Healthy eating isn’t something you should only do on “normal” days. Holidays count too! Here are some simple holiday healthy eating tips to help you have a healthier 4th:

• Instead of regular burgers, switch to some homemade veggie burgers or grab some Sunshine burgers from your health food store for ease. (When I’m short on time, I believe I personally keep that company in business! If only they hadn’t discontinued their no-added-salt burgers …) I don’t recommend Boca burgers and the like because they contain very little nutrition. Check labels carefully.
• If you insist on having hot dogs, at least switch to a brand that contains no added nitrites and other preservatives or to a vegetarian option. (Try the health food store. I haven’t shopped for these in well over a decade, but I know that some stores such as Whole Foods won’t stock foods containing scary preservatives linked to various diseases (including several common cancers — I know that doesn’t sound festive, but that’s why I want you to choose the healthiest option you can find!).
• Have potato salad made with a low- or no-oil vinaigrette or other healthful dressing instead of the typical mayo- or cream-based type. See my Healthy Ranch-style Dressing recipe for a good substitute.
• Veggie kabobs are *always* a great addition to any barbecue. We just bought a small gas grill for precisely that reason! Marinate with a little balsamic vinegar, freshly cracked black pepper and garlic (or just balsamic!) and grill till done to your liking.
• In a word (or 4), corn on the cob (minus the butter).
• Serve a big salad of mixed greens (always go for the darker greens) topped with cruciferous veggies like broccoli and cauliflower.
• Bake sweet potatoes instead of regular potatoes for a big beta carotene boost.
• Desserts can be challenging, and who wants to heat up the kitchen baking something?! The solution is to focus on fruit. There’re plenty of seasonal options available right now that are delicious by themselves or served up in a fruit salad. Bananas, strawberries and blueberries make a lovely combination. Add a bit of freshly squeezed orange juice as a dressing if you wish.
• Fruit sorbet made in a Vita-Mix is delicious and a fantastic replacement for ice cream.

I hear from a lot of women who really struggle to find a good salad dressing that is both healthful and delicious. That is doubly true if you’ve never had anything but the commercial bottled dressings, which are packed with plenty of things you don’t need to put into your body, such as huge amounts of excess sodium, dairy, and artificial colors and flavorings. The good news is that it’s easy and remarkably quick to make your own healthy dressings, and you can make several days’ worth at a time if you wish to minimize your food prep.

When I first began eating more healthfully, I simply used balsamic vinegar or orange juice as a salad dressing, but that got old pretty quickly. I then discovered a super-healthy recipe for a Ranch- or Caesar-like dressing (many, many thanks, Teresa!) that is flavorful, garlicky (in my book, this is always a good thing, though certainly you can minimize the quantity if you wish) and creamy like a traditional Ranch. Unfortunately it had a serious flaw. Or rather, I had a serious dilemma that required me to have to rethink the recipe entirely. I have mentioned this previously, but in addition to my commitment to healthy eating, my household also faces a few food sensitivities and allergies. And the original recipe called for soymilk as the liquid base, which is a no-no if I plan to share my salad with my husband.

It took a bit of experimenting, but I ultimately came up with an alternative that’s actually simpler to make than the original (which wasn’t at all tough to begin with!), and you can add in spices to taste or simply make it as is. The best part is that it takes less than 5 minutes to prepare, start to finish, and all you need is a blender!

This recipe in particular is very versatile and can be used as salad dressing, dressing for potato salad, as well as a sauce to pour over steamed or raw veggies.

Here’s what you need:

1 cup of raw cashews
1 cup of water
3 tbsp. no-salt-added Dijon mustard (found at health food stores)
1 tsp. freshly cracked black pepper or to taste (I use 8-10 twists of my pepper mill)
1-2 cloves of fresh garlic
3 tbsp. lemon juice

To prepare the dressing, simply place all ingredients in a blender canister. (A high-powered blender like the Vita-Mix is not required, but will result in a creamier dressing than a standard blender.) Blend until smooth. Serve immediately or store until needed. Add in more water a teaspoon at a time if dressing is too thick.)

