Only Oatmeal (Raisin) Protein muffins

This is another of my experiments. The family is complaining there is nothing for breakfast. Well, I researched oatmeal protein muffins and developed this. Should have 7-8 grams protein per muffin, low fat, about 150 calories. I haven't finished baking them yet but they smell delightful.

Preheat oven to 350. Prepare muffin pans for about two dozen muffins.

In a small bowl, combine about 1 cup grape nuts and one-half cup skim milk. Stir and set aside.

In a large bowl mix:

- 1 cup homemade unsweetened applesauce, now I used pear sauce because that's what I had

- 3 eggs

- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

- 1 tablespoon honey

- 1 tablespoon blackstrap molasses 

- 5 cups old fashioned oats

- at least 1 tablespoon cinnamon 

- 1 tablespoon baking powder

- 3 scoops protein powder (I used vanilla whey)

- 3 cups skim milk

- 1 cup raisins (I don't pack them as raisins are super dense in sugar)

- add the grape nuts

- mix and add 1 teaspoon pink Himalayan salt

Bake about 30 minutes for small muffins, 40 for large

The flavor is more plain than I expected and the mouth feel is a tad chewy. Not bad but the kid may require jelly on them.

Winter Omelette

Another Snow Day.

So I made omelettes with a side of butternut squash "home fries."

The omelette (for 3)

- 4 eggs, some water

- 3 tablespoons bleu cheese

- 2 ultra thin slices of colby jack

- more than 1 cup spinach (maybe 2)

- about 1 cup peppers

- 2/3 cup dark meat chicken

- garlic pepper

- paprika 

Served with Bolthouse Farms blue cheese yogurt dressing.

The butternut squash... About 2 cups fried in 1 tablespoon butter, drizzled with 1 tablespoon maple syrup and sprinkled with cinnamon.

Hot Grape Nuts Goop

I was shopping the other day and I found a coupon on Cartwheel for Grape Nuts. I used to eat hot Grape Nuts all the time! 

1/2 cup grape nuts cereal

A touch of honey 

Milk 

Heat for 90 seconds in the microwave.

Today I added 1/2 cup fresh raspberries and some cinnamon. 

A great low fat breakfast full of iron, protein and vitamin C.

Strawberry cheesecake smoothie

- about 2 ounces cranberry pomegranate juice

- about 1 1/2 cups frozen strawberries

- a tablespoon cream cheese

- a tablespoon chia seeds

- a scoop vanilla cream whey protein powder

- enough water to lubricate it

Before school

School days are taking on tween drama in this house. The bus, scheduled to come at 7:29, really comes at 7:21. 

Child has started refusing our typical breakfast options or making those lovely faces of disgust. Plus she's now having dizzy spells-- something she inherits from her father-- from not drinking enough. It's always been a struggle to get her to drink in the winter. She's not hot & sweaty so she doesn't think she's thirsty.

Today, I let her have a bowl of Rice Krispies (leftover from making Christmas candy) and skim milk (which I bought to make myself matcha lattes). I served this on the side:

Apples with peanut butter, raisins & mini chocolate chips.

New banana protein smoothie

While smoothies and protein powder certainly shouldn't be the mainstay of the family diet, I need the supplements right now because the amount if protein I consume doesn't get close to what the guidelines suggest for a person trying to build muscle.

I bought Pure Protein vanilla cream whey powder at Target. Certainly not as wholesome as the products I've been trying from the natural food store but economical. I started blending it with skim milk and a banana, in part because I bought real cow milk to play with my matcha powder I got for Christmas.

I also started putting honey ginger crystals in my smoothie for some zing. 

Today I tried this:

- 1 cup (maybe 1 1/4, not sure) skim milk

- 1 banana 

- 1 scoop protein powder

- 1/2 serving Prince of Peace honey ginger crystals

- 1 heaping tablespoon matcha

The ginger level was almost perfect, maybe a tiny bit strong, and in my opinion the matcha could have been doubled but I love matcha.

Weight training smoothie

It's 9:20 a.m. and between the cold weather, the everyday aches and pains of this body and PMS, my diet has consisted of too much Halloween candy and too many potato chips.

