It’s the start of a brand new year and that means brand new resolutions…or in many people’s case, an old resolution with a new approach. Almost everyone would like to be a little trimmer, especially after all the tasty goodness of the holidays, and I myself would like to shed more than a few pounds of insulation, gain some muscle and perhaps knock off some time at my next race.
Momma always said to start the day off with a good breakfast. That was so much easier when all we had to do was cosy up to a meal prepared for us while we sat in front of the television willing a snow alert to pop up on the screen announcing New Jersey had been hit by the storm of all storms and school would be canceled indefinitely!
In anticipation of the resolution rush, I signed up for an online training program complete with shopping list and recipe suggestions. The hardest part was planning how to get done all the cooking needed for preparing homemade breakfast everyday, specifically steel cut oatmeal (definitely not instant!) and egg scrambles (I hate leaving a pan dirtied with egg in the sink all day). My secret weapons–mini mason jars and silicon muffin molds. While cooking your dinner for the night you can get several breakfasts out of the way for the rest of your week! Portioning the oatmeal directly into the mason jars is heat safe off the range, stored in the fridge, and into the microwave. Baking your egg scrambles in the silicon molds makes them easy to remove and the perfect size to pop on an English muffin or flat bread for a personal McMuffin!
Good Morning Oatmeal
(makes 2 servings-double as needed)
1 cup steel cut oats
1 1/2 cups water
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup vanilla soy milk
1/4 cup dried fruit (cranberries, raisins, chopped apricots, etc.)
2 Tbsp chopped nuts (almonds, walnuts)
2 tsp maple syrup
Add salt and oats to boiling water, cover and reduce to simmer for 10 minutes. Stir every few minutes to prevent boil over. Uncover and simmer another 10 minutes. Add remaining ingredients and cook another 5 minutes. Remove from heat and portion between 2 mason jars with lids. Refrigerate until ready. Microwave 1 1/2 minutes until hot with lids off.
Colleen Wood, regional editor for Camden County, maintains her blog jerzEATS.com by making food discoveries and retrying old haunts in and around New Jersey. She loves a good deal and learning how to make restaurant dishes at home. After spending her college years up at Boston University earning her journalism degree, Colleen returned to our great state as a marketing assistant by day and dance teacher and restaurant enthusiast by night! A foodie by birth, Colleen credits her mother for her love of good food and talent in the kitchen, and hopes they’ll one day get to open a bake shop!
