After last week’s nerd post, which stimulated a steady stream of UNsubscribers, I’m going to make this week’s post short, savory, and to the point. Regardless of my dwindling followers, I’m going to stick with my theme. Stomp, stomp.
I’m on a fitness binge. Low calorie, nutrient dense food mixed with jogging, strength work, and yoga.
Heelllooo sulky metabolism. Get your ass in gear!
That’s my goal right now. Here’s an example of the kinds of food I’m kick-starting my days with. For part one of this breakfast series, check here.
Collard greens and brown rice (yes, for breakfast)
What you need
1 tablespoon coconut oil
1 clove garlic, finely minced
1/4 cup diced onion
2-4 Brussels sprouts, sliced
2-4 mushrooms, sliced
1 carrot, shredded
2 cups collard greens, thinly sliced in ribbons to avoid “rubber glove texture syndrome”
1/3 to 1/2 cup cooked brown rice (I like Lundberg Organic Golden Rose for breakfast)
1/4 cup broth (chicken or vegetable)
Simply Organic All-Purpose Seasoning, sea salt, and freshly ground pepper
What you do
1. Heat the coconut oil in a large skillet over low-medium. Add onions, garlic, Brussels sprouts, and mushrooms and sauté, stirring often, for about 5 minutes. Add carrots, collard greens, rice, broth, and seasonings. Turn heat to low and mix well until collard greens are slightly wilted and rice is heated, about 5 minutes.
2. Serve immediately, wait two hours, and jog for 3 miles.
Check here for a detailed post on the nutritional value of collard greens and a “greens and beans” recipe.
Peace, love, and collard greens.
Melissa
Tags: brown rice, collard greens, gluten-free, gluten-free breakfast, metabolism
Dear Melissa
I have eaten Callaloo which is what Jamaicans call a local variant of collard greens for breakfast for years. It is very traditional breakfast there. We usually saute it up with garlic, scallions (jamaican “escallions”), chopped tomatoes in oil or butter. It is a great way to start the day. Very hearty and easy to process. Not at all nerdy.
If you ask me eating fried cake soaked with sugar syrup is a lot more bizarre.
Great work, keep it up
Chris
Chris,
This is exactly what I love about having a blog. I learn so much from people like you. I have never heard of callaloo before, but after doing a search of it, I am very curious about trying it. I found an okra and callaloo soup recipe that sounds amazing. Thank you SO much for taking the time to comment on this. Plus, you can’t go wrong with garlic, scallions, and chopped tomatoes as you describe. Ohh, you’ve got some good stuff going on in your kitchen. Wish you lived next door!
=)
Yum Melissa this looks awesome, for breakfast or lunch, or dinner, or snack! Personally, I’ve found it very beneficial to start thinking of breakfast in the same terms as I think of all other meals throughout the day, as opposed to limiting breakfast to “breakfast foods”. Since I started working veggies into breakfast, it’s hard to go back! I’ve noticed a big difference in my energy level, and I’m not a morning person. At all. Thanks for this beautiful recipe and all the best to you in your metabolism-boosting quest!
Elese,
You’re so right, veggies are so much better for sustaining energy levels than a bowl of boxed cereal. I’m addicted to vegetables for breakfast and don’t find anything unusual about eating a big bowl of roasted beets or cauliflower at 6 AM.
Thanks for your support! And great comments. I appreciate it.
I have for years (with no lack of teasing from family and friends) have not cared what “meal” of the day it is. I eat what I want when I want. I agree, it’s hard to go back to “normal” breakfast when you feel so much better eating body fuel all day.
I’m a huge fan of your veggie-based breakfasts! This looks delicious.
Alta,
I know you are. We’re on the same page with eating this way!
Yum!! Love both Brussels sprouts & collards or kale!! A tip from herbalist Susun Weed - cook kale or collards longer (40 minutes) if you want the MINERALS!!! Takes breaking the cell wall down to extract them …. I also tried a ‘wilted’ kale salad, where you ‘massage’ the kale with 1/4 tsp salt, which seems to do that as well!!
& when we’re sure to get OG greens, they DO have more minerals for us to absorb! Another tip for those brassicas - I usually add some kelp (I sprinkle in about a Tbsp wakame or other kelp bits, which wilt & expand) as the coles tend to depress the thyroid,
Nadya,
I love hearing from you with all your herbal wisdom! Thank you for these great tips. I use a seaweed gamasio on steamed or roasted vegetables. It’s wonderful and you get trace minerals from the sea vegetables. Good stuff.
Thanks again. Hope all is well with you!
Thanks for this recipe, Melissa ~ and I think your photos are wonderful and very motivating, so passing post along to friends.
Trish
TD,
Thanks so much for your kind comments. I really appreciate it! And thanks for sharing my information. We’re all in this together!
Have I told you lately how much I love you? 😉
Stomp away!!
I also love greens and eggs for breakfast, then for my “dessert” (why not?) I have rice with fruit. Yummers.
