Category Archives: Breakfast

“Give It Time” Green Smoothie

green smoothie

Yes, I know this isn’t green!

I’ve been dealing with several health problems over the past few months and in my struggle to get my life back on track, I decided to commit to consuming green smoothies on a regular basis. I had tried several variations in the past and have to admit that healthy or not, they were just too “nasty” for me. However, when push comes to shove and your health is on the line, it is amazing how one can actually suppress the gag reflex and learn to enjoy these “puréed salads in a cup”.

If you landed here expecting me to tell you how delicious this healthy smoothie recipe is and that it is an absolute must try…this is not the post for you. I believe in being transparent and completely honest. When my friend passed this recipe along and I tried it for the first time, I was not a raving fan. In fact, when she asked me how I liked it, I said, “Okay, I guess…I didn’t throw-up”. And this was not really an exaggeration. If you are used to those creamy fruit filled dream like smoothie sensations like I was…brace yourself.

Green smoothies are not really that great tasting and the texture of mine don’t ever seem to get as smooth as in a fruit smoothie, but the strange thing is….within a couple of days you develop a taste for them. I mean I actually crave this cup of goodness. I can’t say it’s the flavour or the texture, but more so like I know I’m drinking a glass of nutrients or a cup of health…I can’t quite explain it, but I’m hooked. I now drink green smoothies most days (at least 5 days a week) and can honestly say I miss them on the days I don’t . Green smoothies are one of  the easiest ways to pack so many essential nutrients and vitamins into one meal.

Robin’s Original Green Smoothie Recipe:

What I love most about Robin’s recipe is that each and every ingredient that she uses was picked for its nutritional elements. To find out more about some of the many health benefits of the ingredients, just follow the links.

Dump all the ingredients in a blender and mix to desired consistency.

Green Smoothie Tips

My Variations:

In order for this “green smoothie” thing to work for me, I knew I had to tweak it so that it was more than just tolerable. Here is what I discovered:

I basically took Robin’s recipe and made a few adjustments so that it worked for me. For starters, I needed to change the colour and add a hint of sweetness to the mixture. I decided that frozen fruit would be the best option. Blueberries work really well because they are healthy, add that element of sweetness and above all create a deep purpley colour that looks delicious. For me, digestion is one of the problems I’m constantly dealing with, so cranberries and pineapple are also great options in terms of the health benefits. The downside is that neither do much for the smoothie in terms of colour. The cranberries create a smoothie that is a disgusting brownish green and the pineapples don’t adjust the green colour at all. When I add cranberries, I will often add in a number of blueberries as well, just to help with the colour.

I often find myself rushed in the morning and as much as I would like to have a fried egg along with my smoothie, I generally find, I just don’t have time to do both. So, if my smoothie was going to serve as my entire breakfast, I had to incorporate some protein into it. I decided to add chia seeds and flax meal to add a substantial amount of protein to my drink.

Although my recipe fluctuates and changes constantly, this is my basic plan:

Cindy’s “Give it Time” Green SmoothieGreen Smoothie

  • 2 cups of packed organic spinach (or baby romaine)
  • 2 stalks of celery (up to 3 with leaves on)
  • 1/3 to 1/2 a cucumber (if not organic, then peel it)
  • 1″ of fresh peeled ginger
  • 1/4 cup of fresh parsley
  • 1-2 mint leaves (when I have them on hand)
  • juice from 1/2 a lemon
  • liquid (water or good quality fruit juice with no sugar added – usually pineapple or cranberry)
  • 1 to 2 Tablespoons of flax meal (ground flax)
  • 2 to 3 Tablespoons of chia seeds
  • 1/2 cup of frozen fruit (blueberries, cranberries or pineapple chunks)

One of the biggest challenges is not making too big of a batch. I have a 16 oz cup with a straw and lid and my recipe usually fills that plus about 1/2 more. I wish I could get it exactly right, but I never seem to be able to. Of course, if I actually measured each and every ingredient every time, I would be able to perfect this, but I am often in such a rush I just eyeball the amounts as I throw them in the blender. Robin will often place the prepared veggies in her blender and set it in the fridge the evening before. This way she just has to add her liquid (and berries for me) to quickly whip it up in the morning. I never seem to be that organized or have the energy left to prep it at the end of the day, so I am pulling it together last minute. I probably have the time down to about 5 minutes and always take my smoothie in the car, so it is still a quick and easy breakfast.