To add more Ranch-style flavor, after blending pour dressing into storage container of choice. Stir in 1/4 tsp. dried dill and 1/4 tsp. onion powder and mix well. Allow flavors to meld for at least 30 minutes before serving for best results.

Healthy eating notes:

This recipe constitutes 4 oz. of cashews, so 1/4 of this recipe equals 1 oz. of healthy fat.

If the raw garlic is too strong for your liking, try roasting the garlic before blending. Simply place in aluminum foil and bake at 350 degrees until tender. Cool and blend into recipe. (I never do this, but it would make the dressing more mellow.)

As always, there is no salt added to this recipe because we get enough sodium from whole foods, but you can add some salt to taste (if you must). ;)

Copyright 2009 Jennifer McCay

www.LeanGreenMama.com

Pardon me for a moment while I do a mini-rant.

I wish, I wish, I wish that healthy eating were the norm here so that it would be possible to find healthful prepared foods easily at grocery stores everywhere.

I wish, I wish, I wish that I didn’t have to plan ahead to eat healthfully when I travel because there are so few options available.

And I wish, I wish, I wish that the stores near my current common travel destination actually listed ingredients on their prepared foods so that I could confidently order them from time to time when I’m in a pinch and am willing to make certain compromises to my diet (salt/oil).

In a perfect world … :)

OK, I’ll stop complaining in a minute because it’s not my style, for the most part. I just needed to vent and thought you might share my sentiment.

But first, one more thing:

Portion control is the pits on a good day (it is always very difficult to ration out food for yourself in small amounts), and frankly, it makes it harder for us healthy eaters to eat well without spending a fortune or looking rather, hmmm, gluttonous. I’ll explain the latter comment, and then the former will also make sense.

Last night, on my way back from an overnight trip to where my husband is currently working on site (too far to commute every day, but not far enough away to keep me from driving there every few weeks to make our time apart shorter), we decided to stop at a Mexican place that has decent healthy fare (though always with the excess salt and oil that you can’t seem to avoid, but those are compromises I’m willing to make on occasion).

The last time we went there prior, I left still hungry after eating a normal portion of a bare burrito (beans, lots of lettuce, tomato, pico de gallo, guacamole and veggies), with hours before we would arrive home. So this time, I bit the bullet. I did something I’ve never done. I ordered not one, but TWO of the same meal, and I ate every last bite before we left the building.

Yes, I’m aware that it sounds a bit indulgent to eat 2 plates full of food, but seriously, the whole meal — my double portion — had under 700 calories in it and was packed with nutrition. Mainstream restaurants just gear their portions to large numbers of calories from meat, cheese and sour cream, and my healthy dinner made up of just some of the component parts of that assembly line looked, I’m sure, to be about the right size if the calories (and therefore macronutrients) in what I ate were the same as what the other folks ordered. But they weren’t, so I had 2 of them and left happy and satisfied. It might have looked weird, but I didn’t overeat by any stretch.

Secondly, mind you, I’m not on a strict budget for food purchases in my household (we eat out only occasionally anyhow, and this was a casual place to begin with), but many are, and I mention the expense of ordering 2 entrees in order to get enough calories because I know it affects many people.

What was the point of all this? It’s occasionally inconvenient to eat healthfully (but it’s always worth it! always! every single day!). It’s strange to order 2 entrees (and I wouldn’t have done it in a formal setting). And yet I wouldn’t trade my life in which I occasionally have to jump through a few hoops to get healthy food for a more convenient one for anything.

And on that note, rant over. I’m grateful to know that eating healthy food makes me thin, strong and (yes, I’ll say it even though it might sound a little cheesy) empowered. And I’ll take the occasional frustrations to feel this way every day. What about you?

I’m a firm believer in living in the moment whenever possible — not overthinking things, not focusing on what you don’t currently have, staying very present in the current moment so that you can enjoy it as much as possible. My emphasis on this is even stronger when our kids are involved. Kids live in the moment, to be sure, but if we don’t stop and enjoy them right then and there (rather than wishing for them to be older, wiser, better behaved, whatever), we miss out on precious days that fly by.

But that’s living in the moment in a good way.

