My meals have been pretty bizarre lately so don’t say I didn’t warn you.
I have no clue how this meal was born. It came out of nowhere and makes no sense. At first I thought I wanted sweet oats (my normal breakfast thang). But then I saw some leftover tofu and said to myself “why not!”
I added chai tea to my oats along with half the block of tofu and mashed them all up together.
Then I figured to go full on savory and add in some veggies, nutritional yeast, and Bragg’s liquid aminos.
Carrots and corn were what I scrounged up veggie-wise.
Then I added some water and voila! The weirdest oatmeal dish you may have ever laid eyes upon. To be perfectly honest, the chai flavor was really subtle, but it was there. Somehow it actually added another dimension of spice to the nooch/Bragg’s combo though. And it was actually yummy. I’d liken it to a tofu salad of sorts, but with the chalky flavor of oats. Definitely one of my weirdest combos to date.
Oh, and by the way, it didn’t even end up being my breakfast! I broke the fast with (the below) sammie and enjoyed my oaty tofu mash for lunch.
Silver Hills Bakery’s Steady Eddie bread with Follow Your Heart’s vegan cream cheese and my mom’s home-made plum jam. I told you I was all sorts of bizarre with my meals!
What else do we have here?
Almonds, carrots, snap peas, apple, kaia foods’ raw cocoa granola, mini-blueberry muffin Larabar, and Crunchy PB Clif Bar.
Well rounded (albeit weird).
When I got home I threw some stuff in a bowl for dinner.
I’ve been trying to reduce the amount of gluten in my diet (as part of an ongoing sensitivity experiment). While I seem to have no problem with wheat bread, I think the obscene amount of seitan I was eating was causing my GI system a bit of distress. For the record, I love seitan. Unfortunately, seitan is made of vital wheat gluten. So it’s been a hard experiment. In the end, I have no real conclusion. If anything I may have a mild sensitivity to gluten, but I’d hardly diagnose myself as such without a proper allergy test. My IBS is probably the main culprit, and I learned long ago that there’s often no rhyme or reason for when or how that acts up. Instead of a low gluten diet, moderation should be my real prescription.
Spinach, quinoa, carrots, bell peppers, seitan, Bragg’s liquid aminos.
Protein and veggie packed bowl of goodness.
If I had to choose a favorite grain I would choose oats. If the category were broadened to include seeds/pseudograins I would definitely choose quinoa. Both can be sweet and savory. How about you?
There are times in my life when the stars align, stress is low, my gut is particularly well-healed, and life is good that I can ‘cheat’ and eat more gluten than other times. Then sometimes, so much as even LOOKING at gluten and I will be a total mess. I think that reducing it overall helps, but the other nonspecific factors all play a role too…such a puzzle piece situation, isnt it!
I love your savory oats! I would choose oats as my fave grain too! And millet, I love millet soo much 🙂
Quinoa is by far my favorite grain (seed). I never, ever get sick of it, no matter how often I eat it. My favorite way to prepare it is with peas, a splash of olive oil and salt and pepper.
My wedding venue said they will prepare any meal that I request for the big day, and a quinoa dish of some sort is high on the list. I WILL have protein at my wedding dinner! No eggplant napoleon, pasta primavera, or other typical vegetarian wedding meal will do. 🙂
I love oats!! I eat them every day…sometimes multiple times. I love them sweet, I’ve never had savory.
I’m experimenting with gluten sensitivity also, mostly only eating gluten when I go out (which isn’t very often). I’ve never made seitan, I wonder how I’d react?
That weird oats meal sounds delicious!! I’d maybe do it with quinoa, but wouldn’t be opposed to trying it with oats 😛
QUINOA!!! It is by far my favorite grain/pseudograin, with oatmeal coming in for a close second. I have always had quinoa in savory meals, like with curries, part of a salad, or in veggie burgers, but I just recently starting using them instead of oats for a breakfast-type sweet porridge and it was soooo delicious!
I love: quinoa + almond milk + cinnamon + agave nectar
this is by far my most delicious breakfast discovery in recent times 🙂
I blame you for my current crystallized ginger addiction. Never in my life have I loved crystallized ginger, but over the last few weeks I’ve become totally obsessed. I think i’ve seen you post that your trader joe’s carries it..I wish mine did!
Oh my gosh girl, those pics of your dinner are absolutely GORGEOUS!! Lovin’ all that color! And that bite shot? Gimme gimme!
Hilarious how you came up with your oat combo! That totally sounds like something I would find myself doing! Actually, when I made my peanut flour omelet thingie with bananas, raspberries, and carob, I was kinda wondering what the heck I was doing! Thankfully, my subconscious lead me to an amazingly delicious meal…but I was a bit skeptical at first! haha!
My favorite grain is definitely oats, followed verrrrrrrrrrrrrrry closely by quinoa…can’t beat a grain that’s cooked and ready in 20 minutes or less! Yeah, all about the instant gratification over here! 😉
Haha! She did the SAME thing to me!! I’ve been out for two weeks now and I think I’m dying! haha!
