A Nourished Start Sharing Carnival

This post is part of the Nourished Start Carnival at the Nourished Gourmet.  Breakfast can be a rough meal.  For me, my biggest hurdles are not wanting to eat something too heavy too early and being able to prepare something quickly that can be consumed in front of the computer while I check email or in front of the TV while I check the weather.  My time is limited, so I want to multitask in the morning instead of spending time at the stove or in the kitchen.

I used to be big on skim milk and breakfast cereal.  Every single morning.  But despite always going for the “natural” and organic cereals, most are still highly processed.  Many are extruded, which means heated at an extremely high temperature and then forced through something to make it into a fun shape (such as a flake, or twig).  This is not a natural process, nor is it something that was ever done traditionally.  Well, then there are the granolas.  I love a good granola.  But most are made with canola oil or other vegetable oils I prefer not to eat.  Vegetable oils have only been in our diet for 100 years (or less!), and I do not believe they are good for us.  I eat mainly animal fats, coconut oil, and olive oil.  And then there is the milk - I don’t drink skim milk anymore.  Only whole, pure, unadulterated milk, fresh from a cow.

So, what is for breakfast?  Here are a few standbys I enjoy these days:

Oatmeal - I soak my oatmeal overnight (room temp) in a bit of water and yogurt.  You can use another acidic liquid if you don’t have yogurt, such as kefir, or a mild vinegar.  Just a small amount diluted in some water, enough to get the oats moist.  This neutralizes the phytates in the oats.  Then I cook it in an equal amount of hot water.  It only takes a few minutes!  You can vary this endlessly with different toppings - my favorite is pinenuts, butter and ginger.  You can also do maple syrup, fresh fruits, berries, cream, nuts, or whatever you can come up with in any combination!

Eggs - I scramble mine.  The whole process probably takes less than 5 minutes.  I’ll frequently do 1 whole egg plus one yolk to give it even more nutrition than just an egg alone.  I’ll mix in some fresh cream or milk, and whatever herbs or spices I have on hand (fresh or dried).  Dill and Turmeric are favorites.  Sometimes I’ll add veggies.  Sometimes I’ll grate some cheese.  I use plenty of butter in the pan, and I’ve learned not to overcook them;  I’ll turn off the heat right before they are done and they finish cooking in the still-hot pan while I grab my plate, fork and glass.  This way they are always light and fluffy.

Toast - always sourdough.  Sourdough is the most delicious bread, in my opinion.  Plus, it has the benefit of being fermented, which has a lot of health benefits including reducing the amount of phytates in the wheat.  I like to slather my toast with butter.  YUM!

Smoothies - Make them with coconut milk for an extra treat!  Sometimes I toss an egg yolk in there as well.  When eating raw eggs, always take care to get eggs from a source you trust.  I get mine from small farms where the chickens are pastured instead of confined.  It not only keeps the eggs safe to eat raw (salmonella is a byproduct of dirty living conditions), but the eggs have more nutrition in them.  Just look at the gorgeous orange yolk from a chicken allowed to eat fresh plants and bugs in addition to grain!  I’ll also put in frozen berries, bananas, fruit, milk, kefir, whatever I have on hand.  Smoothies don’t always need to be sweetened, but when they do, honey or maple syrup is my favorite.

Milk and cereal - Yes, I still have milk and cereal.  A few differences though: when eating boxed cereals, I eat only non-extruded kinds.  I’ve heard Grape Nuts is not extruded, but I’ve yet to confirm it.  Many mueslis are good as well.  I also check the ingredient list.  I avoid anything with High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS), any kind of vegetable oil, soy, or any kind of ingredient that I can’t pronounce or don’t know what it is.  These are typically highly processed, isolated parts of food.  Highly processed, isolated parts of food do not equal actual food to me.   This mostly leaves granola and mueslis - cereals made from whole ingredients.  Through my local farm delivery club, I can also get granola made from oats that have been soaked to remove the phytates.  It is absolutely delicious!  I also make granola from scratch using unsoaked oats, olive oil, honey, and whatever else I have on hand that seems good.  I’ll probably post a recipe at some point.

I usually don’t have anything to drink.  I’ll usually have a glass of water first thing in the morning, but not necessarily with my meal.  If I do have a beverage with breakfast, it is typically a glass of fresh milk, fresh orange juice, raw apple cider or water.  I’m trying to stay away from too many bottled juices since they often contain things I’m not sure I want to eat.  I also prefer to eat more whole fruits than just the juice.  Sometimes I’ll find a brand with a good ingredients and I’ll go with that.

Other things I’m looking forward to trying:

• Just about everything in the Nourished Start Carnival at the Nourishing Gourmet!
• More yogurt based breakfasts (some yogurt starter just arrived, more on that soon…) like yogurt and fruit, yogurt and muesli, yogurt and granola, etc
• Homemade, soaked breakfast cereal
• Homemade, soaked granola
• Homemade, soaked muesli
• Breakfast breads and cakes, made from sprouted or soaked flour

I hope this helps give you some ideas!

Tags: Basics, blog carnivals, Breakfast, ideas