Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Quick and Simple Breakfasts

I have been spending a lot of time recently thinking about food that would be good on the sailboat. Obviously I don’t want to spend a lot of time cooking on the boat but I also want healthy food on board.  Breakfast was the meal that I am the most concerned about because I don’t want to haul my Vitamix back and forth nor do I want to buy a second one for the boat because that seems wasteful (like a sailboat is the height of practicality as we all know, LOL).

I suppose I could make some green smoothies at home and freeze them solid in the deep freeze. Then I could let me thaw in the boat refrigerator or cooler and maybe they still be cold and slushy the next morning. However I will have to experiment to see how well that works.


We could always take fruit with us and eat that with some cashew yogurt and homemade granola for breakfast. That would make a nice breakfast and one that doesn’t take too much effort to put together on the boat. I will have to make the cashew yogurt and no-sugar no-oil granola at home but neither are difficult so they will both show up on the boat a lot I suspect.


It also occurred to me that I can take oatmeal on the boat. Lately I have been making steel cut oats at home which I cook in water with golden raisins, cinnamon, powdered ginger and cardamom. When the oats are cooked I stir in raw pumpkin seeds, raw sunflower seeds and sliced almonds. Typically I pour a little almond milk over the top. You could also add some fresh fruit to the oatmeal.

Another option is non-breakfast food which I am fine with but Dan doesn’t love as much.

Other than these few ideas I am a bit at loss for what to make for breakfast on the sailboat. I am hoping that you have an idea or two about healthy breakfasts that require minimal prep time. If you have ideas please share I would greatly appreciate any and all suggestions.

Happy Thoughts:

What a crazy week I am having again. There has been a lot of activity at our place. So much for “dolce far niente”, personally I can’t wait for the sweetness of nothing to begin. However I suppose we have to do the work to get to the nothing part right?

• Things are moving along nicely with the sailboat. We are both thrilled with the progress so far and are very anxious to get our new baby home. Everything is starting to come together just as we had hoped. :-)

• Tuesday I had to run to the veterinarian to pick up meds for Her Royal Highness Luca Belle. Doc wants us to start to wean her off the steroids because of the side effects which are scary to say the very least. Please keep our little princess in your thoughts. We need to keep her asthma under control so that she can have surgery while also minimizing her exposure to the steroids.

• I spent some time yesterday watching the nutrition course from The Great Courses and enjoyed that. You know that I love that stuff right? It didn’t include much new information for me but I enjoyed it none the same. I never get tired of reading or hearing about nutrition. Can you say geek? LOL

• Don’t you love that it is Wednesday already and that we are half way through another week! *woo hoo*. I am already looking forward to the weekend. How about you?

Signing Out:

I have a lot of things to do around the house today so I need to run. Talk to you again soon. :-)

17 comments:

  1. You could make the steel cut oats ahead of time and then just heat them up on the boat. Or make extra thick smoothies, spoon out some of that and top with granola/nuts for one of those "acai like bowls" that they sell for a fortune. Vegan muffins/banana bread (premade!), Breakfast wraps using the eggplant bacon, rice, ? Good luck, can't wait to hear what you came up with!

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  2. Liana,

    You are reading my mind with the steel cut oats. ;-) Reading your comment also just made me think of "brown rice pudding". Since we prefer that cold that could be a winner with some fresh fruit added just before serving. *happy dance*

    I have never heard of an acai bowl but now I am very intrigued. Sounds like something I would love! Thanks for telling me about them. :-)

    Breakfast wraps sound perfect for me though I am not sure if Dan would enjoy them. I do love anything that you can eat from you hand. Maybe I could make spring rolls at home and wrap them individually to take with us. Hmmm....I wonder if Dan would go for that?

    thanks for the suggestions,
    Ali

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  3. You could also make overnight oats: just soak rolled oats in almond or soy milk and add chia seeds and frozen or fresh fruit. I find them really soothing and tasty in the summer just cold from the fridge. Also, it's a little obvious, but a big bowl of fruit with nuts would be super easy and tasty.

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  4. Brigid,

    I may be the only one in the blog world who isn't crazy them but overnight oats are not my favorite. I would eat them in a pinch but the texture is a little off for me. However I wish that I did like them because that would be a fantastic solution. Oh well! ....

    The fruit and nut idea is a good one too. I suspect we will be eating a lot of cold produce right out of the refrigerator. :-)

    Ali

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  5. Fruit! You could make a fruit and nut butter wrap. Quick and easy and covering all the bases.

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  6. In the summer, I eat raw rolled oats with fruit, nuts, and soy or almond milk. They're chewier, but I don't particularly mind the texture. What I tend to do when I travel (or if I don't have access to fresh fruit) is mix up a few batches of oatmeal with ground flax, cinnamon, nuts, and chopped up dried fruit and bring along single- serving boxes of whatever form of non-dairy milk.

    Following up on the lovely fruit and nut butter wrap idea- I've done peanut (or almond) butter with sliced dates in that form.

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  7. Hello Alicia,

    Maybe green smoothies or juice would travel fairly well. A cold soup might also work if Dan would like it too.
    By the way, what do you use in your no-sugar no-oil granola? I've been trying for a while to come up with a good recipe! Thank you!
    I hope you have many wonderfully relaxing times on the boat!

    -Sarah

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  8. What about overnight chia pudding? Or homemade Luna/Clif bars?

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  9. One breakfast I love in hot weather is to take a cup of frozen mixed berries (Costco) and top with a quarter cup of raw oats. I don't even bother with granola! You could add stevia or flax. I do a few sunflower seeds usually also. It's so easy and the flavor of the berries really shines!

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  10. Balancing,

    A fruit and nut butter wrap is brilliant. Thanks! :-)

    Ali

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  11. Roia,

    Clearly I need to try raw oats again since they have many fans. Not sure I can get my hubby to go for that but I guess I won't know if I don't try right? ;-)

    That sounds like my kind of wrap peanut butter and dates. Yum!

    Ali

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  12. Sarah,

    A cold soup is a good idea. If it is fruit based I think Dan might go for it. ;-)

    The granola is not quite ready to be published yet, but it is close. I am making another batch today. Let's hope the third time is the charm. If you don't want to wait I can email you the basics. Just let me know. :-)

    Thanks, we are both looking forward to relaxing on the boat!

    Ali

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  13. Jackie,

    Dan isn't wild about the texture of chia pudding but it does work for me. :-)

    Your Luna/Clif bar idea gave me an idea. Maybe I can make granola bars. I will have to try that today and see how it works.

    thanks!
    Ali

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  14. Neca,

    I love the mixed berries from Costco, brilliant idea. I have no idea if there is a freezer on the boat though. Now I need to do some research to find out. BTW I am going to try your suggestion for my breakfast this morning since I always have those berries in my freezer at home for smoothies. :-)

    thanks!
    Ali

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  15. Congrats on the new boat! I think I'd bring a cheap blender, as they do a great job on most things. The smoothies/soups might be a bit more fibrous, but I'm sure you could live with that (or adjust the ingredients).

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  16. Laura,

    Thanks! :-) We are both very excited about our new baby as only boat parents would be.

    I have a Kitchen Aid blender packed away (it was what I was using before the Vitamix) which I will take to the boat. However I don't expect it to last long. Before I bought the Vitamix I was destroying blenders in under a year. We may have to take the big guns with us or a buy a second one as much as I am trying to avoid that.

    Have a great long weekend!
    Ali

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  17. Ali,

    I am wondering if you've posted your granola recipe yet? I'd love it if you don't mind sharing!

    Delise

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