In summary, I am totally hooked on my green smoothies, but you really do have to “give it time”.  Play with it a bit and commit to a week before giving up. I actually have a hard time drinking fruit smoothies now. They just seem soooo sweet. Much like when I went from drinking double double coffee to cream only. At first, it is not easy to take, but eventually you can’t even stomach the sugary taste.

Update:

Although I still enjoy my smoothies, I sometimes find it hard to enjoy a frozen drink on winter mornings when the temperatures are hovering between minus 20 and 40 degrees! I presently tend to be opting for eggs most mornings. However, I’ve recently been doing some research on the benefits of juicing. I had never really given juicing much thought and still am not sure if I’m up to the chore of cleaning the machine after each use. (I can be lazy that way.) However, Dr. Josh Axe is a real supporter of juicing and I totally respect him and his opinions.

Juicing is an easy way to get a whopping heap of fresh veggies (and fruits) into your diet in one easy shot – or however many you want a day. You can consume far more of these veggies and fruits with juicing than you could probably eat in the same amount of time.

A fellow blogger recently shared a post written on Health Ambition that outlined the health benefits of celery. Their article:  7 Surprising Celery Juice Benefits absolutely substantiates the advantages of including celery in juices (and I suppose in my smoothies as well). I also love the fact that there is a free download for juicing recipes. I recently borrowed a juicer from a friend and can’t wait to try some of their recipes! Juicing is a great way to optimize the number of nutrients in your diet and research suggests it can also aid in weight loss. With the big 50 looming in the not so distant future, I have noticed how easy it is for those few extra pounds to show up on the scale and how much more difficult it has become to make them disappear again. If you decide to giving juicing a try, let me know about your experiences. Be sure to check out the article on the health benefits of celery! 

 

Hard Boiled Eggs in the Oven?

If you frequent Pinterest, I’m sure you have seen the pins showing how to bake eggs in their shell instead of hard boiling them on the stove. If you read my Devilled Egg post back in the summer, you would understand why I jumped all over this idea. So, I decided to try this out for our Easter eggs.

Directions for Baking Eggs:

I basically did exactly what was suggested on the “pins”. I preheated my oven to 325 degrees. I placed my eggs in a muffin tin and baked them for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes I removed them from the oven and transferred them to an ice bath.

The Good News:

The eggs cooked perfectly.

The Bad News:

Like some of the other pinners, my eggs ended up with brown spots on the shells and even some spots that looked a bit scorched. Decorating wasn’t high on my kids interest list, so we ended up peeling and eating some of the dozen that I baked.  All of the eggs had little brown/scorch marks on them in a place or two. It had no impact on the taste, but if presentation was of concern, I would not recommend this technique. I’m not sure what causes this, but I have to admit I did not turn the eggs during the 30 minute bake time. Some suggested turning them half way through the baking time and others didn’t, so of course I opted for the easier of the two and didn’t bother turning them. I’m not sure if turning would have prevented this or not. Although my muffin tin was clean, it is well used and “seasoned”. I’m not sure if this was the problem or not.

The Verdict:

This works well if you are making egg salad sandwiches for your family, but I wouldn’t recommend this method for devilled eggs you plan on serving to company or for decorating Easter eggs. Having said that, it didn’t really impact the few eggs we decorated this year. We just made sure to “colour” over the spots and you really couldn’t see the brown marks, but it would totally depend on how you were decorating your eggs. Based on my one experience with this cooking method, I think I’ll probably stick to the traditional method and just boil them. Cool idea though!

