Monday, January 11, 2010

Nikki's Banana Nut Oatmeal Custard MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

I love oatmeal. It brings back memories of Saturday mornings with Mom, she'd fix us big bowls of oats, doused in whole milk and smothered in brown sugar, and served with a peice of buttered toast.

To this day that is by far my favorite way to eat it, however trying to eat healthier tends to put the nix on milk & sugar smothered anything so I've been attempting to branch out. A few months ago one of the chicks (Kim I think) found a recipe for an oatmeal custard (and while we love to credit blogs that we see cool things on I'm afraid I can't remember where this one came from!!) where the blogger had stirred an egg into her oats and declared her obsession with the rich custardy flavor the egg adds. Over the holidays I was looking for easy to make, filling things I could have at breakfast, that my nephews would eat too (they come to my house in the mornings before school), that would apease my sweet tooth and keep my cravings at bay in the face of all the Christmas goodies at the office. In my experimentations I've thrown in everything from banana's to appleasauce to frozen strawberries and by far my favorite so far is banana nut.

Ingrediants:
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1/3 cup milk
1/3 cup water
1/3 cup liquid eggwhites (eggbeaters or 1 whole egg work good too, but if you use a whole egg dont stir it in until the end or you'll have scrambled eggs in your oats!)
1/2 a banana diced
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup quaker oats (quick cook or old fashioned)
1 tbs chopped walnuts
1 tsp cinnamon (plus a little more to sprinkle on top!)
1 packet of stevia (or sweetener of your choice)

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Combine all of your ingrediants in a saucepan and cover. Cook on medium-high heat until oats just begin to boil (stir a couple times to keep milk from settling on the bottom and scalding!). Remove lid and reduce to simmer, stiring until thickened. Sprinkle a little extra cinnamon on top and enjoy!

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(p.s. check out my pretty new dishes!!!)

I really can't say enough about how great this dish is, super easy, can be made in bulk in advance and nuked for a minute which is great for mornings when I'm running late and dont eat until I get to the office. This WILL keep you full until lunch, I am a hardcore snacker and I didnt even think about food until about 11am after eating this at 6:30am (usually I'd be rumaging in my desk for lonely lost chocolate bars by 9!).

Now lets break this down for you so you can see how seriously good for you this meal is!
Protein: 18 grams
Fiber: 7 grams
*Fiber & Protein are GREAT for helping you to feel fuller, longer*
Calcium: 14 grams
Iron: 12 grams
Potassium: 536 grams
*Potassium has been shown to reduce the risk of hypertension & stroke as well as aiding the body in healing muscle damage which will help you recover from your workouts!*
Fat: 10 grams
*which sounds like a lot but most of it is coming from the walnuts, the fat in walnuts is nearly 75% polyunsaturated fat which is helps lower cholesterol*
Calories: 340
*if this number scares you, drop it to 311 and cut 2 grams of fat by switching to skim milk, and reducing the milk & egg to 1/4 cup, and increasing the water to 1/2 cup*

Plus: studies have shown that cinnamon can help regulate blood sugar levels in diabetics as well as lowering cholesterol!

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