I’m giving up on the recipes page, at least for now. Taking pix and noting every step just adds too much time to an already cumbersome process. Plus, I get the feeling that I am in an extreme minority with all my food restrictions for health and medicine interaction on top of the restrictions based on ethical considerations.  If I happen to come up with somethimt unbelievwbly

I wrote a rather self-pitying post in December, lamenting the culinary choices on my heart attack restricted diet (“Peanut’s Oats”).  I think it’s time to revisit the oatmeal question since I gave it such a grumpy reception right after coming home from the hospital.  The Buddhist has made a number of augmentations to the plain “oats and water” recipe that have made it much tastier and significantly more nutritious, as well.  We have this most mornings; it provides plenty of energy and tasty goodness to last through a challenging morning (or in my case, through my rather exhausting cardiac rehab).

The Buddhist always makes breakfast.  He, in fact, always makes all the meals. Since I was going to be taking some photographs, though, I volunteered to give it a try. As I was getting all the ingredients out this morning, he informed me that he d

oesn’t use a banana and another fruit when he makes it. It’s either banana or dried cherries (which I had planned to use) or dried strawberries or something else. Since I already had the cherries out and because I love me some cherries, I left them in the photo.

Below is the basic recipe.  You can mix and match with different fruits and/or nuts.  Walnuts have a nice shot of heart-friendly Omega 3s and a good bit of protein, to boot.

Supercharged Oatmeal   1 serving

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup rolled oats (we get ours in bulk at the organic market)
• 1/2 medium banana AND/OR
• 1/8 cup dried cherries or other fruit
• 1/2 Tbsp chia seeds
• 1/2 Tbsp flax seeds
• 1/2 Tbsp wheat germ
• 1/2 scoop (approx 13 grams) protein powder  (if you’re vegan, avoid whey protein – it comes from dairy milk)
• 1 cup very hot water (we heat ours in the tea kettle)
• honey, blue agave nectar, maple syrup or sweetener of your choice (optional)

Process:

1)    Place your chia seeds and flax seeds in a coffee or spice grinder and pulse the grinder a few brief times.  You want your seeds ground up a bit, but not into a powder. Grinding them – particularly the flax – frees the heart-helping Omega 3s from inside the hard seeds, making them bioavailable (my new favorite word).

2)    If you’re using a banana, chop it into small pieces so it will be distributed well throughout the oatmeal.

3)    Place oats; banana and/or other fruit; protein powder; ground chia and flax seeds; and wheat germ into a microwavable cereal bowl.

4)    Add 1 cup of very hot water and stir everything together.  It will thicken a little as you stir.

5)    Microwave for 30 -60 seconds to give the oats a chance to absorb the water and to let the flavors all mix together.

Nutritional Information

Your numbers may be slightly different depending on the particular oats you use, the size of the banana and any other fruit you decide to use.  These numbers are based on the recipe above, using the banana (but not the cherries) and no sweetener. Add about 60 calories a tablespoon if you use some honey or agave.

Sumi took a great interest in breakfast today.