Oatmeal is a near daily affair in the Liv Life kitchen. Wholesome and filled with fiber, oatmeal brings low glycemic carbohydrates while also bringing a healthy dose of protein to the table. Said to help regulate blood pressure, lower risk of cardiovascular disease and decrease risks of colon cancer, oatmeal is an inexpensive breakfast (or dinner?) option we love.
But... I've been told oatmeal is "boring". Actually, it's "sooooo boring" (said with 16-year old eyeroll for full effect...). And while I love the oaty grains, I guess I can see how it can get a bit old day after day. Luckily, oatmeal is simply a blank slate just waiting to be adorned with the flavors of the season!
So today, we bring fall flavors and a dose of vitamin A-rich pumpkin to that blank slate.
Pumpkin - and it's pumpkin pie spice flavors - is also a favorite in the Liv Life kitchen, and as such a regular to our dishes year round (stock up on cans now for use in summer!). And while we've had pumpkin oatmeal in the past, I'd simply forgotten about it until today.
Pairing a version of our Power Oatmeal (oats, flax, chia and hemp) with a scoop of organic canned pumpkin brought a lovely orange hue to the bowl. Topped with a sprinkle of walnuts and banana as well as a dash of pumpkin pie spice today's breakfast was met with smiles all around.
Ahhh.... the weekend! Those used to mean leisurely mornings sleeping to our hearts content, then casually mixing pancakes till light and fluffy while sipping a second cappuccino. Yep, those were the days. The days before I became a Dance Mom.
Now weekends are filled with before sunrise call times, fluttery false eyelashes, a world glittering with rhinestones and duct tape, and meals on the fly. Many days our mornings begin in hotels which occasionally include a breakfast in the deal, however my lactose intolerant dancer usually can't partake in the dairy-laden breakfast fare leaving us on our own and with not a lot of time to go in search of a healthy meal.
But as any good dance mom does, we've learned to improvise on the fly. Liv loves her homemade hotel waffles (yes... travel with a waffle iron!), but I'm not much of a morning person and don't usually eat until much later. Hence, I'm frequently left to what I can fit into my cooler, and Overnight Oats have become my turn to morning meal on the road.
Mixed together before we leave home, I keep my jar on ice and make my way out to my car after I have Liv set in the dressing room. Packing sides of walnuts and shredded coconut I can close my eyes and almost see myself in some luxurious location... after all, the show is all about illusion, and with Coconut Chia Overnight Oats you can send yourself to the tropics, even if it is only for a few glorious moments.
Hard as it is for me to believe, I have a son who is nearly a legal adult. I have vivid memories of rocking my baby boy to sleep for his nap as thoughts of him going off to college would flit through my mind. "Not to worry," I would tell myself, "that's years and years away."
Well, somehow those years have passed, and with a new UCSB Mom sticker proudly affixed to the back of my car, I find myself entering a new phase of parenting. Gone are the days of worrying if he would look both ways before crossing the street or would put something in his mouth that wasn't good for him. Here are the even more worrisome thoughts of will he see what he needs to as he merges his car onto a busy Southern California freeway? Or worse yet, will he make good choices when thinking about taking a drink when he's at college? And even more stressful, will he pick a girl that I like?
Now, I'll freely admit that whomever he chooses is already knocked down a peg because I know with her addition I will have been fully replaced. However... there will definitely be some choices that will be better than others (oh my goodness I hope I like her!), and I've been dropping (unappreciated) hints as to who I think may be that good choice. So far most of my "suggestions" have been met with eye rolls and "leave me alone" comments, until I mentioned Julie Morris.
Admittedly she may be a little old for him, and I'm not sure, but she may actually already have the man of her dreams, but Julie Morris, the author of Superfood Kitchen appears to me to be the perfect catch!
First off, Julie is positively adorable. But it's her love of healthy, nutrition and good food that has me thinking she would be the perfect choice. An advocate for healthy food and an expert on the so called "Super Foods" of today, Julie has an amazing story with her journey to a plant-based diet and a love of life-enhancing and energy-giving foods.
Presenting myself with her book, Superfood Kitchen
, for Christmas, I've made a number of recipes all with resounding success, but her Secret Pesto with Sun-dried Tomatoes inspired a recipe that has has become one of our all time family favorites.
Filled with fresh basil, sun-dried tomatoes and a few tablespoonfuls of hemp seed, no one is any the wiser that this pesto brings a healthy bent to the table.
Hemp Seed, while from the same family as the marijuana plant, does not produce the "high" inducing THC of its cousin. It does however, provide a complete protein boasting all essential amino acids and is easier to digest than animal proteins such as meat, dairy and eggs. Julie writes in her book, "Hemp also offers a wide range of mineras, especially iron, potassium, zinc and magnesium. Better still, hemp is an excellent source of fiber, and is one of the few alkaline-forming seeds in nature, due to the small green filament on the inside of the kernel. " pg 30, Superfood Kitchen.
Recently hemp has been gaining status in the food world and is finding itself a featured ingredient in everything from smoothies to soups to salads and more. Here in our Sun-dried Tomato Pesto, hemp takes the place of nuts yet retains the perfect flavors and textures of traditional versions while keeping the recipe healthy.
My soon to be college-bound son loves this recipe, and he even admitted that Julie's photo was a head turner. Looks like he might have really good taste after all.
I'll admit it... I can't live without granola!! If you had asked me three years ago to even try granola, you'd have been met with a big, "Um... no thanks. I don't do granola." Fast forward those three years and I can't get enough of the crunchy, oaty goodness.
As we've all read, making granola at home is so much cheaper (and better!) than many you will find in stores, but my main fascination is with the ingredients I can put in it.
Filling our versions with all sorts of healthy ingredients while maintaining an aura of sweetness has sometimes been a challenge. Not so with this Coconut version though, first try and it was good to go.
Oats and ground flax have been staples for my granolas, but lately I've been seeing granola versions with quinoa. Quinoa in granola? Oh, my yes!! Personally, I love a good crunchy granola, and toasted quinoa adds just that. Bringing me to my next thought, "What about Hemp Seed?"
Hemp is new on my nutritional radar, but being an easily digestible high protein seed containing all nine of the essential amino acids (just like flax), it's quickly rising on my favorite ingredient list. A source rich in phytonutrients, hemp is thought to bring disease-protective elements including boosting and protecting the immune system, bloodstream, tissues, cells and organs.
But is hemp safe?? My husband's first question wondered why I was bringing marijuana into our pantry, but my prior research put his mind immediately at ease when I explained that hemp is THC-free, and while it is indeed part of the cannabis family, it is safe and drug free (I found this article from The Nourishing Gourmet to be great source of information with links to even more info).
But back to our granola... now filled with oats, flax, quinoa and hemp, we needed sweetness, or what I call "the goodies". The goodies are sometimes my favorite part of the granola as they lend a burst of flavor and sweetness to each bite. Another new to me ingredients, the superfood Goldenberries
, made its bursting with flavor way into this concoction. Filled with vital nutrients including beta-carotene, protein, bioflavinoids and vitamin A, Goldenberries are my new "grab and go snack". With their sweet/tart flavor, the chewy dried berries became the perfect finishing touch to our mixture.
Super in taste as well as nutrition, granola is here to stay.