Place the eggs in an ice bath.
You can see the discolouration on the eggs.
Most of the marks washed off this one, but 1/12 isn’t a great result.

FYI They didn’t peel any easier either! 

Hot Oatmeal Breakfast Sundae

The kids are back to school, but I was lucky enough to have my day off land on the first day back, so I get one extra day all to myself. I decided to treat myself to something I don’t indulge in too often anymore ~ a Hot Oatmeal Sundae!

What is a Hot Oatmeal Sundae?

Well, oatmeal has been a breakfast favourite for decades, but I have to admit it was not one of mine. A few years ago, I pretty much forced myself to eat “porridge” as I had read about how good it was for you. I had to play around a bit to find a way that I could eat it without actually gagging. Honestly, the consistency did not agree with me. Eventually, I not only developed a love of hot oatmeal, but it actually became one of my favourite breakfasts.

Hot Oatmeal Breakfast Sundae:

Ingredients:

  • cooked oatmeal (I just use the Quick Oats and even opt for the microwave version if I don’t have the time to prepare it on the stove top. (In this case, 1/3 cup oats to 2/3 cup water with a pinch of salt for about 2 minutes)
  • a bit of milk to create a texture/creaminess that suits your tastes
  • Sundae toppings of your choice (walnuts, pecans, chopped dates, blueberries, apples, cinnamon, brown sugar, pure maple syrup, chia seeds, flax seeds, etc.)

There really is no right or wrong way to make this, but my favourite consists of hot oatmeal with milk stirred in  and topped chopped dates, apple, chopped walnuts, cinnamon and a sprinkle of both chia and flax seeds. I generally don’t need any sweetener as the dates make it sweet enough. If you do opt to add sugar or syrup, do so sparingly. This is so yummy and a great way to serve oatmeal to kids. It is fun to set out a little of tray of toppings and let them build their own Breakfast Sundae. Enjoy! (I don’t think I need to actually say this, but I will. If you are thinking, “Oh, that’s just like those little flavoured packages you can buy!” Let me make this perfectly clear. It is nothing like those packages, this is a delicious way to incorporate a medley of fresh nutritious foods into your breakfast. I always add items that add extra protein because I believe it is very important to have ample protein with every meal.)

P.S. You may be wondering why I began the post by saying that I don’t eat this often…..Did you know that Lyn Genet-Recitas lists oatmeal as one of the 7 “devil foods” in her book. She includes it on the list because so many people believe that it is a healthy choice when it is actually reactive for  85% of the population. I am okay with it, but I know that it is not a completely friendly food for me, so it is a once in a while treat for me. Go figure? I force myself to eat it believing I should be and now have to limit my intake because it actually causes inflammation in my body. In her book, THE PLAN she states:

…inflammation is the underlying factor behind all disease and health issues.

Although oatmeal has been identified as a food that helps lower cholesterol, that is only true for those few people who do not have an inflammatory response to oatmeal consumption. That is really the trouble with nutrition these days, no one really knows what to eat anymore. Foods seem to bounce from the Superfoods list to the Devil Foods list and it is difficult to know what the best choices are. Again, I really think it is worth the time and energy to figure this out for yourself as everyone reacts to food differently.

Baked Apple Cinnamon Pancake

Cook the sliced apples.
Place cooked apples in oven proof dish.
Cover with batter.
Bake until brown and puffy.
Invert on platter.
Cut in wedges and serve.

This is one of my favourite pancake recipes. It is a little more work as you need to peel, slice and cook the apples prior to baking the pancake, but the flip side is you don’t have to hover over a griddle flipping the entire batch. I got this recipe from an old church cook book and I’m not sure of the original source, but this is a great recipe and ideal for serving to company or at a brunch.

