I cannot eat oatmeal for breakfast any more. I am putting my foot down. I know it is high in fiber, I know it is cholesterol lowering, I know it is filling and mostly delicious. But not even with applesauce, with raisins, with dried apricots, nor with nuts, can I enjoy it anymore. I even considered making it in a savory fashion with soy sauce and green onion, like a Chinese pancake, as I read about here but alas, we’ve been together every weekday morning for about 8 months now, and I’m done. I think what I’ll miss the most is that nothing is cheaper for breakfast than steel cut oatmeal, bought in bulk, and cooked with apples that I chop myself. I am now spending my mornings with the high falutin' and very expensive fresh blueberries and yogurt. They are a creamy, tart, and sweet dynamic duo! Antioxidants, fiber, protein and calcium, not too shabby on the nutrition front. I cannot stress how important it is for me to enjoy what I’m eating. I cannot eat purely for fuel. I want to eat the best fuel I can, but it also has to appeal to my palate. Has anyone else broken up with a healthy food because they were simply tired of it?
I haven’t posted a recipe in a while, so here’s what I ate for lunch this week. Because I loves me the fiber, that I am now missing from my oatmeal, I am having delicious black bean and sweet potato cakes for lunch this week. With lime sour cream. They are awesome, cheap, easy and I would make them again in a heartbeat.
Black bean and sweet potato cakes
2 TBS vegetable or olive oil
1 cup dried beans, cooked according to directions or 2 14.5 oz cans, rinsed and drained
1 medium sweet potato, scrubbed and grated – about 2 cups
½ cup rolled oats (quick cooking is fine)
1 onion, chopped
6 cloves garlic, chopped
1 egg, beaten
1 TBS chili powder
2 tsp cumin
salt
pepper
Lime Sour Cream
½ cup sour cream
Juice of half of one lime
Salt
Mix everything together, add more lime juice as necessary.
Set the oven to broil. Spray a broiler pan with non-stick spray.
Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Saute onions until soft, about 5 minutes. Add sweet potato shreds, and cook for 2 minutes more. Add garlic and seasoning, cook for 1 more minute, then remove from heat. In a large bowl, mash up your black beans a little, leaving them mostly whole. Stir in the potato mixture, oatmeal and add salt and pepper to taste. Allow the mixture to cool a bit before you add the egg. Stirring will help. When it is not so hot that it will cook all the egg, pour the egg in, and mix well with your hands. Shape into 7 patties – they are gonna be a little messy, just move them nice and gently to the broiler pan. Spray them with cooking spray, and place in the oven. Broil for about 7 minutes, and then gently, gently turn them over to cook the other side.
Serve hot with a dollop of sour cream, and fresh cilantro. Delicious! I estimate these to be about 250 calories a pop. I have a salad on the side, and a happy tummy. I made this according how I like it - but the original recipe that inspired me was on Allrecipes.com - but it has a lot more spice than I can normally handle. And I made one less cake, because I wanted bigger ones for lunch.
Happy weekend!
4 comments:
The only way I will eat oats is with banana, ground flax seed, honey and tahini. I find that very tasty, but unfortunately I am so gluten intolerant that my hands break out in a blistery rash in no time...
You're right, you shouldn't force down something you don't enjoy. There's enough healthy food out there that you can pick and choose.
the recipe sounds great - will have have to add that to my list of ones try.
Im with Hanlie- you definitely shouldnt eat anything you dont enjoy anymore. if you do, then you arent satisfied and more likely to eat something you shouldnt. I try to make every meal full of things I enjoy and thats why it isnt had for me to enjoy what I eat, stick to my plan, and succeed.
I hope I never tire of oatmeal! It's been my favourite breakfast for over a year, though, so I figure at some point I will. Variety is good!
That recipe looks good. Thanks for sharing it.
Wow... I couldn't eat the same thing for breakfast every day for a WEEK, much less 8 months.
I swap around between omletes, whole wheat english muffins and some sort of topping (today it was cream cheese and smoked salmon), twigs in a bowl (aka fiber one), oatmeal, cream of wheat, waffles, fruit, etc... I rarely have the same thing for breakfast more than twice a week.
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