Recently I had my cholesterol checked and *WHAT* I have high cholesterol. I was handed a prescription for pharmaceutical, even before she asked me if I wanted it. I said "NO WAY!", I know I can get my cholesterol down through my food! So among other things, like exercise, cutting out some foods (fried!) and some yoga, I am revamping my diet. So I am going to do some posts on some new things I am trying and I love them.. maybe you will too...
I don't know about you but my kids love oatmeal, we have it just about every morning (I think I have made some posts about it in the past), but I have elevated my oatmeal recently. My husband says we should serve it as a desert (instead of other crap) because it tastes so good (coming from him that's saying a lot!). I change my recipe just about every time, depending on what I have in the fridge and what is in season at the moment. The idea of this recipe came from an Italian friend of mine, who had to eat tapioca cooked with lemon rind & vanilla bean - it was supposed to help him gain weight and keep his otherwise hyper personality a bit more calm (and I do remember it working for him!). That was one of our favorite deserts when we were heavily macrobiotic and living in Italy.
I typically don't measure anything so these are estimates, when you make it yourself you will adjust for your own taste anyhow, you can't go wrong really with these spices except with the cardamom and the sea salt - you need VERY LITTLE for big taste.
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| (I have cooked this batch with apples too) |
recipe: SPICED OATMEAL
1/2 cup oatmeal
1/2 cup Israeli Cous Cous
(you can use your favorite grain too to mix with the oatmeal, some ideas: millet or quinoa are delicious!)
1 1/2 cup coconut water
1 cup rice milk (maybe a bit less) or almond milk or hemp or oat or whatever you like (except cows milk)
1 tsp cinnamon (or a bit more)
pinch of cardamom
4-6 lemon rinds (you can cut them small for kids so they don't see them or leave them large and take them out before serving - I like to eat them though)
1/3 vanilla bean (slice it lengthwise to open up the seeds)
pinch of salt
when I make it for kids I put 1/4 to 1/2 a small apple diced
cook all together slowly on tiniest flame - you can even leave it sit towards the end and it will keep the grains cooking - about 20 minutes. If it's too thick at the end just add some water and leave it for a minute to soak into the grain.
you can top with:
coconut nectar
agave syrup
honey
fruit:
pears
apples
strawberries
banana
rasins
dates
seeds/nuts:
sunflower seeds
slivered almonds
walnuts
peacans
There are millions of variations on this which are delicious, as a desert you can substitute a can of light coconut milk and then either water or coconut water. Dates make it a lot sweeter too... delicious!
can't wait to hear your recipes - comment or send me an email and I will post your ideas!
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| our latest sweetener is coconut nectar - love it! and it's low glycemic |