Baked Apple Cinnamon Pancake:

Apple Mixture Ingredients:

  • 4 Granny Smith apples:   peeled, cored and thinly sliced
  • 1/4 cup butter
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon

Apple Mixture Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Melt the butter. Add the apples to the pan and sprinkle them with the sugar and cinnamon. Cook for 10 minutes or until the apples are tender and the liquid has cooked off. Transfer cooked apples to an oven proof dish (9″ X 13″ or 3.5 litre) that has been prepared with cooking spray.

Batter Ingredients:

  • 6 eggs
  • 1 cup flour
  • 1 cup milk
  •  3 Tablespoons sugar (I suggest 1 Tablespoon of brown sugar as it is quite sweet.)
  • 1/4 cup melted butter

Batter Instructions:

Beat the eggs. Add the balance of the ingredients and blend until smooth. Pour the batter over the cooked apples.  Bake in hot oven for 25 minutes or until browned and puffy. Invert onto a platter and cut into wedges. Sprinkle with icing sugar (Oops! I forgot to do this today!) and serve with maple syrup and/or a dollop of whipped cream.

*If you are serving these for a fancy brunch or company, you can cook an additional apple and serve the wedges of pancake with whipped cream, a spoonful of cooked apple and a sprinkle of cinnamon. These are absolutely delicious!

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Birthday Cake Pancakes

Eden had a sleepover birthday party last night and the girls will soon be up and ready for breakfast. Traditionally, I always make homemade waffles for her parties, as waffles are one of her favourites. This year, I thought I would try something different. There are several versions of these on-line, none of which I have ever made. I opted for this recipe and hope they are a hit with the girls ~ especially the birthday girl!

Birthday Cake Pancakes:

This recipe was borrowed from Seeded at the Table, but I do believe Nikki adapted this recipe from My Life As a Mrs. For the complete recipes and suggestions, please follow the  links.

I have never made these before, so I decided to stick to the recipe. My last attempt at trying a new pancake recipe didn’t go that well. I make pancakes for the kids regularly and seldom have issues flipping them or having them stay together, but those Cinnamon Swirl pancakes weren’t my best work. They tasted great, but were a horrible mess to serve. Hopefully, these will go off without a hitch.

Here’s Nikki’s Birthday Cake Pancake Recipe:

Ingredients:

    • 1 1/2 cups  flour
    • 1 cup yellow cake mix
    • 1 Tablespoon sugar
    • 1 teaspoon baking powder
    • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
    • 1/4 teaspoon salt
    • 2 eggs
    • 1 1/2 cups buttermilk
    • 1/2 cup milk
    • 2 Tablespoons melted butter
    • 1 teaspoon vanilla
    • 1/3 cup sprinkles
For the icing (optional):
  • Whipping cream
  • Powdered sugar

Heat a griddle or non-stick skillet over medium heat.  Combine the dry ingredients and set aside.

In a separate medium bowl, lightly beat the eggs with a whisk. Add the milks, butter and vanilla and whisk to combine. Pour the wet ingredients into the bowl with the dry ingredients and stir until fully mixed. Fold in the sprinkles.

Scoop just shy of 1/3 cup batter onto the griddle for each pancake, leaving room for the batter to spread into larger rounds. When the pancakes begin to bubble, flip and cook for another 1-2 minutes. Transfer to a plate and cover with a kitchen towel to keep warm until serving. Serve with syrup or optional icing.

Optional Icing:

Mix together powdered sugar and whipping cream to reach desired consistency and taste. Pour over top individual stack of pancakes.

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Cinnamon Swirl Pancakes

I have been eyeing these babies up for months and finally decided to give them a try. I have to start by saying that I make pancakes for the kids often, but despite my interest in trying new recipes, my kid’s will always opt for Grandma Ruth’s Pancakes when given the choice. My mom’s recipe is for basic fluffy homemade pancakes without any extras ~ no berries, no bananas, no special sauces, just plain old pancakes with fake syrup. I think my kids must be the only humans on the face of the earth who get mad when I try to trick them by placing Pure Maple Syrup in the Aunt Jemima bottle. They both prefer the fake stuff, hands-down…go figure?