My fitness goals have been challenged by the cold snap and my unheated work out space coupled with ankle pain that may be related to my cerebral palsy and/or preliminary phases of arthritis. 

So today I brought some weights inside. I did 20 minutes of yoga for abs and 15 or so of lower body yoga. I'd never done that routine. The results were indeed awkward. I added to that 15 minutes of upper body free weights while watching an old episode of ER and ended up getting more reps than usual in because I enjoyed watching TV.

I "rewarded" myself with a breakfast smoothie, vegan:

 It's sweeter than I expected. I used 4 ounces coconut water with pulp, 4 ounces very vanilla silk soy milk, one tablespoon unsalted organic almond butter from Wegmans (a friend hates it and passed it off to be knowing I do love almond butter in all shapes, sizes and varieties), a banana, and Biochem Sports vegan protein powder in vanilla.

Makes me feel stronger already.

Raw strawberry almond balls

I made a mess of the kitchen. I may have broken the food processor. I didn't eat enough and am now suffering weakness, dizzyness and shakiness... But these were worth it.

My plan was to make homemade granola and put it in my breakfast yogurt.

It's 11:45. So that didn't happen.

I haven't made granola in so long I forgot the sugar and I didn't add my secret ingredient (black strap molasses). I have presented my granola in many forms on this blog so I'm only posting a photo.

But what got me completely sidetracked was homemade protein snacks... Like Larabars. Only I make balls. 

The basic mix is 1 part nuts to 2 parts fruit. Typically 1 of the fruit parts is dates. 

I purchased Baroody pressed and pitted dates at the Turkish store in Allentown for this project almost a month ago. It was $2.99 for 500 grams. And vacuum sealed so it was shelf stable. Not that dates ever last long enough in my house to rot.

I took about 1.5 cups raw almonds and ground them in the food processor. I placed those aside and mixed the following fruits in the food processor:

- 1/3 cup dates

- 1/2 cups raisins

- about 1/4 cup golden raisins and dried cherries

- about 1 cup dried strawberries

Now by the time this got mixed, the food processor was unhappy. So instead of putting the nuts back in with the fruit, I kneaded them into the fruit like working with bread dough.

Them I formed into balls. Golf ball size. Refriderate. About 125 calories each.

Baked French Toast with Blueberries

I won't be home for dinner tonight and I saw some odds and ends around the kitchen that needed to be consumed. Eggs. Bread. Yogurt. We have fresh berries and those need eatin' quick.

So I prepped baked French toast. This will sit in the fridge and be baked uncovered at 350 for 40 minutes. This is a small portion. Serves 3 but the portions are not large.

I hope my family saves me some. I'm not sure how the yogurt will work out.

In a bread loaf pan, that I heartily greased with butter, I layered two slices of cinnamon raisin bread and then blueberries and a bit of brown sugar. Maybe two tablespoons. I had three layers of bread and two layers of blueberries.

Now the "sauce" I added to every layer as well. It went something like this:

- four eggs

- nutmeg

- ground cloves

- an ounce or two of half and half 

- about a cup very vanilla soy milk

- about 1/3 cup plain yogurt

Whisk. The yogurt may be a mistake. We'll see.

My husband baked it for 40 minutes at 350 and it turned out delightful. Though the child did not care for it. But she ate hers.

Peanut butter banana smoothie for two

This peanut butter banana smoothie turned out to be a delight.

For two people, throw in the blender:

- two bananas

- about four ounces coconut water with pulp

- about two tablespoons peanut butter

- about one cup plain yogurt

- one packet carnation breakfast essentials vanilla

A little bit of everything thing

Last night I walked to the neighborhood "corner store," a place full of candy and oddities.

I got a soursop smoothie that child and I split as part of our massive but healthy breakfast before she heads out to the amusement park with her grandparents.