Many women contact me, asking me how to stay motivated to continue with healthy eating, with their weight loss plans, with being more disciplined about their fitness routines. And that’s where living in the moment can be FAR less than helpful.

You see, in order to reach our long-term goals, we *do* have to spend some time each day thinking about them. I didn’t always know that, didn’t always know how much more comforting it is to have a plan in place.

Nearly every morning, I sit down and think — just for a minute or two — about some things I want to change in my own life (like seeing my business reach out to many more moms out there! and getting all the construction projects in my house done so that the chaos can settled down a little bit). I also created a vision board that highlights what I wish to achieve, the life I hope to be living in another year or two. I’m happy where I am now, to be sure, and I am grateful daily for all I have. But I see life as a process of evolution, as a place where we can always improve things, such as our minds, attitudes, lifestyles, you name it, because to be human is to grow.

How to stay focused

Just the act of contemplating my longer-term goals helps me stay clear and focused most of the time, and I recommend this to you as I do all my clients.

But it also really does help to have a clear, specific picture of what you want. The more specific, the better, in fact. Want to be able to jog 5 miles? Want your thighs to be firm? Want to feel like everything you try on is a winner? Want to know that you’re as healthy as you can be so that you can spend your older years healthier, fitter and more enjoyably so that you can have even more time with your kids (and grandkids)?

In the past, when I finally got clear on the fact that I had a chance at feeling like “one of those girls” who could wear anything, do anything, didn’t have to feel restricted if I started to eat more healthfully, when I realized I couldn’t take the pain of being unwell and uncomfortably overweight any longer without at least trying to change, suddenly it became crystal clear to me that I wanted a different life entirely from the one I had. Just those thoughts were so powerful (and yours can be too if you let them! seriously, close your eyes and imagine!) that they kept me going.

But more than thinking about our goals, we also have to take action.

Thought isn’t enough

A lot of my clients get caught up in their thinking rather than focus on action. But actions are what get us results.

What are the actions you need to take just about every day to get where you want to go? Write them down! I say just about every day, not every day, because it doesn’t typically require perfection from day 1 to get to your goal. It just requires you taking steady action in the right direction most of the time, even with some blips on the radar here and there, and you WILL get where you want to go.

Every day, it helps to ask yourself, “Is this taking me toward my goal?” If not, the answer is no. Anything that isn’t taking you toward your goal is taking you away from it.

At times there’s a need to just stop and reflect on this. Am I actually mostly taking the actions I need to to get to my goal? If not, why not? Did I choose the wrong goal? Do I really want to get there? Am I willing to do what it takes to get there? Or should I start smaller? Should I try a different approach? I don’t think we all need to switch approaches all the time, but there’s often a need to make small tweaks to even the best laid plans.

Are you in or out?

That might be the most important question of all: Are you *willing* to do what it takes to get there? It sometimes takes being uncomfortable to make changes in our lives to get what we want. To eat well, to lose weight, to take care of our bodies in a way we never have before, we each have to do things we’ve never done before. And that means there *will* be some discomfort. It’s impossible to avoid, in fact.

And yet … it doesn’t last long. The discomfort isn’t usually true pain, even if we perceive it as such sometimes. It’s really just not what we wish we were doing there in the moment. There’s always going to be — truly, always — something out there that seems more tempting if we let our thoughts go down that path. It will always seem easier to stick with the status quo that we’re comfortable with than to make changes that will benefit us in the longer term.

But let me tell ya — eating well is worth it. Losing the weight is worth it. Discovering that you can follow through on what matters to you is a blessing like no other, and it opens doors for you that you’ll not believe till you witness it for yourself (but it’s really, really good stuff, folks!). :) You have never felt so free and clear and happy as you will when you realize you’ve created your own best life for yourself. That satisfaction alone is worth it. And really, “all” it takes is recognizing that if you can stop taking pleasure in the immediate moment (by eating junk, for example) and focus on your goal, you’ll get there sooner than you imagine.

This has taken me a while to write about, but I wanted to give my thoughts on what treats really are and how we should healthfully handle them.