Cinnamon Swirl/Roll Pancakes:

I contemplated not posting this at all, but then thought I would share my experience with Cinnamon Swirl Pancakes. Fortunately, these pancakes tasted a lot better than they looked. They were delicious and even got a thumbs up from my kids. However, I am not sure I would make this exact recipe again. It is probably much more me than the recipe, but I have still opted not to share the recipe. I don’t want to knock someone else’s recipe, especially if it is more me than the recipe itself. There really was no way to make this pancake look good. To be honest, this was the best of the bunch.

Cinnamon Swirl Pancakes

Here is a photo of one of the pancakes that looked somewhat better than the rest. I wouldn’t call it a total failure as they were really good, but my presentation got a minus 1. Not too pretty!

The recipe I used called for sour cream in the pancake batter. I thought this was interesting and was keen to try it, but the batter was super thick. When I poured the batter on the griddle, they didn’t even really flow into a nice circle shape. I also found that the cooked pancakes seemed more inclined to fall apart, almost like they didn’t bind or something. Not sure, but I prefer my Mom’s recipe. I think that the batter that you use is probably irrelevant to the final results, next time I will use our tried and true favourite….Grandma Ruth’s Pancake Recipe!

The cinnamon mixture that was used for the filling was very runny. I followed the instructions, but know from making cinnamon buns that this mixture is usually much thicker. The recipe I followed called for equal amounts of brown sugar and butter and I found it very difficult to pipe the sugar “into” the pancake batter as it was a big runny mess.. You need more sugar than butter. Recipe Girl suggests 1/4 butter to 1/4 cup + 2 T. of brown sugar + 1/2 T. cinnamon ~ this sounds better, I will follow her recipe and suggestions next time. And, oh yes, there will be a next time. Despite the less than successful attempt at creating a visually appealing pancake with a cute little swirl, they were delicious! 

Cinnamon Swirl Pancakes

You can see the brown sugar mixture is quite runny.

Cinnamon Swirl Pancakes

I basically did everything they said not to do….got too close to the edges and found it too runny to pipe “into” the batter as suggested.  What a mess!

On top of the mess with the swirls, the cooked pancakes seemed fall apart really easily. The Maple Coffee Glaze was also delicious, but almost too sweet for me.

Cinnamon Swirl/Roll Pancake recipes are all over the internet. If you love pancakes or even if you don’t, these are worth the extra effort and I suggest giving them a try. I wouldn’t plan to serve them for company until you’ve tried them out first as they are a bit finicky.  Follow Recipe Girl’s tips and I think the results will be great. I can’t wait to try her cream cheese glaze. Having said that, I think these fall into the category of a rarely treat ~ they are simply sinful and would rank pretty low on the nutrients scale!

Cinnamon Swirl Pancakes

Here is a shot of the stack made by Recipe Girl. I put this in to inspire you! This was the look I was going for, but missed by a mile. Good luck!

I thought I would share my mom’s tried and true recipe for regular fluffy pancakes. I love this recipe and find that it is a great basic recipe to play with. I have had great success using whole wheat flour entirely or even just using it in conjunction with the white flour. I have also had some success using coconut flour although I am not going to even try to suggest that it is the same. You can also use this basic recipe and add your favourite fruit directly into the batter. I love to add blueberries, pumpkin, bananas or peaches. Yummy!

Grandma Ruth’s Pancakes

1 1/2 cups of flour
1-2 Tablespoons sugar
1 Tablespoon Baking Powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 beaten egg
1 1/4 cups of milk
2 Tablespoons oil or melted butter

Sift dry ingredients. Add wet ingredients and mix well either by hand or with an electric mixer. Cook on a preheated griddle or in a non-stick pan. Flip the pancakes when bubbles start to form on the surface of the batter.

