My Secret Recipe Club assignment this month was Denise from Creative Kitchen Adventures. Denise and I share something in common. We’re both incapable of following a recipe to the letter. Denise says:
I always look up at least 3-4 recipes for the given item & then I “tweak” it and make it my own!
Every.single.time.
I don’t think it is humanly possible for me to FOLLOW a recipe to the letter.
Just.doesn’t.happen.here.
Oh, how I can relate, Denise!
So, I’m sure she won’t mind that I’m tweaking one of her recipes this month. Denise uses a lot of dairy products in her recipes. In fact, her blog reads a lot like mine would have read had I started blogging before I went dairy-free. You know, back when sour cream, cream cheese, yogurt, and cheese were all considered daily staples in my house.
That’s not to say that every recipe she has has dairy. I found these amazing sounding black beans. They’re on my to-try list.
And, had I wanted to make a dessert (seriously, when do I NOT want to make a dessert) I would have jumped on these flourless brownie cookies.
But, I’ve been mulling over the grain-free thing, and feeling like perhaps I need to try to incorporate some grains back into my life – mostly because I’m feeling very heavy and weighed down with the massive quantities of nuts in my life right now. I’ve found myself eating way too many of those in an attempt to compensate for the complete lack of grains. I recently did a nutrition calculation on my favorite breakfast (banana, peanuts, peanut butter, raisins and almond milk). Holy moly, I had no idea how many calories I was consuming at breakfast. Take a look at these numbers:
Nutrition Data for a Peanut Butter Banana Bowl
Geez, Louise. That’s a lot of calories and sodium for breakfast. You know how much I love my breakfast bowls, but that’s just out of hand. Time to try something new.
So, I landed on her yummy breakfast recipe. Filled with brown rice, low sugar berries, and just a few nuts, it seemed the perfect way to incorporate a “safe” whole grain back into my diet – except for that dastardly yogurt. So, I left it out. Instead, I made a “yogurt-like” concoction by blending the berries with a big handful of spinach and a little bit of almond milk (or kombucha, if you have it, to mimic some of the happy, healthy probiotic beasties of yogurt). And, I skipped the raisins and maple syrup. I’m emphasizing low sugar foods these days.
Tweaking. It’s what we do. Right, Denise?
Here are the new and improved breakfast nutrition stats. You might notice that a large percentage of calories still come from fats. I don’t have a problem with that. I’m not afraid of good fats, like those found in nuts and coconut.
Nutrition Data for Brown Rice Bowl
I think that even leaves room for a breakfast cookie once in a while. Don’t you?
So how did the great grain experiment go? Well, sadly, though I found this breakfast to be satisfying, delicious and healthy, my stomach was not pleased. *sigh*
But, if you can eat grains regularly, I urge you to give it a go!
Yummy Breakfast Bowl
Yummy Rice Bowl Breakfast
1/2 cup berries or unsweetened cherries (nutrition stats done with blueberries)
1 large handful (1 ounce) spinach
1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk or kombucha
2 T. chopped nuts (nutrition stats done with pecans)
2 t. finely shredded unsweetened coconut
1/2 cup cooked brown rice, cooled (Be sure to check Denise’s blog for rice cooking instructions)
In a small blender (I use my fake Magic Bullet style blender) puree the berries, spinach and almond milk. Pour into a bowl. Top with rice, coconut and nuts.
To see the rest of this month’s Secret Recipe Club submissions, visit the blog hop:
