Chia Breakfast Two- Savory (Chia Congee)

Yesterday I shared my fruity breakfast chia pudding. I like it, but I have always been more of a savory breakfast person, so I decided to switch things up a bit. I like the idea of congee for breakfast but it is quite carb-y as it traditionally uses white rice. Also, it generally takes a long time to make and I’m all about the convenience factor. So, I tried a little experiment that I call a win- savory chia congee.

(Congee is a traditional breakfast dish eaten in China, Burma, Indonesia, Japan, and even parts of Europe. It is made by boiling rice in a lots of water until it breaks down into a thin pudding. It is served with many toppings such as Chinese chives, dried shrimp, salted duck eggs, century eggs, edamame, chicken, fish, pork and seasonings like coriander and ginger).

I began with the regular chia seed base, but instead of mixing the chia with almond milk, I used soup (I just happened to have some potato vegetable soup left over, but you could easily use any broth of your choice). Then I added various savory ingredients and put it away in the fridge just like regular chia pudding. The next morning I quickly heated it through and added some seasoned baked tofu (that was what I was making on the “cheater pizza” baking sheet– lol), and green onion for garnish. I also sprinkled a bit of tamari over it, and I have to say, it was delish! You could add any traditional congee ingredients- I just improvised as it was a spur of the moment experiment. This is another recipe that could be very keto friendly depending on your choice of added ingredients.

Savory Chia Congee

Ingredients:

• 1/4 tsp white pepper
• 1 cup soup or broth of choice
• 1-2 Tbsp chia seed (1 Tbsp was enough with the flax and the veggies in my soup, but you might need more to thicken it to the consistency of your liking)
• 0.50 Tbsp ground flaxseed
• 0.25 cups baked cubed seasoned tofu
• 0.25 cup green onion
• 1 tsp tamari or soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp super seed mix (golden flaxseed, hulled hempseed, chia seed mix)

Directions:

Stir the chia, ground flax, and super seed mix into the broth and refrigerate several hours or overnight.

When ready to serve, heat the pudding and then add the tofu, white pepper, and green onion. (Can be served cold too). 

Nutrition Facts
Servings 1.0
Amount Per Serving
calories 242
% Daily Value *
Total Fat 25 g	38 %
Saturated Fat 2 g	8 %
Monounsaturated Fat 2 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 7 g
Trans Fat 0 g
Cholesterol 0 mg	0 %
Sodium 1086 mg	45 %
Potassium 450 mg	13 %
Total Carbohydrate 11 g	4 %
Dietary Fiber 9 g	38 %
Sugars 1 g
Protein 19 g	38 %
Vitamin A	1 %
Vitamin C	3 %
Calcium	17 %
Iron	19 %
* The Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet, so your values may change depending on your calorie needs. The values here may not be 100% accurate because the recipes have not been professionally evaluated nor have they been evaluated by the U.S. FDA.

Chia Breakfast One- Sweet

I’ve been playing around with my chia puddings for breakfast, so today I will share a sweet version. It has lower calories and higher protein than the standard chia puddings that are often online. I like to save some calories for later in the day and I feel like the protein helps me stay full longer. This is a sweet version that uses powdered almond butter. If you are not concerned about the fat or calories, for instance if you are eating keto style, you can easily sub in regular almond butter. In fact you could sub in any nut butter, including macadamia butter to increase your fat macros.

Fruit and Almond Chia Breakfast Pudding

Ingredients:

• 1 Tbsp super seed mix (golden flax seed, hulled hemp seed, chia seed mix)
• 1 cup unsweetened almond milk
• 2 Tbsp powdered almond butter
• 2 Tbsp chia seed
• 2 Tbsp goldenberry power mix
• 0.50 medium banana
• 5 drops stevia Sweet Drops (any flavour- I used English toffee flavour, you could use chocolate, or even flavourless)

Directions:

Mix the powdered almond butter with a few tablespoons of the unsweetened almond milk to create a paste, then stir in the rest of the almond milk.

Add the chia seed and the super seed mix and stir. Cover and refrigerate for a few hours or overnight.

At breakfast, add in some sliced banana, the goldenberry mix, and stevia to taste. Stir and enjoy.