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Delicious Pumpkin Pancakes

In honour of American Thanksgiving, I thought I would give these 5 star rated Pumpkin Pancakes a whirl. Shay has a game this morning, so I thought I would get up, make scrambled eggs, bacon and pumpkin pancakes for breakfast. The recipe is super easy and other than the can of pumpkin, you should have everything in the house. So, all was going well and I was about 5 minutes away from waking up the sleepy heads in the house for a nice breakfast. Unfortunately, the fire alarm beat me to it. The worst part of the situation is that this is a very common occurence in our house. The smoke detector is absolutely in the wrong place and has this “6th sense” that magically detects when I am cooking. First of all let me set things straight….nothing was burning, there was no smoke (okay, maybe a little) and there was definitely nothing on fire. In all honesty, it is not uncommon for me to set the bells blazing on a weekly basis. I told my husband that the smoke detector is way too sensitive and that we should move it.  He doesn’t agree, perhaps because it doesn’t seem to be nearly as “sensitive” when he does the cooking! Ugh!  Anyways, you can imagine that my breakfast surprise did not go quite as well as I had planned .  Oh the pancakes turned out great. I loved them (all three).  Everyone else woke up grumpy. Oops! (I think the alarm company has some kind of a star beside my name and the words *just cooking printed beside it. Last time they called, they actually gave me a secret code to turn it off manually ~ how embarrassing.)

pumpkin pancakesLight and Fluffy Pumpkin Pancakes

Ingredients:

Servings:  4

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 pinch clove
1 cup 1% low-fat milk (can be any kind and I ended up adding a touch extra to thin the batter slightly)
6 tablespoons canned pumpkin puree
2 tablespoons melted butter
1 egg

Directions:

1. Whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, spices and salt in a bowl.
2. In a separate bowl whisk together milk, pumpkin, melted butter, and egg.
3. Fold mixture into dry ingredients.
4. Spray or grease a skillet and heat over medium heat: pour in 1/4 cup batter for each pancake.
5. Cook pancakes about 3 minutes per side. Serve with butter and syrup.
6. Makes about six 6-inch pancakes.

This recipe was borrowed from food.com

Turkey Mushroom Quiche

It’s turkey left-overs this week at the Roys.  Tune in everyday to find out some of our favourite post Thanksgiving recipes. This recipe was originally taken from the Winnipeg Sun.  I have made it several times and we always enjoy it.  This makes a great brunch dish or a main course for dinner.

Turkey Mushroom Quiche

Ingredients:

1 – 9″ baked pie shell
3/4 cup cooked turkey, chopped
1/4 cup canned mushrooms, sliced (I use fresh)
1 cup light cheddar cheese, grated
2 green onions,  thinly sliced
4 eggs, slightly beaten
1 cup 1% milk
pinch of  cayenne pepper
pinch of nutmeg
pinch of salt

Method:

Arrange turkey in a baked pie shell. Top with mushrooms, cheese and onions.  Combine eggs, milk and seasonings. Pour into pie shell. Bake at 375 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes.  Serve with a tossed salad and buttermilk biscuits, if desired.

Makes 6 servings.

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Waffles with Yummy Dipping Sauce

It is Sunday, the perfect day for waffles served with a white cream sauce.  This recipe was given to us by a close family friend, Kirsten, and has long since been a family favourite. Thanks Kirsten!

waffles

Click the image to get the PDF version of the recipe.

Waffles with Dipping Sauce

Waffles:
5 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup oil
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups white flour (I use whole wheat)
2 cups milk
2 Tablespoons baking powder

Beat the eggs with an electric mixer.  Add oil and beat again. Mix in salt.  Mix flour, milk and baking powder together in a separate bowl.  Stir into the egg mixture.  Bake in a waffle iron.  (It takes 4 minutes in mine, but I am sure that will vary depending on the iron.)

*I am too lazy to use two bowls.  I do the first three steps and then just add the flour, milk and baking powder directly into the egg mixture gradually, mixing it after each addition.  This seems to work fine.  I hand mix as I add the flour, so it doesn’t spray all over.  I tend to do things in a bit of a rush and thus I have tried using the electric beater and had flour spray all over.  Dah!  As I am writing this, I am having a thought. I don’t know why I have never tried it before, but I am going to do it in my blender next time.  I think that would work well and the lid would prevent it from making a big mess.

