Monday and Almond Okara Dip

Is there such a thing as a good Monday morning? At our house the week always starts with a flurry of activity which never seems to set a good tone for the day. I am sure this is because we stay up too late on the weekend. I guess you know what that means right? Yes we are going to try to get into bed early on the weekends to see if that helps Mondays go a little more smoothly.

Breakfast for Dan was his favorite oatmeal with wild blueberries, wheat germ, freshly ground flaxseed, cinnamon, powdered ginger, walnuts and stevia.

Breakfast for me was my favorite cold weather dish, savory oatmeal. Like usual I made the oats “cheezy” using nutritional yeast and flavored them with cumin, oregano and paprika. Additionally I stirred in 2 tablespoons of wheat germ and 1 tablespoon of freshly ground flaxseeds for added nutrition. I topped the oats with broccoli, salsa, tomato and raw pumpkin seeds. What I like about having savory oatmeal for breakfast is that it is: 1) very filling and satisfying and keeps me full well into the afternoon 2) nutritionally dense and 3) it reminds me of a broccoli and cheese stuffed potato with none of the guilt. I think savory oatmeal is a wonderful cold weather breakfast. Thank you Courtney for introducing me to the concept of savory oatmeal.

After the huge bowl of oatmeal and the multiple mugs of green and white tea I had today I wasn’t terribly hungry at lunch time. However I know myself and if I didn’t eat something I would have been starving at dinner time so I made myself a snack of carrots and okara and almond butter dip.

Yesterday when I made soymilk which meant I had okara leftover from the process. This time I turned into a dip by adding fresh ginger and homemade reduced fat almond butter. I didn’t measure any of this but I will tell you what I did. I strained the okara well as part of the process of making soymilk and placed the okara into the food processor. Then I added about two inches of fresh grated ginger to the processor and about ½ cup reduced fat almond butter. I processed this until smooth and tasted it for flavor. The almond butter makes the spread creamy and rich. The ginger flavor came through but not in an intense way. I also added a little powdered ginger (because fresh and dried ginger have different health benefits), and some white pepper. This makes a huge volume of okara dip. I froze some of it to see how that works and will let you know what I defrost it. Dan thinks this is a nice alternative to fat free hummus.

Dinner was late (don’t ask) so I made something light that I hoped wouldn’t keep up away. This time it a huge salad (in a serving bowl like usual) of: mesclun, strawberries, blackberries, oranges and topped with balsamic vinegar and a few chopped walnuts. Since this wasn’t enough food for Dan he also had some carrots and okara and almond butter dip.

Happy Thoughts:

As much as I adore my husband I also like having a little time during the week to myself. I use this time to learn, grow and do things just for me. With that in mind here are my happy thoughts today:

• Is there anything better than having the scale give you good news? *happy dance* Don’t you just love getting on the scale and getting news?  ;-)
• I spent a lot of Monday watching the DVD from The Great Courses on pathophysiology and thoroughly enjoyed myself. It is wonderful to have time to do things like this.

• Monday I had the opportunity to talk to a friend on the phone which was great. I can always use more healthy friends to keep me focused.

• It was great to take time on Monday to go for a long walk in the neighborhood. I loved that the weather is definitely starting to feel like spring and that I have time that available to spend outside other than in a car like in my not too distant past.

Signing out:

Tuesday has been a little busy but good. I listened to an interesting webinar today that I will tell you about tomorrow. What did I do before there was an internet? *shakes head* It is hard to imagine life without technology now isn’t it? Talk to you again tomorrow. I hope you had a great Tuesday.