I don’t know what you are talking about when you write that your breakfast “made no sense”
Girl??? That breakfast makes ALL the right kinds of sense. That looks Good.
Favorite grain is quinoa and popcorn. (Popcorn is a grain).
I am definitely all about the oats! 🙂 I need to give quinoa more of a chance. I have never tried it sweet! I better put it on my grocery list. lol.
I love quinoa too. Trader Joe’s has a Harvest Quinoa blend that is delicious cooked in some veggie broth.
Also, I got my antioxidant greens yesterday and used a scoop in my green monster today–delicious! Thanks again!
I love savoury porridge, I have it quite a lot when I feel I need less of a sugar hit in the morning and slower energy release. I always use a different grain though, I made it with oats once, once being the operative word. Your breakfast/lunch is making me reconsider.
Hi there! Just recently found your blog and your posts are very fun to read! I’m also a nurse, so I can relate to some of your stories 🙂 Your meals look great! I love how quinoa looks when it’s photographed; it’s so pretty. Where do you get your mini Lara bars? I can only seem to find the full-size bars. I usually can only eat about half of one and those mini ones look like the perfect size. Looking forward to browsing through some of your older posts and catching up on your current ones!
I hear you on the IBS, I find that too much of anything, even if I’m usually fine with it, upsets my stomach. It’s such a temperamental beast. Back at christmas time when I added wheat back into my life at first I was fine and then I just got worse and worse and worse. So now I just have it occasionally. I try to be strictly plant-based/vegan whilst navigating the low FODMAPs approach. The joys! Essentially I aim for moderation and stress control 🙂
Wow, that’s such a bizarre yet strangely yum sounding combination! Love yourcreativity so much! And your packed lunch looked delicious…clif bars are so sweet and yum! 😀
I know, I feel you there so much…moderation is not my strong point at all. When will I learn?! 🙂 Variety and balance, variety and balance. Your blog is awesome because you show your meals which are full of variety. Love that – it helps me come up with new and interesting eats, as we eat similar things – oat variations, salad variations etc.
I would definitely choose oats as my favourite grain. Do ezekiel english muffins count?! I would pick those too, lol! Those and fruit are my favourite carbs EVER. I’m really keen to eat more millet and quinoa, but am lazy when it comes to cooking them. I just need to get over it and do it! 😀 xyx
Random but my mom in cali buys mini cliffs and mini laras at target!
if it makes you feel any better, i cant find ANY at WF or TJs now. i have searched every store on the west side and even looked when i was visiting my parents in nor cal. no luck! guys, this is a very tragic situation. 🙁
i feel ya on the instant gratification. invest in a rice cooker. it will change your life. you can cook beans, lentils, and any grain under the sun in it. and you don’t have to be home either. set it, forget about it, and come home to perfectly cooked food.
ha! glad i have your support on the odd combo. i guess im preaching to the choir in terms of foodie combos. its my coworkers that would have a different reaction!
i am craving popcorn now!
that blend it great! glad you are liking the greens 🙂
dooo it!
hi elaine!! so glad you found me 🙂 mini-larabars and mini-clifs are at certain whole foods, usually they are in assorted packs that only have a few flavors. i also get them when i do running races. expos always have the minis as freebies.
hope that helps. enjoy browsing my site!!
damn. i really think i should get an allergy test.
i LOOVE ezekiel muffins. i havent had any in quite a while. thanks for the reminder. oh moderation, its such a tricky beast.
are you GF?
SCORE! my wedding venue said the same. it was such a hard decision!!! i chose a grilled tofu dish and even though i dont remember it at all, im glad i had the option. lemme know what you choose!
yes, i love quinoa as a sweet porridge-esque breakfast. almond milk, cinnamon, and agave sounds so yum!
To be honest, food allergy tests have had mixed reviews. I saw a specialist dietician for a while and she said that the gold standard way to test for food intolerances is still through a process of elmination and reintroducing- that’s how I first found out that I couldn’t eat gluten and dairy. I cut gluten out for 2 weeks and noticed a major improvement. Good luck hun! Let me know how you get on xxx
Thanks for both of those suggestions guys! I’ve never actually thought to look at Target for them – gotta look next time! I’m up in OR and we have Whole Foods, but just not too close to me. Luckily, I have a New Seasons and TJ’s nearby 🙂
For 8 yrs I was *strictly* GF. In the last year I have incorporated small amts of gluten but realize I do better, overall, being GF. But baking with flour is fun 🙂
Although, come to think of it, a couple of years ago I did the ELISA food intolerance test (or similar here: http://www.yorktest.com/en/our-tests/product-information/FoodScan113FoodIntoleranceTest.html?ProductID=2) and dairy, gluten, chilli and yeast showed up as intolerances. I don’t really pay much attention to the yeast and chilli, but being dairy-free and limiting gluten defo helps. xxx
Same! I am now addicted to the sugary-gingery goodness. Seriously.
I’m the same, Averie. I was strictly gluten-free but now I limit it (but probs have something with gluten in approx once a week) and am fine. x