I firmly believe that we as humans need treats, need little indulgences and good things that aren’t everyday things in our lives so that we continue to enjoy life and stay motivated to do whatever it is we do (work/business/fitness/eating right/writing/training for anything/what have you). Why else would we do anything at all, if not for some sense of avoidance of pain or seeking of pleasure? This is basic human psychology (though certainly we’re more complex than that, it’s still an essential part of being human to avoid pain and seek pleasure).

Without little strokes of positivity along the journey (and all of the best things in life are journeys, not overnight sensations!), it’s nearly impossible to stay focused on any long-term task. If it weren’t for our kids’ silly grins and koala bear hugs, the diapers and messes and other not-so-fun stuff would often be hard to take along the very lengthy task of raising a child to adulthood. But as it is, I’ll certainly take a kiddo hug whenever it’s offered. :) Likewise, it’s helpful to eat foods we enjoy as often as possible.

But let’s consider this a bit more before it sounds like I’m advocating eating junk just because we enjoy it.

A true treat is something good for us — something that makes us smile, lets us know we’re doing something good for ourselves, feels good, spurs us onward to do more good things for ourselves and others.

So there’s nothing wrong, I feel, with having something delicious that you really enjoy as a treat. I personally love about 98% of everything I eat on any given day (and usually 100%!), and I pretty much never eat anything that isn’t a whole food, that isn’t completely good for me. Sometimes I come across a recipe I’ve forgotten about, so that can be a special treat because I occasionally get in a rut about making the same foods over and over again — particularly when I’m short on time. I’m talking a yummy entree or soup or a fruit sorbet or a smoothie. In other words, stuff that’s good for my body.

But SAD (Standard American Diet) foods considered treats generally aren’t good for our bodies. Take one of my old standby treats, for example — the ubiquitous M&Ms. Here are the ingredients:

Milk Chocolate (Sugar, Chocolate, Cocoa Butter, Skim Milk, Milkfat, Lactose, Soy Lecithin, Salt, Artificial Flavors), Sugar, Cornstarch, Less than 1% Corn Syrup, Dextrin, Coloring (Includes Blue 1 Lake, Red 40 Lake, Yellow 6, Yellow 5, Red 40, Blue 1, Blue 2 Lake, Yellow 6 Lake, Yellow 5 Lake, Blue 2), Gum Acacia.

Now first of all, there’s no food in that food, and that’s a rant I often go off on elsewhere and will refrain from here. (OK, I can’t hold back. So here goes …)

Seriously, look at the ingredients, and you’ll see that there’s nothing food-like (a.k.a. nourishing) about M&Ms using my criteria of whole food ingredients, nothing harmful and containing nutritious ingredients. Artificial flavors and colors aren’t good for you in the slightest. Sugar is the number one ingredient. We don’t *need* dairy to be healthy. There’s just nothing good there.

Yep, I used to eat a few packs of them a week myself, and you could see it literally on my face (chocolate happens to make my skin break out — and yes, contrary to what your dermatologist tells you while trying to sell you hundreds of dollars of creams to clear up your skin, I’m 110% certain it’s the chocolate because I tested cocoa in my diet  long after turning to a very healthy diet, and I personally break out with cocoa/chocolate and don’t often without it in my diet) and in the 50+ lbs. I had on my body that were completely needless.

I remember the rush I’d get from eating them — from the sugar, the caffeine. I thought that was some sort of divine pleasure at the time, in fact. In retrospect, though, there are a few different factors going on:

1) I didn’t have a lot else that was giving me much pleasure in my life at the time, so I focused on food. Enough said, for now at least.

2) Once I had one bag of M&Ms, I wanted another bag the next day, and the day after that, and so on. And the pleasure I derived from them diminished over time, until I wanted 2 bags instead, or in addition to the bag of M&Ms I’d grab late afternoon at work, I’d want ice cream after dinner (or occasionally for dinner, though that was rare).

Sugar and caffeine are both physically addictive, and unnutritious food also leaves your body begging for actual, bona-fide nutrition, so you often will overeat just from your body needing real, actual nutrients. If our bodies don’t get enough actual nutrition from our food, it will continue to crave it, and that leaves us hungry and miserable all the time. Life shouldn’t have to be about chasing the next meal so that we can get rid of serious physical discomfort.

