by Caroline | Jan 14, 2017 | Recipes
I don’t often make oatmeal for breakfast because I prefer a higher fat breakfast (eggs and avocado with some fermented veggies like kimchi are my go-to). I do like Irish steel cut oatmeal at times, especially in the winter, because it’s warming, filling, and oh so cozy. Well today was one of those cozy days where I just wanted a warm bowl of oatmeal. So I came up with this simple recipe for Irish steel cut oatmeal with apples. It’s not about reinventing the wheel, but I’m happy when I can make something that is healthy and simple. Recipes involving too many ingredients turn me off (at least when it comes to regular weekday meals).
There are so many different ways to dress up a plain bowl of oatmeal, sometimes I don’t know where to start. I decided to keep it really simple with this one. Basically, there’s only THREE main ingredients, and they’re generally things I keep on hand anyway.
Since Irish steel cut oats take a bit of time to cook, I want the rest of the process to be simple. No need for a major cooking project in the morning.
Ingredients
- 1 cup of Irish Steel Cut Oats
- 1-2 apple
- Cinnamon
- Slivered Almonds (optional)
- Walnuts (optional)
Directions:
- Bring 1 cup of Irish steel cut oats and 3 cups of water to a boil, then reduce to a simmer for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Meanwhile, peel and slice 1 apple, chop into small cubes and sauté on medium heat with the lid on, stirring occasionally.
- Remove the apples from heat once they are soft and beginning to brown (about 7-10 minutes).
- Once the oats are done, remove from heat and add sautéed apples.
- Add cinnamon and any other toppings (I like some sliced apples, slivered almonds and walnuts, but the toppings are up to you).
Thats it!!!
I thought about adding some maple syrup but the sautéed apples really bring enough sweetness to the dish, and I don’t like my breakfasts to be too sweet anyway. I find that this is the perfect amount of sweetness without needing and added sweetener.
This recipe makes about 2-3 servings (or 1 if you’re really hungry).
May your morning be warm and cozy,
by Caroline | Jan 7, 2017 | Self Care
I use essential oils all year round, that’s so secret. However, from season to season we have different needs in mind and body. We eat different foods, have different routines, and treat our bodies differently. So it would make sense that we should use essential oils seasonally too. Here are my favorite winter essential oils to bring about greater health and balance this time of year.
Thieves
Thieves is really one of my must-haves year round, but it’s crucial to my health in the winter time. Thieves essential oil is a powerful blend of clove, lemon, cinnamon, eucalyptus, and rosemary essential oils. It’s rich and spicy aroma is always pleasing this time of year. It’s actually inspired by a legend about a group of spice merchants in 15th century France who formulated a blend of spices they used while robbing the bodies of plague victims. Apparently it kept them from dying of the plague, and therefore this blend was known to boost immunity, and guard against disease.
Though I don’t spend much of my time robbing plague victims, I do spend a lot of time with children who get sick. There’s always something going around, and every day I am bombarded with all sorts of germs. I diffuse thieves in my office, and rub it on my feet at night, and put a drop in some hot water with honey when I feel like I’m coning down with a cold. If there was one essential oil I could not live without, it’s this one.
Digize
I know I say I couldn’t live without thieves, but I really really can’t live without Digize. As the name hints, it’s incredible for digestive issues. I rub a drop on my stomach or take a drop internally when I am experiencing any type of stomach upset. This stuff is the fastest acting oil I have ever used! Every time I use it I feel better within minutes. I especially love using it after a big meal when I’m so full it hurts (but the food was just too delicious I had to have seconds and thirds). Digize helps my digestive system work through the biggest meals and give me quick relief. It’s also great for nausea, indigestion, heart burn, and the dreaded stomach bug.
Joy
Joy is my favorite antidote to the winter blues. Honestly when I first tried this one I didn’t like the floral smell of it. They say if you are put off by an essential oil’s smell you probably need whatever is in it. Well apparently I needed more joy in my life, luckily now I have it. The funny thing is once I began using it regularly I became increasingly fond of the smell, and now I absolutely love it.
Lavender
Lavender, while great all year, is especially calming during the winter months when we can feel stressed and out of sorts. During the holidays this is a great one to diffuse to inspire a calming mood. I put a drop of lavender on my face and neck each night when I am going to bed. It’s great for the skin, and helps my go to sleep. Aside from being ultra relaxing, lavender is like the Swiss army knife of essential oils and can do pretty much anything. Got a cut, bruise, burn? Put lavender on it!
