Breakfast is usually a simple affair at my home except on weekends. Then we often splurge. My wife often likes to make an omelet and perhaps fill it with spinach or kale or fix it up Mexican style. And then there is toast or if she is very ambitious, scones with raspberry jam. Of course if we ate that way every day it wouldn’t be that good for us and who has time? On week days I often just eat yogurt and a small portion of granola with fruit and switch to cooked cereal and fruit on the next day. One thing I have learned is the benefit of cooking ahead so on the weekend we often cook up mush (as my grandmother called it) and eat it later in the week.
You might be thinking that you don’t like that slimy oatmeal and it doesn’t stick with you or you can’t eat it because you are a diabetic. Well there is a trick here and it is all about portion size and the choice of cereals and cooking method.
Oatmeal and Quinoa Mush
4 C filtered water
½ C Quinoa (organic tri-colored is nice)
1 C Bob’s Red Mill Steel Cut Oats (not quick cooking)
A dash of salt
¼ C Whole Raw Almonds chopped coarsely (measure before chopping)
¼ C Raisins
Place the cold water in a 2 Qt. sauce pan with a glass lid and add the quinoa and bring to a simmer. Add the cut Oats and a dash of salt and stir and wait for the pot to simmer again. When it returns to a simmer turn down the heat and cover watching and stirring occasionally to prevent the mush from boiling over or sticking to the bottom. Cook for 20 to 25 minutes until the sheen is nearly gone but the mush can still be stirred. Remove from heat and stir in the almonds and raisins then cover and let rest for 10 minutes. At this point you can serve it with a half cup of 1% milk or place in a glass container and refrigerate for later use reheating in the microwave. A single portion of 1 C with ½ C 1% Milk is about 380 calories. By not using quick cooking oatmeal the glycemic load is reduced from 30 to 13 for the oatmeal and the quinoa also has a glycemic load of 13. If you need to further reduce your carbohydrates, you could leave out the raisins and add fresh blueberries later when you reheat your mush. You could also reduce your portion size and eat raw or cooked vegetables in addition.
A 1 C serving with 1% milk is 380 calories and is 62% carbohydrate, 23% fat and 14% protein with less than 100mg of salt and only 8 mg of cholesterol. Compare that to an Egg Mcmuffin which is 300 calories, has 820 mg of sodium and is 40% carbohydrate, 36% fat and 24% protein and has 260 mg of cholesterol. And I bet you are going to eat 2 of them or be hungry in an hour. I know that you have heard that dietary cholesterol doesn’t count, so we will talk about that on another day. For now, let’s just say that the Harvard School of Public Health still says it matters.
Ken Corliss, OD
Diplomate ABO