3) My definition of “treat” was way off. Waaaayyyyyy off.

Treats are things that are good for us. Treats are things that do GOOD things for us, give us mental energy, give us physical energy, allow us to feel like we’re doing what we’re supposed to be doing with our lives.

In no way are junky “treats” actually good for us. They set us up for cravings and being overweight and being ill and focusing on food as our source of pleasure in a life otherwise so rich and full of things we could stop and wonder about that we’d never get anything done if we did.

Unhealthy food, no matter how it tastes there in the fleeting moment it’s being consumed, is never the right answer.

But since I’ve now said I don’t believe that eating unhealthy food as a treat is actually following the definition of the word “treat,” let me follow and say how I recommend handling this:

I feel that we deserve better than SAD junk.

My body doesn’t even remotely come close to thriving on junk. (In fact, if you read my story [click on About above], you’ll get a better picture of just how ill I was when I ate junk.)

Your body doesn’t thrive on junk either, even if right now you are reading this thinking, “Hmmm, I’ve never gotten sick from M&Ms” or whichever SAD “treat” is your favorite.

I highly recommend reframing what you consider to be an actual treat:

Is it good for your body?

Is it something that will deliver more than fleeting pleasure? (As in, does it have enough healthy stuff in it to fuel your body’s health?)

Is it something that isn’t trying to mask fear/loneliness/boredom/any other powerful emotion?

Is it something that you just happen to want to eat preferentially over other healthy food, and it’s a mealtime?

If it hurts your body, it’s not something that actually needs to go into your mouth. If it hurts your soul, it shouldn’t be eaten. But if it’s truly good for you, truly a gift you’re giving yourself, go for it!

One last thought: If you need a little catchphrase to help you figure out whether you should have a particular something as a treat (not a “treat” but a real treat that’s good for your body and soul!), consider asking yourself this: “Does my body deserve to be treated this way?” When in doubt, the answer is always no.

On a mailing list for moms that I subscribe to, the discussion is currently focused on protectiveness. It’s as if biologically, once you become a mother, your brain gets hard-wired to be protective — not just about your own child, but about children everywhere. One woman even suggested that just watching the news has become too much for her to handle because it saddens her to think about all the kids out there who are going hungry, being mistreated, you name it.

What does this have to do with healthy eating, you say? Well … I find this really interesting. Enough women jumped in and acknowledged this phenomenon of a mental rewiring that I have to believe it must have some sort of helpful function, and it’s likely a physical change brought on by all those hormones from pregnancy/childbirth. (This isn’t something I’ve researched, though, so don’t quote me on this!) Or maybe it’s just something that happens because you realize how precious and fragile human life is when you hold a tiny baby in your arms. Who knows?

But what every mom on this list also talks about a lot is struggling to find a balance between their kids’ and spouse’s needs and their own needs. I know that when I know my son is unhappy (and by that, I don’t mean just upset because I won’t replay an Elmo video on YouTube for him) :) it is nearly impossible for me to concentrate on anything else. He is currently teething and really quite miserable as a molar makes its way into his mouth, and he’s been feeling lousy; I have to admit it’s hard to get anything done when he’s suffering, which is why I do much, if not most of my work once he’s sleeping.

But we moms have to take care of ourselves, feed ourselves right.

I come back to an analogy over and over that I came across shortly before Alex was born. (If I’m repeating myself here, it’s because this has made such an impression on me, and I’ll repeat it again and again if need be.) And that is that there’s a reason why when you’re on an airplane, they tell you to put on your own oxygen mask before putting one on your child.

The reason is simple: If mama isn’t taking care of herself, how can she take proper care of her child? Gasping for breath all the time leads to collapse over time. (Not as quickly as in the airplane low-oxygen situation, of course!)

We mamas have to look out for ourselves.

And a big part of that — no, a HUGE part of it — is making sure we feel our best, which just so happens to be related in very, very large part to what we eat. Which in turn is strongly related to how we feel and how we look.

The moment I eat junk food, I feel lousier. Well, maybe there’s a half-hour in which I don’t. But my body actually lets me know I’ve done it a disservice on the rare occasions when I eat something that isn’t good for me.

