peachy keen
August 30, 2010 Things are moving along. The kitchen is now 93% done! We really can’t pack up any more of it, as I need that last 7%. You know, a few cups, plates, bowls, 1 pan, etc.
Chris wanted to thank you for all of the birthday wishes. He appreciated all of the sweet comments :) And thanks for all of your compliments about my dress! You guys rock.
I made one of my best bowls of oatmeal ever today!
Peachy Keen Protein Oats
- 3T Scottish Oats
- 2-3T Oat Bran
- 1 1/4c water
- 1/4c almond milk
- 3/4t cinnamon
- 1 egg white, whisked in the last 2min
- 1/2 banana
Since the oat bran cooks really quickly, I wait a while before adding it in.
- Boil water.
- Whisk in Scottish Oats + reduce heat to simmer for about 5-7min.
- Once it starts to thicken, add in sliced banana, cinnamon, oat bran + almond milk and whisk.
- Let simmer for about another 2-3min.
- Whisk in egg white and let cook for 2min.
Egg whites just make oats, so amazingly creamy. When I whisk in the egg white, I let it sit for 2min. It gets nice + puffy. Then I just dump it all in the bowl. YUM.
Homemade peanut butter looks SO much lighter than store bought. I wonder why that is? I even roasted the nuts! I don’t think I’ve ever put peaches in oats. It rocked. Along with a little Love Grown Foods granola!
After breakfast, I got back in the kitchen. Not to pack, but to cook. I wanted to use up as much of the fridge and pantry as possible this week. We’re only moving an hour away, so obviously we can pack up most of our food. However, sometimes it’s nice to just try and finish a few things up. My point in doing this was also to basically prepare all of our meals today, so they are quick + ready to eat this week.
First up, a triple batch of Protein Scottish/Oat Bran oats with banana + cinnamon. In the morning I’ll just microwave this with a little almond milk. I’m excited, for a few days, to not have a pot + whisk to clean!
I bought two amazingly delicious bell peppers at the Cherry Creek Market this weekend. They were green/orange and are extremely sweet + crisp. I figured chopping them would make it more likely I would actually finish them this week!
Organic bells were only $1.25/pepper!!
Perfectly crunchy.
I forget what this type of zucchini is called. It has a thicker skin and is sooo pretty with it’s light yellow + green skin. Chopped this up so it is ready to throw in a sauté pan.
Chopped carrots + cucumbers for snacking or wraps!
I had a 1/2 bag of this awesome grain mix from Trader Joes, that I picked up last time I was in Ohio. It has red quinoa, Israeli couscous, baby garbanzos, and a few other things. I also cooked it with about 1/2c of millet that we had left. Since they cook in the same style, this worked perfectly! Soooo much amazing texture going on here!!
I also roasted the end of our red skin taters for Chris and 2 big sweet taters for me!
I even made enough dressing to last the week!
This had: tomato paste, olive oil, salt, pepper, red wine vinegar, and apple cider vinegar
Kind of looks like a lot of stuff, but it actually only took me 1.5hrs to do all of that and then about 20min for cleanup. I’m soooo excited to have all of this food ready to eat! I also boiled an open package of soba noodles.
The dogs are hanging in there. Going on walks and beating up on each other. They are attached at the hip!
Fancy footwork from Kenna beans!
Lunch was 100% leftover and 110% delicious. Ahhh, I want this again, but I’m all out of the burgers! Mama Pea is really on to something with this recipe! I would say it’s the closest in texture to a real meat burger! I think it’s the texture from the pasta. I topped it with ~1T nutritional yeast, 1/2 avocado, tomato paste, and pre-sliced pepper :) A LOT of ‘loupe on the side too!
And the end of a salad container. Save a bowl and use the container! I love using the container because you can shake the dressing around for even coating!
Dinner was fresh + delicious and took 8min to throw together.
- grain mix
- sautéed zucchini
- 1/3 block sautéed tempeh
- 2 sweet tater slices
- ~3T ricotta cheese
- ~1T tomato paste
Nothing revolutionary. But so glad to be eating good food this week! I’ve never tried this method of pre-cooking a bunch of food, but I think I quite like it. Especially for this scenario. Dining on take out all week, would leave me very unhappy!
I can’t believe we’re down to packing all of the little crap. I know it’s going to take awhile though! I also want to move everything from upstairs downstairs [minus the bed] and everything from downstairs to the main level. This will save SO much time on moving day and save our legs a little pain as well.
Managed to squeeze in a little noon-time swim as well. Felt great today! Strong + speedy.