White Sauce:
3 cups of milk
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup of cornstarch
1 teaspoon of vanilla

Whisk milk, sugar and cornstarch together in a microwave safe bowl.  Cook until boiling in the microwave (but stopping at one minute intervals to stir). Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla.  (You must add the vanilla at the end or it doesn’t seem to thicken the same).    If you read between the lines, you will realize that once again, I tried to skip a step and threw everything in at the beginning and it was a “fail”. The good news is that I don’t give up easily and learn from my mistakes.  I will try to save you the pain of failure.

Waffle Serving Suggestions:

We always serve the waffles with fresh or defrosted frozen berries and the white sauce.  My son loves to have maple syrup with the berries and white sauce ~ it is sinful, but so delicious!  Enjoy!

Side note:  I can’t say how many waffles it actually makes as I never get a chance to count them.  They are generally scooped up right off the iron. I only make a single batch for our family of four and it is fine.  If there seems to be extra, you can either save the batter in the fridge and make fresh waffles the next morning or freeze cooked waffles and pop them in the toaster like an Eggo.

My Favourite Breakfast: Homemade Flax Granola

I am so hooked on my Flax Granola and can hardly believe that I had to choke it down when I first got the recipe in May.  The recipe is from Lyn-Genet’s book The Plan.  The flax granola itself does not have much flavour, but by the time I load it up, it is yummy and very enjoyable.  It is super easy to make and an absolute staple in my diet. I do try to change-up my breakfasts because I feel that it is important to do so, so I tend to switch it up with an omelette a few times per week.  After the initial 20 days on The Plan, Lyn suggests only having the flax granola twice per week.  I must say that I generally have it at least 3 – 4 times per week, so I guess I should cut back. I haven’t “tested” oatmeal yet, but will definitely do so to see if porridge might be another suitable breakfast option for me during the cold winter months.

Homemade Flax Granola Recipe

1 cup whole flax seeds
1/2 cup water
Cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves to taste (I use a very generous amount of all the seasonings).
Raisins, almonds, walnuts, dried cranberries, etc. to taste.
1 teaspoon vanilla (optional, but I use it)

Mix the flax seeds with the water and seasonings.  Refrigerate overnight.  Remove from the fridge and spread in a thin layer on a baking sheet and bake at 275 degrees for 1 hour.  (I line my baking sheet with parchment paper to avoid sticking).  Stir every 20 minutes.  Optional:  Add the fruits and nuts during the last 10 minutes.

flax granola

When I make this, I use all of the recommended seasonings and the vanilla, but do not add any nuts or berries.  However, when I eat the granola for breakfast, I top it with fruit and nuts.  This is my favourite combo:

1 cup of flax granola
1/2 a chopped apple
chopped raw almonds
cinnamon sprinkled on top (generous amount)
Rice Dream in lieu of milk
At times,  I have even microwaved the flax a bit and served the granola warm….mmm.

flax granola with apple

The Facts About Flax

flax seeds Flax seeds offer many health benefits.  They are high in Omega-3’s, calcium, and protein.  I cup of flax seeds has 40 grams of protein.  They also contain mucilage which supports digestion and helps to give your intestines a “clean sweep”.  Lyn mentions the importance of using flax seeds over ground flax.  Eating whole flax seeds help to cut down on the risk of absorption of the estrogenic properties present in flax.  Flax has been shown to benefit cardiovascular health and there is evidence that it offers anti-inflammatory benefits as well.  Due to the anti-inflammatory benefits, flax can also be considered a possibility for helping to reduce the risks of cancer and other inflammatory conditions.

 

Farmland Flax Cookies

flax cookies

A colleague made these flax cookies a few years ago and shared the recipe.  They were very good, but I have not yet made them myself.  Here is the link to the recipe.

 

 

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