Treat Yourself in 10 Minutes: "Breakfast of Champions" Cookies

These cookies are made of my favorite breakfast foods, so.....I don't see why you couldn't eat them for breakfast.  They are also a terrific snack.  As an added bonus, they are made almost entirely of "superfoods," so you can feel virtuous while you eat them, and they are gluten-free so you can share them with your gluten-sensitive friends.  They're made of nutritious stuff:  oats (whole grains, protein, fiber, complex carbs), yogurt (probiotics, protein), eggs (vitamins, protein, Omegas), dark chocolate (antioxidants), honey (antimicrobial) or agave (low-glycemic), nuts (protein, Omegas), and cinnamon (anti-inflammatory).  You can add sugar if you want (I don't) and 1/2 tablespoon of flax seeds for extra Omegas.  If you buy a bag of flax seeds, keep it in the freezer.

Here's how I make them.  If you don't have measuring spoons, just fake it.  I'm usually too lazy to measure anything, and only did it once to create this recipe. Add as much of the measured ingredients as you think would taste good. 

I hate washing cookie sheets, so I bake mine in a glass casserole dish.

Ingredients:

3 cups quick oats
1 6-ounce container vanilla yogurt
3 tablespoons honey or agave nectar
2 eggs
5 squares dark chocolate, crushed
2 tablespoons chopped nuts of your choice
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 tablespoon flax seeds (optional)

Preheat oven to 375.  Combine all ingredients.  Roll into 14 balls (they will be the size of golf balls) and place on a cookie sheet sprayed with non-stick spray or butter.  If you don't have a cookie sheet you can also bake these in a glass casserole dish or pie pan or cake pan or whatever you have that is oven-safe.  Press the balls gently to flatten them slightly. Bake for 20 minutes.

Enjoy!

Extra Credit:  When you have time, bake a whole bunch of these and freeze the extras.  That way, you'll have breakfast or snacks that you can pull out of the freezer any time you have a busy week. 

Feed Yourself in Five Minutes: Five Breakfasts in Five Minutes



I got this idea while visiting the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health, which is a retreat center in the Berkshires.  They provide fancy, wholesome food for visitors, and offered this breakfast every morning.  I'm not a nutritionist, but I've read that  unprocessed whole grains (like brown rice) mixed with a little bit of fat and protein (nuts) is the breakfast of champions.  You can find bags of chopped nuts without any added salt or oil in the baking aisle of the grocery store.  Syrup and cranberries (or raisins) are just to make this breakfast yummy.  I've also made this with barley, which is cheap and very good for you, or quinoa, which can be a little more expensive but has tons of protein.  Or, when I have a little bit of each grain leftover, I've just mixed them together.  In my fridge, these little cups of deliciousness keep for five days.  You will need five reusable food storage containers, which I've bought at the grocery store, dollar store, drugstore.  These are great to have on hand all the time so you can feed yourself efficiently all week.

Hands-on time: 5 minutes
Study time: 40 minutes

Ingredients:

3 cups of Brown Rice (or try barley, quinoa, or any combination of whole grains)
Pancake Syrup
Dried Cranberries
Nuts

Directions:

Cook the rice according to the package directions.  I have a rice cooker (which I got at Target for about $15) but you can certainly do this on the stovetop.  I like the rice cooker because it senses when the rice is done and turns off automatically, so in case I fall asleep at my desk waiting for the rice to cook, it's not dangerous or wasteful. 

Scoop the rice into five separate storage containers.  You might have a little bit of rice leftover. 

While the rice is warm, squirt pancake syrup into each container to saturate the rice.  This keeps the rice from getting dry and crunchy in the fridge, and is delicious.

Let the rice cool and top with cranberries and nuts. 

Put lids on the containers and put them in the fridge.  You'll have a fancy, wholesome breakfast every day this week. 

Fancy in Five Minutes: Superfood Scramble

Happy Friday!  After working hard all week, don't you deserve a special treat?  I find that a fancy breakfast sets the tone for the day, plus by Friday my poor little brain is so worn out it needs some nutritional TLC.  So this morning I made a yummy scramble, which took five minutes in the microwave, and contained 4 "superfoods."*  Here's how:
(Disclaimer: When I bought my groceries on Sunday, I took a few minutes to cut up my veggies and put them in little containers in the fridge.  So they were already chopped and ready to make my scramble.)

Ingredients:
Spray butter or non-stick cooking spray
Salt and Pepper
Portobello mushroom cap, sliced into bite-sized pieces
1 tablespoon chopped red onion
1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper

1 whole chopped tomato

1/2 avocado

salsa

1 egg

Directions:

Spray the bottom of a microwave safe bowl with butter or cooking spray.  Place the bell pepper, mushroom, and onion in the bowl and season with salt and pepper.  Microwave for 1 minute. 

Add the egg, break the yolk with a fork and stir in with the veggies.  Microwave for 1 minute.  Stir one more time.  Microwave for 1 minute. 

Mmmmm....steamy

Top with tomato, salsa, and avocado. 

Total time: 5 minutes


Ta-da!

Extra Credit: Spend at least 5 minutes eating your fancy breakfast without doing anything else while you are eating.  Turn off the computer, close your case book,  sit at a table, pay attention to your food, and enjoy!

Confession:  I sprinkled organic bacon on my scramble, which is not a superfood, but I had it in the fridge as part of my DIY salad bar. 

*Prevention Magazine's list of "25 Ridiculously Healthy Foods"