Boxed cereals are convenient, quick and easy. Just open the box, pour some cereal in a bowl, add some milk, grab a spoon and you are ready to eat. They are also usually filled with preservatives and additives and other chemicals that I probably cannot pronounce. And, they are processed and cooked. I want none of those things for my first, most important meal of the day.
I want a morning cereal routine that is almost as quick and easy, and much more nutritious! And, with this breakfast, I have all that and more. It only takes a few minutes to prepare. It fills me up without making me feel heavy, and holds me over for hours – well into the lunchtime hour. So I have a very productive morning because I’m not stopping every two hours to have a snack or get more coffee or tea.
(Seriously, before I started eating more raw, I would have hot tea or coffee at 8am, stop to eat breakfast at 9 or 9:30, at 10:30 or 11am I was thinking about lunch and what to do, where to go. Then, at about 2:30 or 3pm, I would be hungry for a snack unless I ate a gi-normous amount at lunch, then I would be tired and wanting an afternoon nap. Either way, I would probably snack, then want dinner at 6pm. I was
always hungry and
always thinking about food.)
This breakfast is simple: about 10 germinated* almonds, a handful of raisins, another handful or so of whole oats, and about 4 tablespoons yogurt and/or milk. Each morning, I add a different fruit, one half each for Hubby and me. Sometimes, we go with an apple or banana (always a good standard), but lately, the nectarines and mangoes have been excellent at our grocery store. Part of the reason we have not become tired of having the same thing every morning is because of the different fruit we add to it. The other part is because we feel great after eating it!
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| All stirred up with nectarine |
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| Adding Mango on another morning |
Obviously with the addition of the yogurt and milk, this is not a 100% raw breakfast (or afternoon snack, or lunch – we’ve had it as both). But, my blog is not a 100% raw blog. If you were to purchase unpasteurized milk or yogurt made from unpasteurized milk, this may be 100% raw. I have to research whole oats. I have eaten oats labeled as “raw” before, and I don’t notice any difference between those and the whole oats I use. But,
Carol Alt says in her books, “If it doesn’t say raw, it’s not raw.” The oats I buy do not say raw so I’m not sure if they are or not. But, whole oats do provide fiber and complex carbohydrates, which are both great for our systems.
*A note about germinating: It is very easy! Germinating nuts and seeds releases the nutrients inside those awesome nuts and seeds so they are more biologically available to us. Each specific nut and seed has a different germinating time, so I would direct you to Carol Alt’s books for more info on that. This is what I do for almonds:
(Two cups of almonds lasts me for this breakfast for about two weeks, for the two of us.) Rinse the 2 cups of almonds twice or so
Pour them into a glass bowl or other glass container
Pour purified water over them enough to cover all the almonds and have about a ½ inch of water above them
(Note I use filtered water, but others use distilled water – do what works for you)
Let the almonds soak for 8 to 12 hours on the counter, just at room temperature
(Note that I have set them to soak before work in the morning – then when I’m done with my workday, they are ready to put away – and also before going to bed at night – then when I wake up the next morning, they are ready to use)
Pour the water out and rinse them a few times again
The almonds are germinated and ready to use! I store mine in a container in the fridge and they last for the whole 2 weeks. They may last longer, but I usually run out by then.
You’ll find the almonds are sweeter and more flavorful after germinating, and of course, a little softer. Hubby says they taste reminiscent of coconut.
So, that’s how we do breakfast. We’ve given up the boxed cereals and cooked oatmeal and feel so much better for it!
Enjoy!