Swimmin’
- 100m kickboard warm up
- 500m freestyle
- speed intervals: 100m freestyle + 50m freestyle spring x7 = 1050m
- 300m breast stroke
- 50m kickboard cool down
Total distance – 2000m = <1.25m [50min total w/warm up + cool down]
Also took the dogs for walks, which means I need a shower and I need my bed.
Gooooodnight!
<3 Ash
Recipes, oat bran, peaches, scottish oats, sweet potatoes
Reader Comments (46)
Your dogs are intense!! Good luck with the rest of the move :)
cute pups!!
:) I have millet in my pantry - I cook quinoa all the time... for some reason I am intimidated by the millet... I can cook it the same way, absorption method?
hmm... as I type this I'm having some weird Déjà vu... have I asked you this before??? ;)
I really want to make millet with coconut milk instead of water or veggie broth. ya think?
I've been wanting to try Mama Pea's 'burger' since I saw them... good to hear (what I already know!!) that they are good!! :)
Oh I love those dog pictures!! Great shots :)
brilliant doggy pics! and your dinner looks fab, good luck with the final packing and the big move!
Same as SpaBettie -- I have had millet in the cupboard for quite some time. Each time I grab it and it requires "toasting" in the skillet I think "too much work" (lazy cook) But I do have a rice cooker now so I'm inspired to try again.
Your food pics today = delicious!
I am already trying to plan out packing the kitchen when we have to move this fall. I'm trying to start now by cleaning out the pantry and not buy anything more. But it's easier said than done when you see amazing recipes every single day. GOod luck with the packing!
Yum - these meals make me want to eat veggie meals! I may need to give your dressing a try - I hate salad dressings so it's rare when I find one I love!
Wow good idea preparing all of that food. The peaches on top of oatmeal look so good... may have to do that this morning!
I often cut fruits and vegetables a few days in advance when I know I'll be busy with work. I love having a couscous, quinoa or millet salad that I can grab and go in the morning. It saves money, I'm sure to like it and I don't have to worry that I won't find anything vegan for lunch. I really enjoy packing my lunches... Am I weird?
That salad dressing looks good! I have an open jar of tomato paste and never know what to do with the rest - thanks!
I was planning on making mama pea's burgers to take along with me for my weekend at the cottage!
Those oats look delicious!! Good luck with the rest of the packing!
those peach oats look good..last time i attempted peaches in my oats..ew. but i cooked them in...so i guess that was the wrong idea. all the pictures are great! good luck with packing and have a great week! :)
I am beyond jealous of your "potato chips" - Mine never, ever come our that perfect :-(
I'm so glad to see that your dogs play the way mine do -- they're both shelter mutts, but we know they each have a bit of boxer in them. So they love to get up on their hind legs and box, or do what I call the "stick and move."
We have a hard time bringing them to a dog park because people think they're fighting when they're playing. When they crash -- and they crash HARD -- they sleep nose to nose! And whimper if they have to be separated!
I never thought about putting tomato paste in salad dressing...I'll have to try it!
I tried doing some prep like that at the beginning of the week last week...it was great! It definitely makes cooking a LOT more fun on the weekdays when things are crazy.
Finally, I am loving those CO peaches! James puts one on his oatmeal every morning. (I find it funny that I am the healthy living blogs reader and he is the oatmeal eater.)
packing and moving is such a crazy time!
that grain mix looks so good, i doubt i could find it around here though..
and your oats always look so delish! you should come over and make some for me because whenever i make my oats from scratch they never come out right hehe.
Love peaches in summertime! How do you keep track of your swimming laps? I always lose count somewhere so I try to go by time. I know they make counters for your fingers, but I don't want to buy one.
i love the idea of tomato paste in salad dressing! sounds so good! you are one organized gal! i love it :) it makes for such an easy food week, right?? peppers are SO delicious right now!!!
i think your dogs and my dogs would get along great...mine play the exact same way! too cute :)
Yup, next time I make those burgers, I'm making a double batch and freezing some!
I'm about to make your peachy oats right NOW!
Hope the rest of the movin' and packin' goes well!
Your pups are adorable! It's so nice that they love each other. I'm so glad our pups do as well :)
I hope you like it!! Kind of a funny recipe with a not-so-exact way of cooking it because of the oat bran ;) I am so sad that I'm out of burgers!!!
I love it!! Gives it a nice thickness :) Hahaa, I'm typically not this organized!
