

1tsp agave or maple syrup or honey

Cinnamon to taste

Options, vary at will

2 Tbsp pumpkin seeds

2 Tbsp raisins

2 Tbsp hemp seeds

1-2 Tbsp chia

2 Tbsp chopped pecans

Chocolate chips  to taste

Add more milk as desired, and serve!

I actually pull out a scoop before the options, because my four year old prefers it a little lighter. Just raisins, chocolate chips, and a tiny bit of hemp seed.

Kombucha!

I had the chance to attend a Kombucha making class mid January. For those who don't know, Kombucha is fermented tea. The class was just as I was recovering from our sick week, and likely a little healthy bacteria was exactly what I needed.

The class was put on by the lovely Raina Lutz, RHN, www.LutzNutrition.caShe opened the class by putting to rest the claims that Kombucha can cure everything, winning over RD Kelly (the other Kelly just wanted the tea and all its benefits, real or hoped). The great thing about Kombucha is that it is fermented, which means healthy probiotics proven to aid in digestion and enhance the immune system, among other things. More info on some of the research on kombucha can be found here and here. There is very little actual research on the tea.

After an hour of talking us through the process of brewing our own kombucha, Raina sent us home with our own SCOBY (Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast- it's the crazy looking thing in the picture of the jar of tea at the bottom of this post). I needed to get geared up, so promptly ordered a glass jug on Amazon, which arrived about 5 days later. Now it was time to get brewing!

My first batch was made with organic green tea and organic sugar. I let it ferment in a quiet closet for 9 days. At that point, the flavour was great, so I bottled it and left on the counter for 24 hours. I didn’t add any flavourings. It never fizzed up, but Raina was quick to reply to my emails and let me know that everything was probably ok. I added apple juice to one of the bottles and left it on the kitchen counter for another 24 hours, and put the rest in the fridge.

We are loving the tea- even my four year old ! It makes a great alternative to other sweetened drinks, and to their breakfast juice. I love that we’re getting a dose of healthy probiotics. My second batch, with black tea, is brewing right now, and I'm going to experiment with flavouring it this time. I also hope I can get the fizz this round.

Nut and seed clusters

I haven't posted a recipe in ages. Tonight, I was prepping for Monday morning, and I realized that one of the snacks I regularly make is a recipe! It's so quick and easy, I hadn't thought of sharing.

These clusters of nuts and seeds are a little sweet, a little salty, and there are lots of ways you can shake up the recipe. We've used them as a snack, or sprinkled on oatmeal.

2 cups any seeds or chopped nuts (I used hemp hearts, pumpkin seeds, pecans and almonds)

1 Tbsp brown sugar

1 Tbsp honey or agave

Dash salt

Dash cinnamon 

Splash of vanilla

Splash of water

Heat a pan on the stove. Add nuts and toast a little. Remove from heat, add everything else. Return to heat for a couple of minutes. Then transfer to a plate to cool. As it cools, break it into chunks the size you like.

I've also made these with cocoa powder or ginger. You could also do all seeds so it can go to school. A proper serving would be about 1/4 cup, but good luck with that. 

What I ate Wednesday

I decided to join in the fun for What I Ate Wednesday, inspired by www.peasandcrayons.com.

Our day here was extremely snowy, so after my breakfast of green tea and chocolate oats (an adaptation from www.chocolatecoveredkatie.com) I started the day shovelling.

We drove to school where I dropped my kids (older son to school, younger to our friends for the morning before preschool), then headed home. Because of all the snow, the car wouldn't go up the last hill, so I parked at the bottom and hiked up. 

I had a client scheduled for 10:00, so did some emailing and organizing before that. She ended up coming a half hour late because of the snow, and had to hike up the hill as well. I had nobody after, but was pretty hungry when she left.

Enjoyed a green smoothie, then tofu/cabbage/kale stir fry which looks bad, tasted great!

Then I headed out to the winter wonderland for an afternoon walk with my friend. Had a Starbucks decaf half sweet soy caramel macchiato on the stroll. 

 

Then I headed back to the school to get my older son. We had 40 minutes to kill before the younger son was getting dropped, so spent the time tobogganing at the school. Fortunately, the road was cleared on our way home, so I just had to shovel the driveway (which is an steep hill itself), before I could park the car.

We got inside and checked messages only to learn our weekly vegetable delivery also couldn't make it up the hill, so we had to pick it up at another location. Back in the car, now starving, we each had a little bag of Snappea crisps. I seemed to have one of my "reactions", but they were good and kept me from picking while I made supper. I also drank the rest of my green smoothie.

Um, too hungry for a picture before diving in. We had Chickpea Seitan patties, and Corn Salad (Mache) with a cashew dressing. The kids had carrots and mashed potatoes too.

The patties are from "The Great Vegan Bean Book". 

There's the leftover greens in my salad spinner.

Finished the day with oatmeal cookies.the recipe from the bag of oats. Old school with real sugar. I couldn't resist adding a scoop if hemp seeds...

That's it! I had planned a bike ride, but I'll be happy with a stretch before bed.