Cedarwood
Another one I didn’t like at first, and now it’s one of my favorites. Cedarwood basically just smells like cedar, which at first I attached to a memory of my gerbal in third grade (lol). After using it every night on my neck to help me sleep I quickly started to think of it as extremely grounding and stable, like a big cedar tree. I love this in the winter time because it brings the outdoors in, during a time when I don’t get out much. It’s known to help relax, and I find it really helps me fall asleep.
by Caroline | Dec 20, 2016 | Recipes
This Christmas Fruit Bake is a really quick and simple, yet healthy and delicious, because… have we met? It’s sort of my thing at this point that I like to take delicious recipes I see around the internet and simplify them. I’ve seen so many baked fruit recipes that call for amounts of sugar and butter that would make Paula Dean blush.
Fruit bakes are inherently sweet and savory because of the juices from the fruits. You don’t have to do a lot to make it delicious. So this version is very simple, focusing on the fruit and spices, with only a little bit of butter and honey to help incorporate the spices on the fruit.
I decided to make this Christmas fruit bake because I love the tastes and smells of christmas time, and I thought that the combination of the spices cinnamon, nutmeg, and clove would play really well with the sweet apples and tart cranberries. *spoiler alert, it did!*
Ingredients
- 2 apples
- 1 pear
- 1 c pineapple chunks (I just got a container of precut pineapple, definitely save the juice from the container)
- 1 container of cranberries (I say one “container” because it’s silly to have leftover cranberries when you have to buy the whole thing, but really you can use as much or as little as you want)
- 3 tbsp melted butter (preferably grass fed)
- 2 tbsp honey
- leftover pineapple juice (approx 2-4 tbsp, but whatever you have is fine)
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp ground clove
Directions:
- Cut up the apples, pear and pineapple, and toss in a bowl with the cranberries.
- In a separate bowl mix the melted butter, honey, leftover pineapple juice, cinnamon, nutmeg, and clove.
- Slowly pour mixture over the fruit and toss until it’s evenly coated.
- Place the fruit in a baking dish and bake at 300 degrees for about 45 minutes. Feel free to adjust the time by a few minutes if you prefer the fruit to be on the harder or mushier side.
You can alter this in any way you want. You can add more pears, less apples, less cranberries, more butter, whatever! It’s the basic formula that matters; fruit, and the liquid/spice mixture. If you absolutely hate cranberries take them out and try raspberries. It’s fun to get creative and I will not be offended if you change it up. In fact I encourage it. Being creative in the kitchen allows you to play with your intuition and creative side that often gets stifled in our rigid daily lives.
Now, go ahead and make a mess, but be sure to have fun!
Have a happy and healthy holiday,
by Caroline | Dec 18, 2016 | Recipes
This weekend I decided to make by first gingerbread! All I have been wanting to do lately is eat food that tastes like Christmas. Spices like cinnamon, clove, ginger, and foods like citrus fruits, pomegranates, and cranberries. Gingerbread, however is brand new to me from a baking standpoint because I never actually made gingerbread or gingerbread cookies before. As a kid my traditional Christmas cookie of choice was Tollhouse slice and bake, awww yeah! We always had a gingerbread house but I’m pretty sure it was made out of graham crackers. So clearly it was time to add some gingerbread into my life! I think this recipe has become a new tradition for me, btw. I love it THAT much!
As always I knew that whatever I made would have to be a healthier version of a classic, so this was the perfect opportunity to create a healthy gingerbread recipe. I looked at several different gingerbread recipes online and came up with my own version, which basically means I added more spices and use less of whatever sweetener a recipe calls for. I find that most recipes out there over do it on the sweeteners, when they still taste good with a little less. This recipe contains no sugar, rather it’s sweetened with honey, maple syrup, and molasses. To be honest, I don’t even think I own sugar. There’s just no need for it when there are more natural substitutions out there.
I know this recipe will be a crowd pleaser at any holiday event you have this year.
Let’s get started!
Dry Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups flour of your choice (I used spelt but you can use whole wheat or white. I haven’t tried almond or coconut flour yet, but It’s worth a try! Someone do that and get back to me.)