Nutrition Facts
Servings 1.0
Amount Per Serving
calories 367
% Daily Value *
Total Fat 17 g	26 %
Saturated Fat 2 g	9 %
Monounsaturated Fat 2 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 6 g
Trans Fat 0 g
Cholesterol 0 mg	0 %
Sodium 253 mg	11 %
Potassium 531 mg	15 %
Total Carbohydrate 41 g	14 %
Dietary Fiber 18 g	71 %
Sugars 15 g
Protein 17 g	34 %
Vitamin A	12 %
Vitamin C	5 %
Calcium	59 %
Iron	25 %
* The Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet, so your values may change depending on your calorie needs. The values here may not be 100% accurate because the recipes have not been professionally evaluated nor have they been evaluated by the U.S. FDA.

Breakfast Bean Bars Updates

Well, I have discovered that I like the black bean bars even more after freezing them. So, they will be a repeat recipe for me. I make a tray or two at a time and then freeze them in single packs to pull out for a ready made breakfast.

I was out of black beans this week, so I made some with white beans. I also had some bananas to use up, and I found soy flakes at Bulk Barn that I wanted to try out. I had also used up all my dates, so I put in a few drops of english toffee flavoured stevia drops as the alternative sweetener. So I switched out the recipe a fair bit and as a result the white bean bars taste quite different and also have a different texture from the black bean bars. I like them a lot too. Recipe below, but these are clearly so versatile that you could put almost anything in them.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups white beans, mashed
• 0.25 cup soy flakes
• 0.25 cup oats
• 0.5 tsp baking powder
• 0.25 tsp baking soda
• 1 mashed banana
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• a few drops liquid stevia
• 0.25 cup powdered PB2 (optional)
• 0.125 cup goldenberry power mix (or other dried fruit of choice-optional)
• 0.125 cup chopped walnuts

Method:

Mash the beans and bananas, then mix well with all ingredients except the dried fruit and walnuts. The mix should be very thick, but if it is still too dry after mixing well, add a little almond milk or water (a spoonful at a time, until you get a thick batter). Spread the mix in a pan and add the fruit and nuts on top, pressing into the batter. Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes, or until it is cakey but still moist.

Makes 8 servings, but it is low cal and healthy enough that 2 for breakfast is not outrageous. I’ll let you know if these ones freeze as well as the black bean bars.

Nutrition Facts
Servings 8.0
Amount Per Serving
calories 173
% Daily Value *
Total Fat 4 g	6 %
Saturated Fat 0 g	1 %
Monounsaturated Fat 1 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 1 g
Trans Fat 0 g
Cholesterol 0 mg	0 %
Sodium 368 mg	15 %
Potassium 624 mg	18 %
Total Carbohydrate 22 g	7 %
Dietary Fiber 9 g	34 %
Sugars 5 g
Protein 10 g	20 %
Vitamin A	1 %
Vitamin C	2 %
Calcium	34 %
Iron	13 %
* The Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet, so your values may change depending on your calorie needs. The values here may not be 100% accurate because the recipes have not been professionally evaluated nor have they been evaluated by the U.S. FDA.

Chicken-y Tofu Scramble

Yep- turned out great, so here it is:

Ingredients:

• 1 container (350.2 g) extra firm tofu
• 0.50 tsp shiro (white) miso
• 1 Tbsp nutritional yeast
• 1/2 tsp black salt (optional)
• 1 medium onion
• 1/3 cup grape tomatoes
• 1/4 cup chopped red peppers
• 1 Tbsp vegan no chicken bouillon base
• 1 Tbsp olive oil

Directions:

• Chop the onion and put it into a frying pan with the oil. Cook until translucent. (You can also add any other veggies at this stage that you would like. My peppers were frozen so didn’t need to be softened, and I saved the tomatoes until the end).
• Drain and dry the tofu. For firmer scramble, you can also press the tofu. Break it into chunks (whatever size you like for your scrambles. I like it mostly pea-sized but I also like a few bigger chunks in there too). Put the crumbled tofu into the frying pan with the onions.

• Meanwhile, mix the seasoning sauce together- the no chicken stock base, nutritional yeast, miso, and black salt (if you have some- it has a sulfur/egg taste, but the miso and no chicken stock base are actually quite salty too, so extra salt is not necessary). Thin it out with a few tablespoons of water. You want enough to stir through the whole scramble, but you don’t want the scramble to come out watery, either.