Even if your body isn’t as sensitive as mine about such things, I know that other problems arise in the longer term when you don’t eat well, don’t stay physically active, don’t use that oxygen mask to make sure you’re getting what your body needs to thrive so that you can take better care of your kids.

And likewise, though of course I focus a lot on healthy eating as the best thing to do for oneself in terms of self-care, there’s more to it than that. Sometimes you just need to take a long, hot shower. Some women like manicures or to get their hair done. Some of us would just be happy to have time to read a book of our choosing once in a while in peace.

Whatever your needs (and I don’t mean a huge, frivilous amount of self-care, just the basics you need to feel sane and as if you’re able to take care of yourself), I strongly encourage you to eat well as a PRIORITY.

It will give you:

• better health
• better sleep
• more energy
• less fatigue
• less hormone … um … erraticism (hormones level out optimally when you eat the way I recommend)
• less moodiness and irritability (i.e., less crankiness around the kids!)
• and there’s more, but I think you get the picture :)

All of these things lead to a happier life in your household. So why would you put it off?

In times of stress, it’s super easy to fall into “woe is me” mode. I say that somewhat flippantly, but I don’t actually mean it that way at all. It is easy, too easy, in fact, to think about all that we’re not enjoying at a particular time in our lives. These sorts of feelings used to fuel me to eat for emotional reasons, so I’m sharing this with you in case you’re dealing with the same thing.

I’m currently stressed to the gills myself, and though I’m working on this hard and fast every single day, it’s not a situation that can change overnight. Yesterday I found myself feeling particularly down — not a state I tend to stay in for long nowadays! — and yet this morning I woke up feeling better.

Why? Because I reminded myself of one of my favorite techniques that I often use in life and with my clients. I reviewed what is RIGHT about the situation I’m in.

In my case, my frustrating situation (I’ve mentioned that my husband — my best friend in the world — is traveling a lot right now for business) is something we can’t change at the moment. But being upset that he’s gone is actually good in a way because it means I really love him. It means we have a relationship worth fighting for, working on, whatever it takes, even when we’re miles apart.

Likewise, this fuels me to do other things, take other actions that perhaps I wouldn’t feel as motivated to otherwise — like concentrate on getting the next phase in my business rolling more quickly. I do a lot of my work when my son is sleeping (like now — a rare daytime break), but when my husband is home, I like to spend time with him instead of work whenever I’m able, whereas right now, I have lots of evening time to myself to get miscellaneous business tasks taken care of that will allow me to help more moms in the future.

And once I start thinking about who I can help to break out of their weight struggles, their struggles with emotional eating, so that they can feel the joy of being thin and healthy, well … that’s when I get excited, and the upset feelings fade away! Because there IS good in this tough situation. There are “right” things in our “wrong” moments.

Even if the good things aren’t immediately apparent, there is always something to learn from our difficulties. And if we aren’t learning, we aren’t growing and becoming the next, even better version of ourselves (which I personally feel is what we’re here to do — be the best version of ourselves that we can be, and it’s an ever-changing state if we learn and grow). So I’ll ask you this: What’s right in your wrong moments?

I’ve been beyond swamped lately, what with travel (planned and unexpected), my husband having to travel all the time on business right now and my son teething and going through a growth spurt the past little while. It’s been harder to get to the computer as a result to post, but I wanted to fill you in a little on what’s going on behind the scenes around here at planet Lean Green Mama. :)

For starters, after much ado, we’re about to launch my new ezine, Lean Green Living, which will share healthy eating and weight loss tips, advice on getting your life into better balance and all that goes with it! If you haven’t signed up yet, make sure to put your name and e-mail address into the box to the right and hit “Submit.”

Secondly, after much soul searching, I’ve decided to focus my entire business solely on helping moms lose weight and get healthy. When I originally started this blog, I knew it would be more appealing to women than men, but I’ve realized I need to reach out to the people I have the most in common with — other busy, overworked moms who need help balancing their health/weight/waistlines with the needs of their families because I know the challenges of making time to take care of yourself as a mom all too well myself. If you aren’t a mom and simply want to continue hanging out here, the more the merrier. :) And if you know any moms who might be interested in my advice, are looking for yummy recipes that are healthy and help them lose weight or simply want to figure out how to have a happier, healthier life, please send them here to LeanGreenMama.com.

