Wednesday, 19 September 2012

SUGAR AND SALT FREE BREAKFAST IDEAS/RECIPES


I love to eat, and I endeavour to eat slowly and mindfully (enjoying the taste and texture of the food), usually on the couch looking outside, quietly, with no tv or music. I love food and I am fussy; if it isn't good to eat I wont eat it.  

The breakfast ideas below are tried and true.

I try to mix them up.  I am not on a grain or gluten free diet, and I realise that fruit is fructose (a form of sugar), but I am only cane sugar and salt free at this stage. Even the small changes I have made have had a big impact on my well being.  

My breakfast standards/pleasures ... every morning:
Brewed coffee (never instant) with organic milk.

A large green tea with mint and a squeeze of  lemon juice that I sip on while I make breakfast and wait for the coffee to brew. (I sometimes shave some fresh ginger into the tea too).

I also have vitamin supplements: 1x magnesium/calcium, 1x multivit, 2x fish oils, 1x ‘skin/hair/nails’ targeted mix.

Breakfasts:
(All of these meals can also be dinner/lunch/brunch whatever!)

- One lightly cooked egg with mushrooms and spinach (I use grapeseed oil or ghee to cook with as they have a high heat tolerance) on home made bread*.  Slather with lime-infused olive oil and zatar** herb mix for taste.

- Hot oat porridge (or cold as a muesli) with nuts and seeds, cinnamon, frozen berries, chia, some shredded coconut, home made full fat Greek yoghurt*** and honey. 

- Baked pearl barley milk porridge**** with apple and berries, yoghurt and honey/maple syrup.

- Home made, no sugar banana bread or my own fruit bread with either home made cream cheese,*****  tahini or peanut butter and honey or sugar free jam****** 

- Chopped fresh fruit and yoghurt sprinkled with toasted nuts and seeds

- Almond meal and wholemeal flour pancakes.  Top with frozen berries melted in warm maple syrup. 

- Home made bread with avocado, olive oil and zatar

*       Home made bread:  I use a bread maker.  4 cups bread flour, 1 1/2 tsp dry yeast, 410 ml liquid (usually whey or whey and water), 1 tblsp grape seed oil, 1 tblsp rice malt syrup. 
You can add an extra 40ml of liquid and a couple of spoons of chia seeds too.  

**     Zatar: a dry herb mix of thyme, oregano, sumac and sesame seeds:  sprinkle on everything 

***   Greek yogurt: I use the New Zealand Eziyo 'make your own at home' full fat Greek base, and use some of the yogurt for making cream cheese and whey

****  Baked pearl barley porridge: I modified a version I sourced from the blog 'Scandi food'.  Soak overnight 1 cup pearl barley in 3 cups of organic milk. Next day chop in two apples, a tsp of cinnamon and a big handful of frozen berries.  Mix and put in the oven with a lid or aluminum foil on top for 1 1/2 hours on 160-180C until all milk is soaked in.  Yum hot or cold with yogurt and maple syrup.  (Pearl barley is an acquired taste.  I love it!) 

***** Home made cream cheese: Simple, simple, simple.  Use a muslin cloth, put in as much yogurt as you want (I put in half a litre at a time) twist the top of the cloth and put it in a sieve over a bowl with a weight like a saucer on top.  Leave for 2-3 hours (the longer you leave it the firmer it gets).  The liquid that drains out is the whey and I use it for cooking.  Whey freezes well.  

****** In Australia Dick Smith makes a lovely sugar free marmalade; the strawberry and the apricot jams are nice too (forget the fig!), but the jars are dumb! You can’t get everything out and they are too long for a normal tea spoon!

I will get the recipes for the fruit bread, pancakes and banana bread to you next time.

Enjoy your breakfasts.  :)

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