• Add the sauce to the tofu and stir it through. Taste and add any other seasonings you’d like- perhaps some pepper, thyme, sage? Before serving, add in the tomatoes and peppers just to heat through.

So good!

RECIPE NOTES:

1. Remember my plan is ingredient based– so most of my recipes can be changed on the fly to use whatever ingredients you have on hand! Add some seitan chick-non chunks for texture, add unused veggies from last week, try beef, veggie, or mushroom stock base, etc.

2. With my recipes, making it more keto friendly is nearly always just a matter of adding ingredients with good fats, so go ahead and add some extra oils and tasty things!

 

Nutrition Facts
Servings 4.0
Amount Per Serving
calories 214
% Daily Value *
Total Fat 12 g	19 %
Saturated Fat 2 g	10 %
Monounsaturated Fat 5 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 5 g
Trans Fat 0 g
Cholesterol 0 mg	0 %
Sodium 520 mg	22 %
Potassium 122 mg	3 %
Total Carbohydrate 8 g	3 %
Dietary Fiber 1 g	5 %
Sugars 3 g
Protein 17 g	34 %
Vitamin A	10 %
Vitamin C	33 %
Calcium	22 %
Iron	13 %
* The Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet, so your values may change depending on your calorie needs. The values here may not be 100% accurate because the recipes have not been professionally evaluated nor have they been evaluated by the U.S. FDA.

(Nutrition facts based on MyFitnessPal data)

Let me know if you’d like some other scramble recipes.

New Dog, Old Tricks- Part Deux

Following up on my last post, today I write out the steps of my meal planning and show you the template I use. I’ll also continue with this week’s meals and recipes.

However- before you decide to use my planning method (or anyone else’s), I would suggest that you do one other important thing:

Decide what your aims are for meal planning (ie, lose weight, waste less, save money, try new foods, save time, be environmentally friendly, be kind to animals, stock the freezer, cook for a whole family, etc). If you know why you are planning, you will be able to tailor a plan more to what you need.

I plan for one person, but because I work and do a long commute, I still may cook in bulk and either freeze meals or use them for work lunches. My four meal plan aims are to: have flexibility in my planning, save time, save money, and eat planet-friendly, healthy food. With this in mind, I start with ingredients rather than recipes:

Jo’s “Ingredient First” Meal Planning Method:

1. Look for a few main ingredients for the week that are on sale/in season at the markets you regularly shop. After you have compared best prices, try and narrow your shop down to a few stores to save time and money.                                                     
2. Rough out a menu plan for the week, based on your ingredients. There are many styles online. I use a weekly paper plan that I keep on my fridge, where and I can easily make changes on the fly and still be aware of what food I have already prepped. Below is a pic of the template I have used for years- ever since I used to make bentos for my daughter’s school lunches. It comes from Just Bento at: http://justbento.com/weekly-meal-planner-with-bento-lunch                                             
3.  Try and do most your prep on one day if possible. If not, prep all of one ingredient when you are making the first recipe that calls for it (ie- If Monday’s recipe calls for one sliced onion and Wednesday’s calls for 2 diced onions, prep all three onions at once). Then meals are either pre-made for when you get home, or the prepped ingredients just need to be thrown together like those delivery meal programs people buy now. (I like to think of it as giving my future self a small gift).    
4. Clean up as you prep and cook. The more you think about doing this, the more efficient you become at it- another gift for your future self.                                                   
5. As the week goes on, you may need to make adjustments in your recipes- that’s ok, flexibility is part of this plan. This week, I ended up switching my zucchini lasagna to lasagna “boats”. I also switched the order of my lunch salads- I needed to use my leftover spinach early in the week to prevent spoilage. Some weeks I don’t need some of the meals or ingredients I’ve planned/prepped. I either roll them into the next week’s plan, or freeze them to use later (like when I used another week’s frozen shepherd’s pie in this week’s plan). 