I’ve also gotten a number of e-mails from women who want to work with me as their coach for weight loss and healthy eating, but they can’t afford my one-on-one rates. In 2-3 weeks I’ll be announcing a new coaching program designed to help you if you fall into this category. For more info, get on my mailing list, where I’ll be giving the scoop closer to launch.

More news soon!

As a total creature of habit, I’ll admit out loud that my household typically has 1 of about 3 things for breakfast on a given day: apple-cinnamon oatmeal, oatmeal pancakes or a smoothie. Breakfast is not a meal I want to spend much time on — thinking about it, prepping it, cleaning up from it or otherwise.

But this week I decided to get adventurous. Why not have the oats some new way? And yes, I know that if eating oats in a new way is my definition of adventurous, I need to get a life. (My life is full of other adventures far more exciting than food, I assure you!) :)

The recipe below is simple, healthy and can easily be doubled, tripled, etc. as long as you have a pot big enough to fit in all the ingredients with a little room to stir. Here’s the basic ratio:

1 cup rolled or steel-cut oats*

2 cups water (or for slightly sweeter oats, you can use half apple juice and half water)

1 tsp. cinnamon

1-2 cups blueberries (frozen is fine and requires less work!)

1/2 tsp. alcohol-free vanilla flavoring

Put water, oats and cinnamon in small saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring often with a wooden spoon. Once oats begin to boil, turn down to very low setting and allow to simmer, stirring often to make sure oats don’t stick on the bottom. (On a gas stove, use your smallest burner for the simmering stage no matter how big a pot of oats you make and you’ll cut down on the sticking problem considerably.) When oats reach desired consistency — approximately 12 minutes of cooking time — remove from the burner. Add in blueberries and vanilla. Stir well. If using frozen blueberries, you may want to heat for another minute on stove or in microwave.

If oats are too thick after you’ve added the blueberries (which contain a lot of liquid), simply add in water 1/8 to 1/4 cup at a time until desired texture is reached. (I personally prefer slightly thinner oats and make mine with about 2.5 cups liquid for every 1 cup of oats.)

* Note that steel-cut oats take a good bit longer to cook — up to half an hour. You can either put the oats on to soak the night before (simply put oats and water in the pot you will cook them in in the morning, cover and refrigerate), use your crockpot (which I haven’t done before, but have been told that a fuzzy logic style crockpot handles this easily without burning the oats) so that you wake up to freshly cooked oats or just start the batch of oats when you first get up and stir occasionally while you get ready for your day.

Healthy eating notes:

If you follow Dr. Fuhrman’s Eat to Live dietary recommendations and are trying to lose weight, approximately 1 cup of this recipe before blueberries are added is considered your serving of starch for the day. If you want a larger portion without increasing your amount of starch, simply increase the ratio of blueberries to oats, add in a little more vanilla if desired and enjoy.

Wheat-free/gluten-free diets: The regular oats you buy at the grocery store are often highly contaminated with wheat and other glutinous grains, unfortunately. I personally cannot tolerate any gluten in my diet, but I do not have celiac disease, so I buy special oats that are both grown far away from other glutinous grains and then are processed (to the small extent rolled and steel-cut oats are processed) in special plants where there is zero risk for cross-contamination. Some celiacs can handle these oats, and others can’t. The tastiest GF oats I’ve found are the rolled oats from GlutenFreeOats.com, but you may find the Bob’s Red Mill GF oats more easily at your local health food store or grocery.

Copyright 2009 Jennifer McCay

www.LeanGreenMama.com

Just a note to let you know I’ve experienced a small, yet significant triumph in my quest for healthier pancakes. I found a way to make them without added oil! The recipe has now been updated in the archives for your reference. Here’s the link: http://www.leangreenmama.com/2009/oatmeal-pancakes-with-apple-cinnamon-compote-can-be-vegan-and-gluten-free/