Oat Meal Reheats

After searching for recipes for dinner this week and next I came across a few oatmeal recipes. A note said oatmeal is often better reheated the next day then the first. When I am home (not working aka in the summer) I often make myself steel cut oats for breakfast. I don't usually make the oats during the work week because they take about 30 minutes to cook completely. I more often then not cook the oats and don't have time to eat them. I know I can always wake up a little earlier but that doesn't happen. 

Anyway, after reading the little note in the recipe book I decided to try cooking the oats tonight and reheating them tomorrow before heading out to a workshop.  I'm a little bit of a freak when it comes to reheating things, I will not reheat a lot of food it just freaks me out for some reason & always has but I am willing to give it a try. Plus the oats had a little extra liquid (water and a splash of non-fat milk) left when I cooked them so I'm thinking they will be nice and creamy with extra time to soak the liquid in. 

I cook the oats using the directions on the package. I like to use mostly water and add a splash of milk. I  made 4 servings of oats so I used 3 3/4 cups of water and 1/4 non-fat milk. After cooking I put them in a microwave safe container, let them cook then put them in the refrigerator for the week. 

Homemade Salad CAN Taste Good!

My lunch today consisted of a home made mixed greens salad with strawberries, walnuts, goat cheese and cucumbers in red wine vinegar and oil. It was colorful, full of flavor and delicious! I normally wouldn't have put the effort, which in reality was not much, to create this tasty treat. The walnuts and fresh cucumbers added crunch, while the sweet strawberries contrasted nicely with the tangy goat cheese. Definitely worth the little washing and chopping required before hand! Next time I think I might add some toasted chickpeas. I've made them before by adding a little honey, garlic, and allspice to the chickpeas before baking them at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes.

All it took to make this easy salad was:
 - a few handfuls of salad
- 4 strawberries (because of my fruit allergies I can't eat more then 3-4 a day)
- 6 walnut halves
- cucumber half (about 1/2-3/4 cup)
- tablespoon goat cheese
-red wine vinegar *to taste (I normally use a few tablespoons)
- dab of olive oil (about a teaspoon)
-shake of salt and garlic

Staying on the Wagon

Lately I have definitely fallen off the wagon with my exercise. I got up to 190 lbs, snacking on chips and popcorn, and eating out. So instead of giving up like I almost always do I decided to wait until the start of the next week and keep on going. I swept the internet for a healthier grocery list and found one on Doctor Oz's website. After looking the list over I noticed a lot of it was already on my normal list, minus the junk food so I was curious what kinds of healthy recipes would go with the shopping list. I couldn't find exactly what went with the list that was on the website but I did find out that the list came from one of his books, You on a Diet by Doctor Oz & Doctor Roisen, and since I'm a sucker for reading and eating I bought it. I'm not completely finished with it yet, I actually haven't even gotten to the shopping list. It started off by explaining how my body works and how it works when you eat, it progresses to how your brain works. I'm currently on why most diets fail and go figure its because people like me fall off the wagon and give up. Well I'm trying to beat that while finishing the book, and hopefully getting a healthier life. I have done Zumba (Activate and Tone) 2 days in a row, equally over 60 minutes of movement. And I've been tracking my food in take on my ipad calendar listing the times, foods & how hungry I am when I actually eat.