No-cook oats

Looking for a quick breakfast idea? 

This No-Cook Oats recipe, like most of my recipes, is a formula that allows you to substitute almost every ingredient that the recipe calls for. You may soak the oats overnight or prep it first thing when you wake up in the morning. Let it sit for half an hour and by the time you are showered and dressed and ready to go, so are the oats. 

Seriously, this is so easy and versatile there is no reason to skip breakfast or spend $8 for a latte and chocolate croissant every morning!

Here is the formula:

• 1/2 cup uncooked rolled oats

• 1/3 cup unsweetened yogurt (dairy or coconut)

• 2/3 cup milk (dairy or nut)

• 1 tablespoon chia seeds (or ground flaxseeds, hemp seeds)

• fruit (banana, berries, any fresh fruit in season or frozen)

• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)

• honey or maple syrup to taste (optional)

• chopped nuts (any kind, optional)

To do it the no recipe way, mix rolled oats with any combination of milk and yogurt in a large bowl or mason jar, add in a chopped ripe banana to sweeten it. Throw in chia, flax or hemp seeds and more fruit if you have them on hand. Mix well, cover and let it sit in the fridge for half an hour or overnight. (Use frozen fruit ONLY if you are soaking the oaks overnight.) When you are ready to eat the oats, stir in more milk if you desire a thinner consistency, throw in some chopped nuts and sweeten it with maple syrup or a drizzle of honey if necessary.

Noodle-less Pad Thai

If you love noodles but fear carb , here is a perfectly satisfying "noodle-less" noodle-like dish for you.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb ground pork (or other ground meat) marinated with salt, tamari, white pepper and sesame oil.
• 1 small head of cabbage, sliced into flat noodle like thickness.

Cooking method:

• In a large pan, add pork, break it up with a spatula and let it brown a little.
• Add cabbage. Cover and cook for about 15-20 minutes, depending on how "al dente" you like your cabbage to be. Add salt to taste. If there is excess water, cook uncovered for a few extra minutes.

Pad Thai sauce:

• Combine 6 Tbsp of almond or peanut butter, juice of 1 lime, 2 Tbsp of tamari, 3 Tbsp of sesame oil, 3 Tbsp of water.
• Pour sauce over cabbage mix, serve with sesame seeds, ground peanuts, scallions, cilantro, lime wedges and favorite hot sauce.

Simple quinoa tabouli

This is so....simply delicious and light! Think lemon and parsley....

Ingredients:

• cooked quinoa
• tomatoes
• red bell peppers
• cucumbers ( which I ran out of that day, but it was still delicious)
• parsley

Dressing:

• olive oil
• squeeze of lemon juice
• salt to taste

Mix and serve. You can't go wrong with this recipe.

Quinoa fiesta with mango curry dressing

This recipe reminds me of the "sweet curry" U.K. style I used to love when I was a university student in London. It is slightly fruity and not at all spicy. I had something like that at a Whole Foods salad bar and had been trying to replicate it ever since.

Ingredients:

• cooked quinoa
• quartered grapes
• chopped mangoes
• chopped red bell peppers
• chopped cashews
• cilantro
• scallion (or coriander as they call it in the UK)

Dressing:

• 2 tsp of olive oil
• 1/3 inch cube of fresh ginger
• 1 garlic clove
• 1/2 tsp of curry powder
• pinch of cumin
• pinch of paprika
• juice from 1/2 a lemon
• salt to taste

Mix everything together. Go easy with the dressing, you might not need all of it. If grapes and mangoes are not ripe or sweet enough, add dried cranberries for extra sweetness.

How to cook the perfect quinoa

Quinoa is a low glycemic grain (or technically a seed) that doesn't spike up your blood sugar level like white rice or potatoes do. It is also protein-dense, so eat away.......white, red, even rainbow. It is also a perfect last minute thing you can whip up because brown rice just takes too darn long to cook.

Rinse 1 cup of quinoa in a mesh strainer under tap water, it washes away the saponins that make quinoa otherwise bitter.

Here is where I disagree with most folks out there. I like my quinoa kind of crisp and bouncy. My quinoa:water ratio is 1:1 1/4, radically less then the 1:2 ratio most recipes call for. I never know why. Maybe after the quinoa has been washed, it already retains some of the water.

So I repeat, add 1 1/4 cup of water to 1 cup of rinsed quinoa, a sprinkle of salt, bring it to boil, cover, turn the heat down to low, simmer for about 15 minutes. When cooked, let it sit in the pan for another 10 minutes or so. Fluff and serve.