This coupled with big glasses of water and the following constituted our "this might be all the fruits and veggies you get for the day" breakfast:

- medjool dates 

- half a banana, sliced in banana split fashion to serve as bread for peanut butter and imported Turkish "crushing nuts" with honey (crushed nuts = pistachio, hazelnut, apricot kernel and peanuts)

- salad tacos, both with one six inch flour tortilla and about 1/2 cup of iceberg garden salad mix and 1/2 cup green and crisp salad mix and about 3/4 ounce Bulgarian feta. Hers had Annie's Goddess dressing. Mine had hummus.

Kitchen sink breakfast smoothie

We had a lot of random odds and ends in the house so I made a breakfast smoothie out of all of them.

Last night I ground some soaked raw almonds in the food processor and a topping for my yogurt. When you see ground almonds as an ingredient that is what I used,

This was tasty and milder than I expected.

In the blender:

- one very ripe banana

- 1/2 cup unsweetened homemade applesauce

- 6 fresh strawberries

- 3/4 cup ground almonds 

- 1/4 cup black chia seeds 

- 1/2 cup unsweetened soy milk

- 3/4 cup plain yogurt

- 1/2 cup organic unsweetened cranberry juice

- 1 packet vanilla carnation instant breakfast powder

Serves 2

Recreating breakfast

Nearly everyday that we were in Djibouti, my traveling companion (M) and I visited the juice bar at Cafeteria Sana'a a couple blocks from our hotel. It was normal a late morning break, usually after our second walk around the city. 

Around 7:30 a.m., we'd have breakfast on the porch of our hotel, a cup of café crême with a big cube of sugar accompanied by a basket of baguette slices and a couple croissants. The plates that came with the basket had a dollop of strawberry jelly and a large pat of butter. With my recovering broken hand, sometimes the butter started too cold to manipulate but within seconds it literally would begin to melt.

After this breakfast, we'd walk. With temperatures at 90 degrees F (even that early) and humidity around 85 percent, it didn't take long to find ourselves drenched in our own perspiration. We'd return to our hotel to drink a liter of water and let ourselves dry out and then we'd repeat. 

On the second morning tour, we capped everything off with a juice from Cafeteria Sana'a. 

The first day I ordered ginger juice. I thought, since gastro-international issues can pop up during travels in Africa, ginger would help keep my insides healthy. It was fabulous. Spicy and zesty and refreshing, even 20 minutes later still walking around in the heat that ginger juice left and incredibly pleasant taste in my mouth.

The next visit they had run out of ginger. This afternoon, they said. I was heartbroken so I let M order me a mango. It was delightful but lacked the zip and surprise of the ginger.

We returned the next day. No ginger. Maybe tomorrow, they said. I ordered "melon." I had no idea what type of melon to expect. I'm not a huge melon fan, but isn't the point of traveling to expand your horizons and be adventurous? Would it be watermelon? Honeydew?

Cantaloupe. Served in a frozen mug. Not as breathtaking as ginger but a flavor I soon learned to crave after an hour or two in the hot sun. That day we had a second juice, lemon. Our server offered us lemon with mint, something not on the board, but at this point we may have become regulars. This became M's pick.

The final trip to the juice bar we ordered large juices instead of regular. Still no ginger. So I stayed with my melon.

And today I made a breakfast that incorporates all of these taste memories:

- Take and bake Archer Farms baguette with Brie from Aldi and a chunk with butter.

- Simply Balanced green tea with ginger.

- Cantaloupe juice

My first attempt at my own cantaloupe juice smoothie included about 2 cups cantaloupe and 1/2 cup water in the blender. Suitable, but lacked the frozen mug. 

Egg taco

In the middle of the blizzard of 2014, I'm still eating taco leftovers (and loving it!). 

Today I made a soft taco of scrambled egg, taco meat, extra hot salsa, corn salsa, iceberg lettuce, extra sharp cheddar and tomato.

Heavenly.

Mom's Cream of Wheat

- slightly more than 1/3 cup cream of wheat

- 1 cup unsweetened almond milk

- 3/4 cup vanilla coconut milk

- 1 tablespoon local raw honey

- about 1 cup strawberries

- about 1 cup homemade applesauce (local apples)

Boil the coconut and almond milk with the honey and strawberries. Add cream of wheat. Continue to boil about two minutes while stirring constantly. (The cream of wheat will stick to the strawberries making a kind of fruit nugget. I like these.)

