Sunday Morning Oatmeal

I don't have time to make it on weekdays, but Nick and I love to have old fashioned oatmeal on the weekends. This morning he was asking me for some before I'd even finished my first cup of coffee. "You make oatmeal. Want to eat oatmeal. With cinnamon!"

Nick had already had breakfast, about an hour before. My husband gets up with him and lets me sleep in, which is nice. So this meal was his second breakfast. We had our oatmeal with strawberries. Please notice how Nick took a bite from the tip of all the strawberries. It made me giggle. That must be the best part.

During the week, I use the packets of oatmeal, which are okay. But they're nothing like real oatmeal made on the stove. I use milk instead of water, and the old fashioned regular oatmeal with the big pieces. It takes 5-10 minutes of constant stirring to get the consistency just right, but it's definitely worth the weight. This oatmeal is heartier and the milk gives it protein. I add fancy Vietnamese cinnamon from Penzey's Spices. It's way nicer than grocery store cinnamon.

Nick can eat an entire serving by himself. Oh, and he eventually ate four of the strawberries. He just likes to eat the tips first, for some reason.

Oatmeal is a pretty healthy meal, but it always makes me feel relaxed. Maybe that's because I only make it on leisurely weekend days.

Cold Weather = Bacon?

Why does cold weather make me crave bacon? It must be something about putting on a layer of fat to help keep me warm. I absolutely hate cold weather, and lately I just can't seem to get warm. The picture above is actually from a few weeks ago, on another very cold day when I took Nick out to eat at a little diner near our house. He's showing us all how much he loves bacon, too.

As I was driving home from work today, in the cold, in the dark, I suddenly had a thought. "Bacon." As I drove further, it became all consuming, so much so that I decided to run into the grocery store and get some so that I could incorporate it into dinner. After all, it isn't really normal to have bacon for a snack.

So tonight I made breakfast for dinner. All of us have bad colds, so we had orange juice for the Vitamin C. I made scrambled eggs with spinach, peppers, and goat cheese. We had english muffins, and, of course, bacon on the side. Something about a cholesterol-filled dinner is extremely appealing on a cold winter day.

Nick must have the same cravings. He stood near me the entire time I cooked, begging for bits to eat. It's funny how as soon as the smell starts to fill the kitchen, he comes, drawn to the meat. "Bacon!" he announced. "Want bacon please. Please! Bacon!" Then, when he'd eaten a slice, he'd insist. "More bacon!"  He reminded me of that old commercial for bacon-flavored dog treats, where the dog keeps saying "Bacon!"

By the time dinner was actually served, he'd eaten at least half of an orange pepper, plus a slice or two of bacon. Then he ate his whole dinner. I guess I'm not the only one craving fatty foods this winter.

Breakfast for Dinner

After a long day of playing, running, dancing, and swinging. . .

Nick gets a little hungry. Last week, I was inspired to make a special breakfast for our dinner. Greg has been watching a ton of Food Network, and after watching the cooks make scrambled eggs, I decided I was in the mood to try my own recipe. Plus, I forgot to defrost any meat or fish.

What you see on the plate is a dinner in three parts. First, a spinach salad with oranges, strawberries, and goat cheese. Then, a lemon blueberry cinnamon bran muffin. Finally, there are scrambled eggs with spinach, peppers, and a generous amount of goat cheese. Because in this world, you can never have too much goat cheese.

The muffins are a recipe from Rick Gallop's "Living the GI Diet." I've been trying (not very hard, but trying nonetheless) to incorporate more foods that are GI friendly. GI stands for Glycemic Index, and this diet was recommended to me by my doctor since I have trouble with insulin resistance and post-prandial hypoglycemia. The idea with this program is to balance good carbs and proteins, to eat lots of fiber from good carbs, and to avoid white flour, sugar, and too much fat. I try to stick to white whole wheat flour, and I add things like flax seed and wheat germ to recipes all the time. Nick and Greg don't even notice.

Anyway, I'm going to share with you the way I've been making my scrambled eggs. I think this is my favorite way ever to have eggs. It's also quicker and easier than making an omelet.

Goat Cheese Omelet with Spinach and Bell Pepper

1. Dice most of a bell pepper (orange or red) and place in the frying pan (on medium heat) with a tablespoon of olive oil, a few sprigs of fresh thyme, and a big bhandful of spinach, torn into small pieces. Heat until the peppers are mostly cooked. Put the vegetables aside.
2. Heat a big frying pan (medium high heat) and place about a tablespoon of unsalted butter on it to melt.
3. Take five or six eggs and beat. I use Costco's organic cage free brown eggs. They really do taste better.
4. Add in two to three tablespoons of whole milk and beat some more.
5. Take the butter from the pan and pour just a bit into the mixture. There should still be enough butter in the pan to coat it. Beat the egg mixture a little more.
6. Pour the eggs into the pan and use a rubber scraper or plastic spatula to scrape the mixture towards the center as it cooks. Keep scraping as the eggs cook.
7. When the eggs are mostly cooked, add in the vegetables and keep scraping and stirring.
8. Add crumbled goat cheese (to taste, I use a ton) and a bit of salt and pepper. Enjoy. Nick sure did.

Actually, looking at these pictures is making me hungry. Perhaps I'll do breakfast for dinner again tonight. . .