The Real Deal

Yesterday was the first day of our experimental diet but I felt a bit like a cheater because we used one of our exceptions right off the bat by eating dinner at Local 360.

Today, though, aha!

Breakfast was fine–a fresh fruit smoothie and some toast from “the pantry.” Yeah, OK, another loophole. :/

Lunch, however…Ian and I were both at work downtown and had failed to prepare/bring sack lunches. Thursdays we typically get together for a lunch date anyhow, so met up and headed to Pike Place without much of a plan beyond I wanted to find nuts.

The market is FULL of delicious local foods, but we learned today that it’s pretty slim on prepared local foods. There’s produce a-plenty and butchers and cheese stands, but none of the restaurants specialize in putting it all together, at least not with non-local staples thrown into the mix.

Well, we found some nuts! So we had cashews from some nut stand and smoothies from Tiny’s for lunch, not bad at all. Salty protein and sweet energy had me feeling pretty good all the way to dinnertime (which was full of Beecher’s cheesy goodness). However, lesson learned–tomorrow I’ll remember to brown-bag it.

DIY Muesli

This is a great weekday breakfast because you can throw stuff together the night before and only have to add fresh goodies in the a.m.

1 cup extra thick rolled oats (I used Bob’s Red Mill Organic–awesome stuff!)
1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
1/2 cup 2% milk
1/2 teaspoon quality vanilla extract
Dash sea salt
A good pour of orange juice
Nuts, chopped (I used toasted hazelnuts, blanched almonds, raw walnuts)
Fresh seasonal fruit, chopped (I used DEElicious apricots and a few gooseberries)
Drizzle honey

Combine the yogurt and milk in a medium-sized mixing bowl and whisk together. Add the oats and stir well. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and stash in the fridge overnight.

Remove from the fridge the next a.m. and note how much of that moisture was absorbed into the oats. Add enough orange juice to wake them up! Mix well, then add whatever nuts and fresh fruit you have in the house. Drizzle with a little honey and top off with a splash of more milk.

Hearty, healthy, and tasty to boot! It’ll be a good morning indeed!