It's February 1st.
It's the beginning of Black History Month (USA).
It's Hula in the Cool-a Day.
It's Clark Gable's birthday.
It's the first day of Spring in Ireland, Imbolic Day.
It's the day to celebrate San Cecilio, the patron of Granada, in Spain.
It's also a Feast Day for many other Catholic saints; but with over 10,000 of them, that actually happens
everyday.
The weather is beautiful.
Most importantly (not really), it's the first day of Challenge 1: No Artificial Ingredients. I'm actually really excited. I figured I'd start by posting what I'm eating. I grabbed a banana before the gym, but that's entirely uninteresting.
Pumpkin oats. I have left over pumpkin puree in my freezer (canned, but only one ingredient) and I've been craving good oatmeal. I've never been someone who likes fruit, nuts, or really anything but sugar, sugar and more sugar (okay, maybe a little salt) in their hot cereal. That really started to change while we were in Korea. Our selection had a lot to do with it, but I also started reading a lot of food blogs. I got braver. Significantly so.
This bowl of cold weather sustenance is super easy to accomplish:
1/2 cup dry oats (steel cut or rolled)
3/4 cup water
salt to taste
3-4 tbsp pumpkin puree
~1 tbsp natural brown sugar (or other natural sweetener)
cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, etc. to taste
1/4 cup organic soymilk
2 tbsp raisins
Cook the oats on the stovetop to your desired texture. I like mine pretty dry. When they're almost there, add pumpkin puree and sugar. Finish cooking and pour into a bowl. Top with soymilk, raisins and spices. Mix until frothy and consume readily.
If you have a microwave, I might recommend you warm the soymilk before adding it. I don't have one, but I didn't want to cook the milk in, so it cooled down my oats a little too much.
