Go Berry Breakfast Bars

Do you like to have easy grab and go breakfast choices? As much as I love to cook, I don’t want to cook first thing in the morning so these healthy bars are the perfect make ahead solution. Not only are they tasty (which is always a priority) but they are filled with antioxidants, oatmeal, nuts, seeds and fruit including Goji Berries. Go ahead and make a double batch as they freeze well and then you can be sure to have plenty on hand for the next couple of weeks.

When I make a double batch I still prefer to bake them in two separate pans. When I baked a double batch in a 9 x 13 pan they didn’t turn out as well – the bars in the middle of the pan were too soft and mushy.

This is the type of baked good you can feel good about eating. They are just the right size to eat before my morning walk when I want a little something in my tummy but not too much. Great with a cup of coffee (which I am in the process of giving up) or a cup of hot tea. Once cool, I cut the bars and wrap them individually and freeze half. These are a soft moist bar – not like a crunchy granola bar.

Goji Berries are available at health food stores, Whole Foods and some grocery stores. They are nutrient dense dried berries that are rich in protein, essential amino acids, vitamin A and vitamin C. One ounce of Goji Berries contains 100 calories, og Fat, 75mg Sodium, 21g Carbs, 3g Fiber and 4g Protein. They can be used in hot oatmeal, baked goods, stews and soups, trail mix. They have a flavor all of their own – a little sweet and a little tart!

Costco sells these large containers of California Medjool Dates which are large soft and super sweet. These are used in place of refined sugar when following a nutrient rich plant based diet. Dates contain natural fiber and a higher vitamin and mineral content than other sweeteners. That doesn’t make them a “free” food as they are dense in calories and carbs but they are beneficial in adding sweetness to recipes. Be sure to use a sharp knife to cut the date open and remove the pit before using. Dates can be found in the bulk bins at health food stores and other varieties can be used. Trader Joe’s also sells dates. Sometimes my Sam’s club has dates but not always.

Go Berry Breakfast Bars

• 1 medium ripe banana
• 1 cup old fashioned oats
• 1 cup frozen blueberries, thawed
• 1/4 cup raisins
• 1/8 cup pomegranate juice
• 2 tablespoon finely chopped dates
• 1 tablespoon chopped walnuts
• 1 tablespoon Goji berries
• 1 tablespoon raw sunflower seeds
• 2 tablespoons ground flax seeds
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Using a fork mash the banana, add remaining ingredients, stir until well mixed. Spray an 8 inch square pan with non stick spray or lightly oil. Spread mixture evenly into pan and bake for 25 minutes. Let cool before cutting into 8 bars.

Yield: 8 bars

*Estimated Nutritional Information

Per Serving; 118 Calories, 2.2g Fat, 23.5 g Carbohydrates, 3.3 g Fiber, 2.7g Protein, 2mg Sodium, WWPP 3

Recipe adapted from Dr Joel Fuhrman’s Super Immunity Book page191, also called Antioxidant Rich Breakfast Bars (with only 6 servings) on pg 259 in Eat For Health.

*The nutritional information and WW PP values posted on Nutmeg Notebook are my best estimates based on the brands of products I use and the software programs used to calculate them. If you rely heavily on the nutritional information and WWPP values I encourage you to double check the values given, using the brands of products you use. If you find big differences feel free to email me or leave me a comment letting me know.

Nutmeg Notes

Biking

Over the weekend I got to take my new bike out for another spin – on Saturday we rode 29 miles of the American River Bike Trail. It was outstanding! Then Sunday morning we had the itch to hit the bike trail again but only had time for a short 13 mile ride. We soon discovered that our muscles were still sore and tired from the day before so a shorter ride worked out well.

Eating out on a nutritarian diet.

The Mexican food chain Chipotle has rolled out a new soy based product called Sofritas – so far it is only available in Northern California and we are lucky that our local Chipotle restaurants have started serving it. The non GMO Tofu is marinated in a hot and spicy mixture and chopped up and served hot on their salads, tacos or burritos. It is high in sodium but for an occasional quick meal I can fit it into my food plan. I get the salad with vegetarian black beans, sauteed peppers and onions, sofritas and salsa. Sometimes hubby Tom and I will split a side of guacamole that we put over the top – no chips for dipping for us! The salad with sofritas comes in around 330 calories and half an order of quacamole adds another 75 calories. Not bad! If all goes well Chipotle will be rolling out sofritas in more areas.