Simples! (as Orlov would say) And here’s how it looks in practice:

Usually I shop at the weekend and  prep for the week on Sundays. Because I’m on holiday, this week I both shopped and prepped the zucchini alfredo on Monday, for three days’ dinners. I ate no-prep breakfasts and super easy lunches for those three days too- a basic spinach and cabbage salad with red pepper, seeds and nuts to fill it out, and dressing I already had in my fridge. (On Tuesday I also did a 5 minute experiment using chopped cauliflower, as you’ll see below). I went out for lunch on Wednesday and after that I did the rest of the week’s prep:

First came tofu frittatas. I make these regularly in large batches and freeze them. Then I pull out two at a time for breakfasts on the go. I never get tired of them because I use different flavour combos each time. This time I made spinach and vegan feta fritattas, experimenting by using chopped cauliflower as the “feta”. It was moderately successful. I marinated the chopped cauliflower in a Greek spice mix with a bit of fresh basil, olive oil, salt, nutritional yeast, and cider vinegar. I flash fried the cauliflower first to soften it a bit, but I think next time I will try marinating it raw, to allow it to keep some more texture in the final product.

Tofu Frittatas- Greek recipe:

RECIPE NOTES:

1. Remember my plan is ingredient based– so most of my recipes can be changed on the fly to use whatever ingredients you have on hand! 

2. So- make these your own by adding any ingredients to the basic tofu/turmeric/milk mix: use last week’s prepped leftovers…or tomatoes, corn, and chili powder to make Mexican flavour…or curry for an Indian feel…black salt for more “eggy” flavour, etc. 

3. Make it Keto with or without eggs by using cheese, olives, and veggies cooked in oil.

Ingredients:

• • 1 cup chopped cauliflower
  • 2 Tbsp Greek spice
  • 2 Tbsp olive brine
  • 0.25 cup apple cider vinegar
  • 1 Tbsp sea salt
  • 1 Tbsp nutritional yeast
  • 1 Tbsp olive oil
  • 400g firm tofu
  • 0.25 cup unsweetened coconut milk
  • 1 cup fresh spinach leaves
  • 1 cup green onion, chopped
  • 1 tsp ground black pepper
  • 1 cup chopped red bell pepper
  • 1 tsp turmeric (to give an “egg” colour)

Directions:

Mix the olive oil, Greek spices, salt, vinegar, olive brine and nutritional yeast and add the cauliflower. Let marinate in the fridge for up to a day. Drain excess liquid before adding to the frittata mix.

 

 

When you are ready to make the fritattas, blend the tofu and turmeric and add coconut milk until you get a doughy consistency (you may not need the full 1/4 cup of milk, or for some mixes, you may actually need a bit more).

Then mix in all the other ingredients and divide the mix into 12 non-stick (or greased) muffin tins. Bake at 350 degrees F for about half an hour, or until somewhat firm and slightly browned.

 

 

 

Because I put so many veggies in these, they can be quite moist, so I layer them on paper towels to store in the fridge or freezer.

They take about 15 minutes to make (except for the cauliflower feta marinating time), and half to three-quarters of an hour to bake. 

Nutrition Facts
Servings 6.0
Amount Per Serving
calories 111
% Daily Value *
Total Fat 7 g	10 %
Saturated Fat 1 g	5 %
Monounsaturated Fat 2 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 1 g
Trans Fat 0 g
Cholesterol 0 mg	0 %
Sodium 1292 mg	54 %
Potassium 473 mg	14 %
Total Carbohydrate 9 g	3 %
Dietary Fiber 3 g	13 %
Sugars 3 g
Protein 8 g	16 %
Vitamin A	91 %
Vitamin C	74 %
Calcium	26 %
Iron	15 %
* The Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet, so your values may change depending on your calorie needs. The values here may not be 100% accurate because the recipes have not been professionally evaluated nor have they been evaluated by the U.S. FDA.

(Nutrition facts based on MyFitnessPal data)

Next post:

What did I do with the cabbage? And how about that extra Zucchini?

 

Cooking Club Fail/Win

I’ve been trying to do a cooking club for a long time. In cooking club version 1 there were eight of us, but we never succeeded in having all eight there at once. If I were to do all my posts in the right order, the story of version 1 would come first. But that’s not going to happen. Next week the survivors are starting on version 3 of the cooking club, so there isn’t time to tell the whole backstory now. (I don’t mean survivors literally– we didn’t actually have casualties! Just other things happened.)