Homemade Breakfast

One of my New Year's resolutions was to try to eat better.  No necessarily skinnier or less red meat or drink less kind of better - though I suspect that will fall into place.  But healthier.  Less processed stuff.  More organic, more fruits/veggies, fewer hormones.  That kind of thing.  So imagine my dismay when the Pink Slime usage of exposed!  YIKES!  On so may levels.  Anyway, I've gotten a bit side tracked (duh!) and have eaten very badly this year.   Sometimes I don't eat at all, other times I'll crunch down a bag of chips in a sitting.  At least I haven't dipped into the dog food ;-) .  Last week was spent in a much needed vacation in New Orleans.  And we all know they're known for healthful lifestyles, right?  So I am attempting to get on track a bit.  

I thought I would start with the beginning of the day - Breakfast.  I love yogurt, especially Greek - once I tried Greek I could never stomach that over worked mess from Yoplait that has no resemblance to real food and is so sticky sweet.  But even these have so much sugar in them unless you buy plain.  And is still full of preservatives and "stuff".  My BFF has been raving about her crockpot yogurt for a while.  So I thought, what the whey (see what I did there with a little milky humor?) and gave it a shot yesterday.  I cannot believe how well it turned out.  It was soooo easy, though does take some timing and time - not prep time, seriously how long does it take you to pour a half gallon of milk into a crock? - but waiting time and being available for the next step timing.  In fact, I did have to get up about 2:30 this morning, go downstairs and put it in the fridge.  But it was so worth it.  It's creamy, not sweet, but also not too tangy.  A little runny - I'm going to try straining it some and maybe add some nonfat dried milk to the mix next time, I used 2% milk, btw.  But it was good just out of the crock.

But next to eating yogurt, I like eating yogurt with granola.  YUM!  But I have the same issues with purchased granola.  Besides being stinking expensive, they're very high in fat and, again, the dreaded overload of sugar.  This was not a new recipe for me, but it's been a while since I've made Lowfat Granola .  Again, quite easy, though a bit messy.  But I can make it how I like it and without so much sugar.  If you look at the link, I made the basic and added about 1/4 cup of flax seeds (go easy of these - they can quickly overwhelm your granola, but a few is good stuff), a sprinkle of cinnamon, and about 1/4c sliced almonds and 1/2c chopped walnuts, cause that's what I had in my pantry.  I'm not a fan of dried fruits so I didn't put any in mine - see what I mean?  I can make it MYYYYY way. 

I made it through one cup of coffee before I had to put this together for breakfast.  So, without further ado (and there's been quite a bit of ado going on here) I bring you..... MY HOMEMADE BREAKFAST: 

And my new counter tops.  I mixed in a little honey and liked how I didn't mix it all the way so each bite was a bit different.  I also liked how I could eat as much as I wanted - not limited to the 6 oz in the too small to stir container.  I will look around this summer for some local milks and creams to further reduce the processedness (is that a word?) of the dish.  But, again, YUM!  I may have this for lunch, too.

Also, while in the kitchen, without Dina, I clarified some butter for my fish tonight.  While in New Orleans we took a cooking class - and one of his suggestions was to soak the fillet in clarified butter, then coat in seasonings and then saute - no more added oils.  It caramelized the seasonings instead of burning them. 

And I have some shrimp for later, too. 

Ok, I'm  off to finish catching up on Mad Men so I can watch last week's premier on "On Demand" before tomorrow night, maybe sew a bit on some slacks I have cut out, and perhaps run to Home Depot for some fresh herbs.  All my pots from last summer are still alive and starting to bloom and my lawn was mowed yesterday for the first time.