Whole Foods grocery store has an incredible salad bar filled with tons of healthy options for all types of food plans. Sunday we hit up the salad bar for lunch. I filled my to go container with lots of healthy greens, beets, mushrooms, onions, tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, grilled tofu, garbanzo beans and topped it all off with a side of the avocado tofu dressing. So healthy and satisfying.

“Eat The Way Nature Intended” is their motto at Baagan a local vegetarian restaurant I discovered a year or so ago. One night last week hubby Tom and I were having dinner there and at the same time they had a class going for people who were moving towards a plant based diet. We got to listen in while we ate and it was interesting. There were about a dozen people in the class – mostly middle age folks. I didn’t learn anything new – I guess all of my reading has been beneficial! Anyway back to the food – they have a sandwich that I always get, It’s whole grain bread with hummus and fresh vegetables – it’s about 2 inches thick with veggies and so yummy. Hubby Tom and I shared a millet salad that was amazing and the soups and salads I have had have all been delicious.  They serve Chocolate Banana Soft Serve – just bananas and natural cocoa – so good and even better when someone else has to do the clean up! You can check out my homemade version of Banana Soft Serve. Of course I will now be making it minus the yogurt just ripe bananas and cocoa like they do at Baagan.

Weighing In

Hubby Tom is at his goal weight and working on figuring out how much he can eat for maintaining. He is finding it difficult to get more calories in as the food we are eating is so low calorie but yet so filling! Kind of a nice problem to have right? I will be adding more nuts, seeds and avocado to his salads in order to up his calorie intake with healthy nutrient dense food.

I continue to lose weight albeit slowly – I am down another pound and have 9 more to go to be at my happy weight! Even though the weight on the scale isn’t shifting so much, my body is changing. The bike riding is really firming up my leg muscles – love that! I am wearing some smaller size jeans and capris that didn’t fit just a couple weeks ago. Plus I just feel so much better since we have changed our food plan.

When we first started eating a plant based diet I experienced some fatigue, headaches and itchy skin – so did hubby Tom. Those are all normal side affects according to what I have read. At this point all of the side affects have vanished. We are working on cutting down on our morning coffee. I have gone from 1 1/2 cups to about a 1/2 cup. I would rather break this habit slowly than go cold turkey. I am almost there! I think the ritual of my morning coffee causes me to drag later in the day after the caffeine wears off so that’s why I want to eliminate it from my food plan.

Healthy Vegetarian Blogs

I have discovered some wonderful blogs that have vegetarian recipes. My list of things to make is growing faster than I can keep up! You don’t have to be vegetarian to enjoy some healthy plant based side dishes or if you want to incorporate some meatless meals into your food plan check out these blogs.

Helyn’s Healthy Kitchen   Helyn is a chef and she is an amazing writer and photographer as well.

Carrie On Vegan   Carrie also has an app for the iPhone and iPad  called Vegan Delish with recipes, photos and shopping lists – it’s very useful.

Susan at Fat Free Vegan Kitchen has so many amazing recipes. I have made several of her recipes and have been very happy with the results. All of her recipes are not fat free – rather she uses healthy fats in her recipes.

Vegetarian Times is another good place to look for recipes and inspiration for meal planning.

Happy Herbivore is a popular blog among vegetarians, flexitarians and nutritarians. I just purchased a couple of her cookbooks and have several things bookmarked to try. So many recipes – so little time.

This past week I cooked up an amazing stir fry with tofu, curry vegetables, split pea and yam soup, black bean soup, banana oat bars, lentil loaf, lentil burgers, baked beans, kale/broccoli slaw, and a banana walnut soft serve. Our nutritarian food plan is absolutely delicious and satisfying. I want to post the above recipes – but I just seem pressed for time these days and don’t want to be sitting at the computer so much. That’s not a bad thing right?

Happy Cooking!

Tami

I’m glad you are here. Thanks for reading and feel free to leave a comment or ask a question.

What do you eat for breakfast?