MY BREAKFAST
I start the day super-virtuous and don’t let my eating slide until coffee time. When I was told I had high cholesterol I decided to start eating oats. I’d always loved porridge and granola, but kind of decided I didn’t have the patience for cooking first thing in the AM, plus the sweetness and “fried” quality of granola turned me off, so I got into soaking. If you use “quick cooking” soft rolled oats you don’t need to boil them – jumbo oats work too, but can be a bit too dry and chewy. I buy the oats in bulk from Wholefoods and they work out dirt cheap.
I basically have two recipes, a cold and a warm version.
Soak about a half cup of oats in concord grape juice, with a teaspoon of Chia powder, which is rich in Omega 3s, calcium and other good stuff.
While that’s soaking, peel and dice half a pink grapefruit (whole if feeling greedy and/or it’s small), half or one banana (same principles), and about a half cup of either raspberries or blueberries. I say either because in salads, for aesthetic reasons, I’m very much a three ingredients guy, but of course you could use both—and, though I really hate it when they say this in recipes—“you can use any fruits you like.” But this is my breakfast, and these are the fruits I like. The textures and flavors of these three work well together. Sometime, I add a scoop of yoghurt, but truth be told, that makes for a heavy breakfast.
(Actually, the half or whole thing is about whether I’m making for one or two. If for one, what is anyone going to do with half a blackened banana later on? For two, who can be bothered to peel TWO grapefruits?)
My girlfriend finds the grape juice a tad sweet, so for her – or if vital ingredients have run out for the standard version – I vary the breakfast sometimes in a way I’ve come to like almost as much.
Soak the oats in warm soy milk, saving a little for her highness’s coffee.
While that’s soaking, chop in half an apple, skin on, and add to the mix with a handful of walnuts, and a smaller quantity of raisins.
With either version you can add a teaspoon of sunflower and/or pumkin seeds, if you are feeling virtuous, without spoiling the flavor. The Chia tastes more pronounced in the warm version than the cold, by the way, and is bit metallic tasting. Whatever you do, don’t add linseed oil or flax seed as that tastes disgusting (I think).
CANDACE’S FAVORITE SALAD
Extending the three ingredients principle, here is my girlfriend’s favorite salad among those that I make for her:
In a bowl, make a vinagrette from mustard, dill, apple cider vinegar and walnut oil.
Finely chop and add one endive per person, not mixing yet; then peel, chop and add half of one apple per person; then add a dessert spoon of crumbled blue cheese – ideally Stilton, but Gorgonzola or domestic American are fine too – and then mix.
If you don’t share my three ingredients principle you can get clever and add other stuff like walnuts, say, and beets, but if you use beets then you’ve spoiled the novelty of…
MY FAVORITE SALAD
Chop and add one beet per person, half an apple, one herring fillet (pickled in dill, not in red wine or in any sauce) and a scoop of sour cream, and add a little extra dill for decoration.
print