Valuing the time spent improving your health

No matter how busy things are, we always make time for good food and a workout. How? It seems almost impossible the way our society is. The number one complaint I hear from clients is that they are too busy to cook, or exercise.

Part of the problem is the value society places on being busy and stressed. It is more acceptable to work a 10 hour day then to leave after 8 to ensure you get a run in. People listen with approval when you describe your day of running to the school, to work, kids to lessons and back for an evening meeting. But there is a tone of luxury to somebody describing getting off at 5:00, taking a long run, then cooking supper and sitting as a family to enjoy it.

There are so many options for kids extra curricular activities as well, many people jump on board as many as possible, only to have the week become booked up and evenings becoming a juggling act for parents.

So what can we do? Number one, have a plan in place. Know what your meals are going to be for the week. Prepare ahead whatever you can, whenever you can. Look at your schedule for the week and decide where workouts fit in and where you will have time for an actual sit down meal.

Number two- Make food and exercise a priority. When committing to things outside of the usual work week, look at how it will affect your health. If your child wants to take dance lessons, and swimming and play hockey how will you fit in what you need to do for your meals and health? Choosing one, or choosing times that still allow you to fit in what you need can help. Maybe hockey for winter, swim and dance in the summer? Maybe there's a class that is right after school so that you can still be home at a decent hour?
If you're on a sub-committee at work that needs to meet after work hours- maybe the team can meet before work? Or after supper?

It is about priorities, and your health has to be a priority. We need to support those that do fit in daily exercise and healthy meals by showing respect for these choices and not saying, "You're so lucky to have time for that." It is a choice. And in the words of Edward Stanley in 1873 "Those who think they have not time for bodily exercise will sooner or later have to find time for illness." (I'd like to add preparing healthy food to that, but in 1873 I think most people still made their own meals.)

Musings from Sick Week

My older son and I were sick this past week and I spent nearly three days between bed and the couch. It amazes me that when we need to, we're able to clear a week for illness. We never do it just for fun, or to enjoy kids that are growing up too quickly, or to catch up on sleep. But once I realized I couldn't get out of bed and rescheduled everything for the week, I was able to devote myself to getting well and getting my son well, and keeping the other two safe. And the world didn't fall apart without me!

With all that time to think, I had some interesting revelations. For one, my need to eat fresh, homemade food all the time meant I had no soup for my recovery. Everyone should have a couple cans of soup or some frozen soup stashed away for a rainy day.

The second revelation is that we are always able to make time for illness, but are less willing to set time aside for wellness. Most people complain they are too busy to cook, or too busy to work out. We should treat these two things like doctors appointments, or meetings. Making fitness and healthy food a part of everyday life, and planning other items around them, has the potential to save you a lot of sick time in the future. I have a whole post planned to help you with this, and I'll get that up soon.

In the midst of sick week, my older son turned seven! And my Mum surprised him with a visit. Luckily we were improving by the weekend and able to have a little fun.

I used reduced beet juice to colour the angry bird! I will use a little food colouring for his party, which luckily was planned for next weekend!

2014

I've already talked about my love of resolutions and I actually think self improvement is fun.

Last year I decided to switch all my face and body products to natural. It has been great, except we bought a bunch of shampoo on sale just before I swore off it and I still have a couple bottles to get through. But I use baking soda for my deodorant, the oil cleansing method for my skin, Jason, Power Smile is my toothpaste of choice. (My skin has never felt better, you should check it out- www.theoilcleansingmethod.com)

This year, I had all my family members to send me their goals. They did, I celebrated. But have I sent them my resoultions? Nope, not yet. So I thought this post (before the shine of the new year fades) would be a good way for me to declare my intentions for 2014.

Career, family, wellness are the three areas I decided to set goals in.

Career: I'm going to advertise! I'm also going to try have set working hours/family hours so I'm not doing both (poorly) at once. It's not easy to draw the line when you're self employed, but as able I'm going to try. I'm also going to keep loving what I do. It's so amazing to spend my working hours talking about food and nutrition. I'm going to blog more regularly and make a few dietitian friends in Kelowna.

Family: Focus and be present with I'm with my kids. Ties into having set working hours, but I want to make eye contact when they're telling me something, not be checking messages.
I'm also lucky enough to have both of my grandmothers still. I'm going to send them a monthly letter, pictures, drawings the kids do. I'll pick up pretty stationary. Starting next month- they had two letters in December....

Wellness: I'm eating well, I love cooking, planning and finding new recipes to try. I'm going to keep trying new foods, new grains, new recipes.

I exercise regularly, but I need a goal on the horizon to increase my training. I'm going to run the Wine Country Half again, and I'd like to do a second half marathon as well. I would love to put together a team of clients and run a 10km with them or something too, stay tuned for more on that.

I don't sleep well, my mind ends up running through a hundred things as I try fall asleep. So I'm going to start by making a list of all the "to-do's" that pop into my head at bedtime, see if putting them on paper helps me sleep.

I'd also like to do more yoga, read at least one book a month, attend a conference, and give back to the community in some way...I'll post as it happens.

I think that's enough for now! I have a great feeling about 2014, and I wish you all a wonderful year! What are your goals for the upcoming year?

Resolve to drink more green smoothies?? Or work on those pecs?