Let simmer on low while casually stirring until desired consistency. Stir in applesauce before serving.

Baked omelet

Since our chicken sitting adventure began, we have received 31 eggs (I think)    from our feathered friends. 

We've had a round of fried egg sandwiches and then last night husband made chocolate chip cookies.

Tonight we got home from a long day at work and I had dinner all planned. Preheat oven to 400.

We toasted the last six slices of Pepperidge Farm rye bread and put some sweet potato fries on the cookie sheet.

We whisked about eight eggs (we lost count), added a little cold water and whisked some more. I got a 11x7 Pyrex pan and swiped it with some oil. 

In the bottom of the pan I poured the remaining bruschetta we made a few days ago. I sprinkled lots of local broccoli    on top. Poured the egg mix on top of that. Added some of last night's roasted peppers here and there. 

Put it in the oven.

The fries needed to be flipped after 12 minutes. About five minutes after that, I pulled the omelet out of the oven and sprinkled some tiny pieces of extra sharp cheddar on the top and seasoned it all with fresh ground four-color pepper, a touch of garlic powder and some Italian seasoning. I returned it to the oven for five more minutes.

I ate my portion on the rye bread like a sandwich, complete with horseradish sauce.

The bruschetta really made the vegetables zesty and juicy. This was incredible.

Food blues

We're struggling with a very tight budget and trying to get daughter through a long morning at school with no snack.

I haven't cooked much lately. 

So today, since I went shopping yesterday at Wegmans, I tried to make up for my recent string of pasta and hamburger.

Breakfast was half a peanut butter sandwich, papaya fruit salad (from a can, in juice), and Yummy Mummy monster cereal with protein fortified almond milk. (Did I mention daughter is having ear issues again so we've gone dairy free for her?)

I had a smoothie mid-morning of frozen strawberries, almond milk, vanilla yogurt and carnation breakfast essentials powder.

For lunch, I experimented with wedge salads for husband and I: wedges of iceberg lettuce, with Annie's lemon-chive dressing, sliced almonds, golden raisins and mandarin orange slices, accompanied by carrot sticks, a taste of tuna and a few bites of ham.

Daddy made breakfast

Scrambled eggs with ranch dressing, cheese, vegetarian sausage and steamed broccoli

School breakfast

Yesterday was my nine-year-old's first day of school. Her breakfast was Chobani blood orange yogurt, graham crackers, and banana with a glass of cold water.

Today it's a gala apple with homemade cashew-almond butter made with local raw honey and topped with golden raisins. Glass of Very Vanilla soy milk and a side of one peanut butter pop tart. 

(She was in a mood. I was trying to cheer her up.)

Awesome peanut butter toast and parfaits

It's been a rough couple weeks. First I drowned my iPhone in a lovely solution of bleach and water. Then we ran into a rough patch financially. Then we received some medical bills and some bad news from the bank about our refinancing. 

In the middle of this, I picked up extra shifts at Target. Child went to resident camp for a week. 

Now the appraiser is coming to the house. I have a second interview with a local entity I really really like. I had a good report from the dentist (and when your teeth are broken like mine, that is always a relief). Husband is scheduled to work overtime next week.

But the stress has left me with bad eating habits and riddled with perpetual exhaustion.

I started the bad habits again this morning. Woke up and had a cup and a half of coffee and a glass of water.

Began cleaning like a fiend. At 9:30, I was exhausted because I hadn't eaten anything. 

We haven't gone grocery shopping in weeks so the "pickins" are slim. I found some store bought wheat sandwich bread, which I toasted, and mixed up commercial peanut butter 50/50 with local raw honey. I let the bread cool (I hate warm peanut butter) and sprinkled liberally with my homemade peanut butter.

To go with it, I made parfaits of frozen berries, thawed, YoPlait "protein" yogurt, a touch of homemade granola and honey roasted almonds from Trader Joe's. 

Washed it down with decaf chai.