Monday, September 27, 2010

Basic Breakfast


I think it's funny that we have certain foods associated exclusively with breakfast. Some of my favorite suppers are these kinds of foods: scrambled eggs with potatoes and broccoli, french toast with asparagus. Of course, I would never have cold cereal for supper...but I would have it for dessert!

There is one food that I really save only for the mornings and that's hot porridge. It is the perfect morning meal. Here's the breakdown:

1/3 cup raw oats
200g plain fat free yogurt
20g slivered almonds
200g apple, chopped
cinnamon
powdered ginger

Serves one.

Cook the oats and the apple in 2/3 cup water. Top with yogurt and almonds. Dust lightly with cinnamon and heavily with powdered ginger.

That's the basic recipe. It provides a perfect balance of fat, protein, grain and fruit/veg. And there's a million substitutions that can make it more interesting.

Substitute a cup of cooked grains for the 1/3 cup of oats can be interesting. If you replace the yogurt with almond or hazelnut milk (my favorite) and use it for cooking, the result is a kind of rice pudding (if you used rice), if you simmer it gently for long enough.

Or, if you're lucky enough to live near a health food store, you can find all kinds of other grains including barley, rye, wheat, and triticale, in a rolled and flaked form that can be cooked and eaten like oats.

And of course, you can replace the almonds with any calorically equivalent amount of other nuts or seeds. I've really been into sunflower seeds lately.

But the real place to play around is with the fruit. I usually cook the fruit with the cereal if I am using apples or raisins. But fresh berries are wonderful just piled on top of the yogurt at the end. Peaches, nectarines, plums and bananas are also fabulous. I keep bags of frozen strawberries and cherries in the freezer, for days when I am all out of fresh fruit. You can just dump the frozen stuff in right with the oatmeal at the beginning of cooking. It will turn the cereal pink or purple...but I don't mind that. It's still the perfect way to start the day.

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