November 28, 2005
Swiss Miss Breakfast
For the past six months I have been eating the most delicious Swiss Miss breakfast. Swiss Miss is a company that manufactures hot cocoa mix. You may be thinking, “What on earth does she make with hot cocoa mix”. You are about to find out! Swiss Miss can be used to make an extremely healthy and thoroughly enjoyable breakfast.
Ingredients:
1 packet of nonfat Swiss Miss hot cocoa mix with calcium
1 banana
1 ½ cup water
¾ cup quick oats
Directions:
Prepare the quick oats. In a bowl, combine dry oats with water. Microwave for 90 seconds. Next, add the cocoa mix and combine completely. The oatmeal with appear chocolaty. Next, slice the banana into bite sized pieces and drop into oatmeal mixture. Enjoy!
This breakfast is extremely filling. It includes fruit, whole grain, fiber, and calcium. It is a perfect breakfast for children or adults. I have had it every single morning for six months and still have not gotten bored of my Swiss Miss breakfast.
September 29, 2005
Importance of Breakfast
Everyone has heard the saying, “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.” Does anyone know why breakfast is so important, or why you should not skip? There are many benefits of breakfast people should know before leaving home with an empty belly.
Food fuels our body. Without food we could not function. By the time we wake up, our bodies have actually gone without food for at least eight hours. Our stomachs have digested all of the food we consumed the night before. In order to jumpstart the brain, a full belly is in order. Brains need food to function at the highest level possible. There is a reason children are told to eat a full breakfast the morning before a test.
Another reason breakfast is so important is for our metabolism. At night our metabolism slows way down because we are sedentary and do not eat for at least eight hours. To let our body know it needs to raise our metabolism back up, breakfast is required. This breakfast jumpstarts our metabolism. As a matter of fact, when someone is trying to lose weight, it is better to eat the extra calories at breakfast than to skip breakfast. Even if someone eats less calories in a day, by skipping breakfast they will actually burn less than if they were to eat breakfast. The quicker your metabolism is jumpstarted, the better.
The old saying, “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day” is absolutely true. Eating breakfast will do your body good.
September 23, 2005
Fruity Breakfast In a Glass
This is a simple recipe my dad created. He made it for me when I was a kid. It must have been some homemade summer concoction when all the smoothie shops were closed for the night. It makes a wonderful breakfast filled with vitamins and nutrients to start your day off on the right foot. I usually enjoy this special drink alone, but those with a larger appetite can add a couple slices of toast to the meal for some grain.
It has a lot of fruit and a little protein. Atkins followers BEWARE: This is not low-carb! This drink is extremely healthy and is DELICIOUS!!!
Ingredients:
1 Cup frozen strawberries
1 Cup Orange Juice
1 Small banana
1 Tablespoon peanut butter
Instructions:
In a blender, blend the orange juice and frozen strawberries to a slushy consistency. Next, add the peanut butter and the banana. Blend for about twenty seconds. Be sure the larger chunks of strawberry have been broken up. These will create the frozen slushy consistency you are looking for. Serve and enjoy!
August 24, 2005
Turkish Breakfast
Whether at a seaside town overlooking the sparkling Med. or wedged in with the crowd in Istanbul, one thing you can always count on in Turkey is the breakfast. Well that, and drinking lots and lots of apple tea. Turkish breakfast is worlds away from our usual American morning fare, with several fresh, simple components. It also looks and feels like a lot of food when you put it all on a plate, set out a pot of honey with a little silver spoon, and accompany it all with coffee or tea, then sit and enjoy each bite. Give it a try when you’re sick of pancakes and sausage, or just looking for something filling but not heavy. Put these on a plate, and presto—breakfast.
Sliced tomato
Sliced cucumber
Feta cheese
1 hard boiled egg
Olives
Bread (pita or other)
Slather honey on the bread, crumble feta over the cucumbers and tomatoes, sprinkle a little salt on the egg, or eat each delectable morsel with nothing to detract from its flavor. You can go basic, or seek out local honey, real feta blocks, garden-grown tomato and cucumber, premium olives and fresh-baked bread for the most authentic experience.
August 04, 2005
A Bowl of Oatmeal A Day, Will Keep Cholesterol Away
Eating a bowl of oatmeal every morning will help lower cholesterol. Oats is a great source of complex carbohydrates and is high in protein and fiber.
My Cousin Patty would cook oatmeal in a double boiler. The combination of cooking oatmeal and salt air in the house on the cliffs in Malibu is one of my fondest childhood memories. No matter what time I wandered down to the kitchen, the hot oatmeal would be waiting. Id scoop it out, put some fresh picked boysenberries from the canyon on top, sprinkle a little sugar (I know, I know) and pour on a little milk. Id eat this breakfast from heaven, getting fueled up for the day of play in the sand and waves.
I adopted my Cousin Pattys method of cooking oatmeal in a double boiler when I entered adult hood. I always found the oats sticking to the bottom of a conventional pan irritating, not to mention the more than once bottom layer of burned oatmeal.
I was given a new rice cooker for my birthday this year. It revolutionized the cooking of oatmeal in the household. There is a wonderful marking system for measuring the proper proportion of grains and water. One side is for specifically for porridge. I translate this as oatmeal. I dump in the allocated amount of organic rolled oats, add water to the designated mark, close the lid, press the start button and go about my business. When I hear the chirp-chirp-chirp of the timer telling me the cereal is done, I head for the perfectly cooked oatmeal. Perfect, every time. I sprinkle on cinnamon, pour on a dash of maple syrup and low fat milk and then I enjoy!
Stash some instant oatmeal packets in your office drawer or workout bag for those mornings when your schedule is just too hectic for the quiet time of a hearty bowl of rolled oats.
And keep tabs on your cholesterol level!
(As I sit here spell-checking, I hear my husband from the upstairs bedroom, Sweetheart, could you do me a huge favor? Would you please put some oatmeal on?)
Check out my post Warning Sign: Strange Behavior at thehealthblog.org.
Posted by wavingcloud at 01:36 AM | Comments (0)