germs in my oats!

/

Wheat germ that is.  Have you ever used wheat germ?  I used to use it quite a bit and have forgotten about it recently.  Wheat germ is packed with nutrients, healthy fats, protein and fiber.  It has even been considered to be one of the 10 healthiest foods to include in a balanced diet.

Move over ground flax meal, wheat germ is coming back! 

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A basic mix of Scottish Oats, including:

  • 1/4c scottish oats
  • 1 1/4c water
  • 1/3c coconut milk
  • 1t cinnamon
  • 1T chia seeds
  • 1/4c unsweetened applesauce
  • 1/2 banana
  • splash of vanilla

Topped with:

  • wheat germ
  • pnut butter
  • crofters jelly
  • coconut

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I keep my wheat germ in the fridge because it can go rancid pretty easily.  I buy Bob’s Red Mill brand of wheat germ.  You can use it in so many recipes like, granola bars, muffins, oats, sweet breads, granola, etc. 

Ooooooh these were delicious. 

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I made a fresh veggie salad for part of lunch.  I sautéed a patty pan squash, 1 carrot, onion, olive oil and balsamic for a few minutes.  I topped it on mixed greens, cucumber, avocado, and toasted fresh sourdough. 

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I cannot stop eating this bread.  Dangerous!

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Yesterday, with my veggie samich, I mentioned making a raw pesto.  Oh man oh man, this is amazing.  Chris was skeptical but really liked it.  I prefer this much more to the regular oily/parmesan pesto.  Don’t get me wrong, I love parmesan cheese but this was just so good and so fresh.

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I saw the idea over on HEAB’s blog the other day.  However, the recipe actually came from Katie at Making Food and Other Stuff.

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Raw + Vegan too!

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Raw Basil Pesto [adapted from Katie’s Raw Pesto]

  • 1/2c raw walnuts
  • 1.5c fresh basil
  • 1/4c fresh parsley
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 2T lemon juice
  • 3/4t salt
  • ground black pepper [~8 grinds]
  • 2-4T water
  1. Combine and blend everything until creamy.  Start with 2T of water and slowly add more until desired consistency is met.

*I used my Vita Mix but you could definitely use a food processor or magic bullet, etc.

I subbed walnuts for pine nuts because they are suuuper expensive right now.  I also didn’t soak the nuts, like the original recipe suggests and it turned out fine.  I’m not a huge fan of parsley so I upped the basil and decreased the parsley.  I also added black pepper and took out jalapenos + ginger.

this.was.excellent.

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I just couldn’t get over how fresh + creamy this was.  I have been spreading it on EVERYthing [except my oats!].  I’m sure it freezes really well too, as I know many of you have an abundance of fresh basil from your gardens :)

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A few exciting things to mention before I crash into bed!

Months ago I teased you with “something exciting” that I was doing, involving a food photo shoot.  Well, I can finally reveal what that was because the site is up.  I was contacted by Rush Bowls, a local smoothie company in Boulder, CO, to photograph their products for a new website.  I took all of the photos except the ones that are in the sliding header.  The photos are spread around on all of their different pages.  Yay :)

Thing #2 – I was contacted a week ago, by the company City Sports [a specialty sports retailer on the East coast] to see if I would be interested in contributing to their blog.  Um, yes!  I will be submitting recipes that I have already written [and hopefully eventually new ones], but re-writing them with a little more nutrient information.   I am a HUGE fan of this sports store because they support minimalist footwear.  They are an official retailer for the Vibram 5 Fingers and also have minimalist [transition shoes] like the Nike Frees, plus oodles of other cool stuff.  {{{very excited}}}

Okay, I’m done now ;)

HAPPY FRIDAY!!

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Night!

~Ashley