- 2 tbsp cinnamon (I like a lot of cinnamon)
- 1 tsp ground cloves (If you like cloves like me then feel free to add some more, it can be a bit strong for some people though)
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- pinch of salt
Wet Ingredients
- 1/4 cup molasses
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 1 cup unsweetened apple sauce
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1-2 tbsp grated fresh ginger
Toppings
- Pomegranate seeds
- canned full fat coconut milk
- 2 tbsp honey
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Directions
- Preheat Oven to 350 degrees.
- Mix dry ingredients, mix wet ingredients, then mix together. You don’t need a fancy mixer, a regular old fork will do. Simple!!
- Use cooking spray on a bread loaf pan, fill the pan leaving a few inches at the top (this stuff rises!) and bake for 45-50 min.
- To make the frosting skim the top half of the coconut milk from the can (be sure not to shake it). This will be a very think paste. Add in honey (or maple syrup if you prefer) and the vanilla extract and whip it together. It you want a thicker frosting like on a cake this is all you have to do. If it’s too thick and you want to be able to drizzle it on the bread you can water it down with the thinner coconut milk from the can (or any other milk or water) only 1-2 tablespoons at a time so you can get the right consistency.
- Once the bread is cool you can add your frosting and top with pomegranate seeds to make it pretty!
- Get creative with your toppings, other ideas are red and green sprinkles, crushed candy canes, or cinnamon. I used pomegranate seeds because they are super healthy and it looks really festive. Their tart flavor also plays well with the sweet frosting and spicy bread.
OMG it’s SOOO GOOD! I was actually pretty proud of myself on this one.
This healthy gingerbread meets all of my criteria: healthier alternative to a delicious classic, simple enough, seasonal, AND it looks impressive if you take it to someone’s house. I think this gingerbread is perfect for a holiday brunch because it’s somewhat sweet but not too much like dessert.
Happy baking!
by Caroline | Dec 17, 2016 | Lifestyle
The holidays are meant to be happy remember? Give yourself the gift of holiday presence! (It’s not all about the presents, it’s about the PRESENCE.) We often get so wrapped up in the falalalala that we forget to pause, breathe, and actually enjoy the most wonderful time of year. Below are our top tops on staying present, sane, and even HAPPY throughout the holiday season.
Pick and choose.
Your calendar is FULL of holiday parties, cookie exchanges, secret Santas, cocktail parties, and pure busyness. It’s when we over-commit that December becomes a blur and we end up ringing in the New Year in need of a nap, vacation, and detox. What if we stopped saying “yes” to everything and commit to only what we’re actually looking forward to?? Not to sound like the Grinch, but truth is that we have a choice. Say yes to the things that you enjoy and skip the rest; you’ll have more fun and be less burned out!
Embrace the crazy.
Holiday shopping, in some regard, is pretty unavoidable for most of us. While it would have been ideal to start the shopping early to avoid the last-minute crunch, for most of us, that concept is long gone (better luck next year!) Instead of heading into the madness with frustration and angst before you even find a parking spot, commit to embrace the chaos, lines, music, and the crowds. Turn shopping into a family affair, girl’s night out, or excuse for a date. Remember that you always have a choice. Remind yourself what the holidays are really about and choose to be positive, you’ll find that the little things just won’t bug you as much. The hustle and bustle is out there, so we might as well embrace it!
Catch your breath.
We get so ‘wrapped up’ in the shopping, wrapping, decorating, cookie-baking, caroling…This just leaves us overwhelmed and under the weather. Schedule down time with (or without) friends and family. There’s nothing wrong with staying in for a movie or game night, partying in your pajamas, or soaking up the season solo in a warm bath. Schedule time to do nothing just like you would put aside time for an important event. When you are out and about, remind yourself often to pause, take a long, deep breath and return to the current moment instead of worrying about what’s to come and go. Click here for more mindful tips and here for OHH’s tips on staying healthy throughout the holidays.
It’s the thought that counts…right?!
The more thought we put into our gift-giving, the more we enjoy the giving more than the getting. So, instead of thinking of each gift as another check on your to-do list, take some time to put genuine thought before you buy, especially for those near and dear to your heart. Few of us need more “stuff,” so instead of clutter under the tree, spend some time doing for others to fulfill their hearts and yours this holiday season.
This post was graciously submitted to Bloom & Spark by Kiley from onehealthyamptons.com. Thanks Kiley!