I had a hard time at first but am pretty good at keeping track in my head. Typically every time I swim, I lose track at some point but only by 50m [it's a 25m pool]. So I'm like, is this my 8th length or 10th? I usually just go w/the lower number and keep on. It's also easy when you break the swim up...like doing the 20 lengths of freestyle and then switching and doing a different stroke or doing the intervals or whatever. Also, if I'm just doing freestyle, I'll do 9 lengths and then sprint the 10th. Then I repeat that about 7 times for a great workout. It also makes you only have to count up to 10 each time, as long as you can keep track of how many sets you've done ;) Hope this helps!
If you have a Trader Joes, they have it!
Ohhh, it's one of my favorite mix-ins for dressing! Funny about James ;)
Our dogs aren't shelter pups, although Kenna was adopted from a Great Dane rescue [half dane half lab] but they've always played like this. I know what you mean about the dog park! And not only do they play like this but Dakota is LOUD!!! She's just a vocal boxer, but it doesn't sound pretty. Funny thing at the dog park though they don't play together ;)
I didn't used to either but now I go through 1 jar per week!! I put it in wraps, on veggie burgers, in salad dressings, on pasta, etc. LOVE it.
Nooo you are not weird for that!! I love making my own lunches and thinking about the money being saved and my health!
I also HATE store bought dressings. I've spent too much $ over the years buying them but for the past year I just have made my own. Typically it's just olive oil [or hemp oil], apple cider vinegar, s/p + balsamic vinegar [4% acidity...this has a nice thickness and is does not have that crazy tang that most do]
I know what you mean! Good luck to you too!
I never toast my millet :) I have found that millet is a bit fussy to cook right but now that I have figured it out I like it SO much more than quinoa. I typically have to fluff it with a fork in the pan, about 5min before it's fully done so the water all cooks out. If it's at all "wet" it's just not good. I just love the texture of millet!
Millet takes awhile to get the hang of, but now I really don't have much desire to cook quinoa. It's also over $3/lb and millet is $1/lb for organic. Yes, you cook it with the absorption method. I probably cooked it about 5-6 times before I figured out the method to get it just right. I found that if it stays "wet" at all, it's really blah. So, I like to fluff it about 5min before it's done, when there is still a little water left. It won't ruin the texture, like what happens if you fluff rice before it's done. Might be different if you have stainless or non stick pans...but with my stainless, it seems that the fluff method works the best. It has a such a great texture! If you want more flavor use about 2/3 broth and 1/3 water. Remember millet uses more water than Quinoa...it's 1:3 for millet! I'm sure using coconut milk would definitely work. You can find a recipe for creamy coconut rice in my recipe index, which is the most amaaaaazing rice ever. I would do 1/2 coco milk 1/2 water and add in 1T [per 1 c millet] of unrefined coconut oil. The milk with make it creamy but won't really taste too coconutty, unless you add in the oil ;) Hope this helps!!!
precooking meals make it so worth it when you can just come home and crash in front of a good dvr of reality tv haha :) except i think if i tried to precook a lot of veg i would just end up eating the whole shibang on the spot!
Peachy Keen Oats - was debating what to do with my lonesome nectarine, if would be good on the grill, maybe swirled with some yogurt, but I think I have determined its destiny - breakfast tomorrow! Bring on 7:30 am tomorrow morning.
BTW - I am also a firm believer in "Kitchen Sink" meals where you just throw a bunch of stuff together over greens or rice.
I've never added egg whites to my oatmeal before. I definitely need to give that a try!
Your salad dressing sounds great too =)
Dave keeps on raving about peaches in his oatmeal. I have yet to try it!
Also those black bean burgers are a favorite here! Dave prefers them over real meat burgers! So I have yet to try anyone else's veggie/bean burgers because Dave's scared he wont like them as much!!! (he hates change. getting him to try the black bean burger in the first place was a challenge)
If I ask nicely, will you give me food photography lessons?? :-)
~Alyssa
All these eats look delicious! ;)
hahahah. The dog pictures cracked me up. Maizey needs a buddy!
I really wish I could find Israeli couscous here that isn't in the pre-spiced boxes. I love it but hate the artificial flavoring junk!
OMG!!! I used to love those...strawberry + peach were my favs!
These a new creation [she made last week] stuffed with hummus/lemon juice/nutritional yeast. They are amazing! Well, maybe it is her original black bean burg recipe but w/the stuffing added?? mmmm so good
Just try adding 1 and whisk it in quickly then let it simmer for about 2min. There is no taste from it, but it packs extra protein and makes the oats extra creamy + fluffy!!
I've been putting peaches in my oats this summer with some coconut butter. nom noms :)
thank you SO much :) it helps a lot!!
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