Sounds like I smoke, right? But that's not it =) I'm talking about boxed cereal! I keep meaning to try and make more breakfasts from scratch - I have talked about it a lot here - but there's no 12 step program, you know what I mean? So yeah, we ran out and I just didn't buy anymore! So far we've had french toast, oatmeal, pancakes, bagels, eggs and donuts. Yeah, that's not really healthy but I'm being honest here! They were applesauce donuts - does that count for something? I think I'm going to be adventurous this week and try to get my boys to eat some millet cereal...w/fresh blueberries! We'll see if they'll go for it. I need to make some more granola b/c I know they like that. We have egg muffins on the menu too. I plan to make muffins of a few flavors today too so that should help. I don't know how long I can keep this up, but if we make it 2 weeks, I'll be happy! I have my beefs against boxed cereal but if everyone else can handle it, maybe we could go back to having it once or twice a week. I'll keep you posted!
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Quitting cold turkey!
I have talked about it for a while. I have managed to quit for 2 days at a time or something, but I always go back. I have tried a bunch of stuff. This time I am determined to make it stick and it's almost been a week! I guess I should revise that statement. I am determined, yes, but I'm also lazy. When I ran out, I just didn't allow myself to go out and get more. Everyone else didn't seem to notice so far...
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9 comments:
What's wrong with boxed cereal? I love my Cheerios!
Abby - I have my issues...in no particular order...I'm not a fan of the fact that they spray the cereal w/vitamins. I would hope that we'd get enough of those nutrients naturally. I am not a fan of the cost! I've been trying to go more organic and a lot of boxes of cereal are smaller and cost $4-$6. Um, there should be a $5 bill in there right? I'm not a fan of all the packaging. Yes, the boxes are recyclable but the bag gets tossed in the trash. Sometimes I use it as wax paper. But if I could find things like oats or millet in bulk and take my own container, that's better I think. And I buy local eggs and reuse the cartons. I'm not trying to sound snobby or judgmental here, but just listing some of my thoughts on this. I also like it when I make pancakes or french toast and I know all the ingredients going into it. I can add flax seeds or wheat germ if I'd like. Same for muffins. I can add fruits to a bunch of things too and keep the sugar out. A lot of this has been bouncing around in my head for a while and I guess this week just happened to be the week I got lazy enough to try it! I know there are good things about eating cereal too - we don't seem to get as much milk w/other things and I go back to the vitamins. Of course there's the easy factor and the speed factor, not to mention the less dishes factor! But I think (I hope!) I'm up to the challenge of changing some of our habits for the better =)
We regularly make millet (or quinoa) & fruit for breakfast. Martha prefers her foods unmixed, but Levi loves it (he'll eat anything). We usually mix in some maple syrup or raw honey, as well.
Here's a quinoa recipe you could start with. We love it. It even has milk, so there you go...
www.101cookbooks.com/archives/warm-and-nutty-cinnamon-quinoa-recipe.html
A more traditional way of eating grains for breakfast is to soak them overnight in half the water, plus 2 Tbsp yogurt, kefir, or raw apple cider vinegar. In the morning, add the remaining water and cook as usual--the resulting porridge will have a bit of a sourdough taste.
Here are our other two favorite breakfasts:
Sprouted Buckwheat Cereal (gluten free)
• 1 cup buckwheat groats, rinsed, soaked overnight, rinsed well (they get starchy)
• 1 banana, chopped
• dash of maple syrup
• optional: raw pecans or almonds, soaked overnight, rinsed, chopped
Process buckwheat, banana, and maple syrup in a food processor until creamy. Top with nuts. Serves 2.
Sprouted Buckwheat Granola (gluten free)
This is a highly nutritious granola. All ingredients are sprouted and/or raw (depending on the temp of your dehydrator). It takes a little extra work, but it’s worth it.
• 4 c buckwheat groats, rinsed, soaked overnight & rinsed well (they get starchy)
• 2 c raw seeds (e.g. sunflower & pumpkin), soaked overnight & rinsed
• 2-3 c raw nuts (e.g. almonds & pecans), soaked overnight & rinsed
• 3 T cinnamon
• 2-4 T raw honey, softened over medium-low heat
• Optional: 1 T virgin coconut oil
• 1 ½ - 2 c raisins or dried fruit
1. Optional: briefly pulse the larger nuts in a food processor (I leave them whole)
2. In a large bowl, mix buckwheat, seeds, nuts, cinnamon, honey and coconut oil.
3. Spread on dehydrator trays with mesh, teflex, or fruit leather sheets. If dehydrator has a thermostat, set at 100 degrees (or 140 for 2 hours then 100) for 6-8 hours, mix, continue dehydrating until crunchy. The amount listed fills 4 trays in my Nesco dehydrator.
4. Mix in dry fruit and store in a sealed container at room temp or in the fridge.
5. Yields 10-12 cups
Serving suggestions: Top with fresh fruit, yogurt, raw nut milk, or milk. Or sprinkle on ice cream or hot oatmeal.
Oops, I missed an ingredient in the Buckwheat Cereal.
1 t of cinnamon should be added to the food processor as well.
Arg! One more error.
In the granola, use 1/3 c honey.
Now that I've taken over the whole conversation with 4 comments in a row...
A couple of suggestions ...
First, I generally try to buy my Cheerios on sale. Walgreens occasionally has 3/$7, which is just a little over $2 a box - and these are decent sized boxes too! When those sales come up, I tend to buy out my store - and the one on the north side too! (Thanks goodness for my pantry!)
Second, what about cinnamon toast? (toast + butter/margarine + cinnamon&sugar) You can get great whole grains from that with different breads - and/or you can use homemade bread to save money.
Third, you could eat smoothies (which I know you already enjoy), quiche, or my Aunt Linda (other side of the family) made some egg/omelet dish in a deep glass pan for a party that was good. Not sure on the recipe off-hand, but that might be (relatively) easy to make since you just put it in the oven and can then go do other stuff.
Good luck! I'm generally a Cheerios (or Grape Nut Flakes!) girl myself, but I like to mix it up sometimes with oatmeal/etc. just to keep things interesting. :)
I totally see where you are coming from, I just didn't remeber you ever discussing your dislike of cereal before, so I was wondering where it was coming from.
I guess convenience is too big of an issue for me, but if you can make it work, more power to you!
Good on ya. I haven't had boxed cereal in years, though my partner-in-life still has Kashi.
I keep an organic cream-of-wheat (formerly called Bear Mush, can't seem to learn its new name) on hand for cereal cravings (mostly in winter), also rolled oats, and can't seem to see what's inconvenient about them, especially with a little honey and maybe some cinnamon.
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