Erin,
Well, you know you’re my kind of warrior princess. I love you too! Especially that “never give up” attitude of yours. You motivate and inspire me to really get rolling (so to speak, although I still haven’t been out on my bike).
xo
Hi Melissa,
Thanks for this recipe. I’ve been wanting to try collard greens for a while now. I’m a huge chard fan, so this will broaden my green repertoire! 🙂
Kate,
If you like chard, I think you’ll like collard greens. They have a similar texture. Another way to use collards is to blanch them quickly and use them as a wrap for hummus, egg salad, chicken salad, etc. They are wonderful that way!
Sounds like a fantastic way to start the day…we are all so accustomed to the traditional foods eaten at certain times of the day. I will give this one a try for breakfast!
Go for it, Bonnie.
Who made up those food rules anyway (what to have for breakfast, what to have for lunch, and what to have for dinner)?
LOL! I can so relate to the unsubscribe posts - which is pretty scary since I have so few already;-) Keep up the funky fight!
Karen,
Thanks! I’ve missed seeing you. Hope all is well. I need to stop by and sample one of your amazing recipes!
Funky fight? I love that.
Onward….
Mmmm, I LOVE veggies for breakfast! Love a good scramble of sauteed kale, mushrooms, tomatoes, garlic and onions with a side of eggs (or scrambled eggs mixed right in) and some quinoa. People think it’s a crazy breakfast, but it’s so filling and delicious!
Kim,
You’re breakfast sounds like a perfect nutritional combination. And you’re right, food like that is satisfying and filling. Just what we need to start the day.
Thanks!
Ooh, you got me with the brussel sprouts! that sounds good for breakfast. I really should rotate what I’m eating lately.
Alisa,
My son makes bacon (sets the bacon aside), then sautés the Brussels sprouts in the bacon grease. He removes the sprouts and mixes in broken up bits of bacon. I think you’d like that one for breakfast with a side of scrambled eggs. Also, I think it’s important to rotate your greens. I try to do that on a regular basis.
LOL, that recipe looks GREAT, and I’m always trying to figure out how to cook the darker greens. Can I substitute sprints or yoga for jogging, though? 😉
Laura,
Funny you mention sprints. I started this jogging thing to “jog” my metabolism and when I first started, I called it “interval training” because I couldn’t run (jog) the whole 3 miles without slowing down periodically. Now I’m fairly consistent, but definitely not fast! I’m also trying to do some actual interval stuff (mini sprints) because I think it’s important for increasing my fitness level.
Thanks. You made me smile!
You said ass in a post. You rebel you. I swear, we were best friends or sisters in a past life 🙂 I will be making this dish as soon as I get some brussels sprouts.
So did you! Well, you said it in a comment. And to be honest, I almost deleted it after my hands typed it. But I’m on a mission right now and I’m not going to let my *s* get in the way.
I was more likely your aunt in another life. =) I do adore you though!
Melissa,
As I write this I am surrounded by pots and pans from yesterdays experimental cooking, on every surface a pile of gluten (and I suspect it’s growing in the drains 🙂 ). My trials with sourdough ferments continue at such a pace the postman is likely to get swamped by it should I open the door. We in Britain must get through a mountain of cereals every morning… I can’t remember when I last heard of someone cooking anything for breakfast GF or not. However for those of us who can take some gluten it’s interesting to note that digestion of a long fermented bread is so much easier. Fast proved breads are not good for us and neither, I suspect, are all the boxes of cereals we reach for daily. Think I could cope with the greens, it’s the three mile jog that I might struggle with.
Last week Melissa, there was a documentary on UK tv showing the affects of diet and exercise. It was a complicated mixture of how insulin works and why some people are at risk and how some people are ‘non responders’ genetically when it comes to certain forms of exercise. Anyway, turns out the waitress on her feet all day but not going to the gym, came out tops and as long as none of us sit down much, we’ll all be ok. The suggested exercise plan was for a few minutes a week but fast and furious in one minute bouts. The science lost me a bit but it did make me think about how much time I sit… so I’m off now to clear up the kitchen which means I’ll be on my feet for hours!
Great posts as always.
Cid
Cid,
As you know, I’m always thrilled to see you pop over with your charming sense of humor and wealth of knowledge. It’s funny, we must be on the same wavelength (although I think we both know we were destined to be best friends). I just ordered a sourdough book and am getting some starter from a scientist friend of mine who is working on gluten-free sourdough recipes. I’m so excited to give sourdough a try. I’ve never made it before and to be honest, have hardly ever eaten sourdough bread (not in the past decade or so since being diagnosed with celiac disease). I’ll keep you posted on my progress when I get all the ingredients.
Yes, sitting has been my downfall the past several months (as I sit here typing away). I advise people to do bursts of exercise throughout the day, even right before bed (but in a more mellow way — long story on that). “Burst” is a good way to put it and exactly what I say. I have a little rebounder (trampoline thing) and I try to bounce on that periodically. Or, just get up from my desk and do a bunch of jumping jacks or jump rope for a couple of minutes. The point is to stimulate your metabolism to find a new (and higher) set point. Interval training is great and it doesn’t have to look like the interval training of a high school track team. When I jog (and seriously, if you saw how slow I am, you’d have a different sense of what I mean by a 3 mile jog) I try to periodically “run” (again I use the word loosely, but I mean faster than my slow jog) to the next tree or sign or fork in the road, then I slow down until I catch my breath and am comfortable jogging again, then I “run” to the next corner, etc. I’m doing “bursts” and I’m doing “interval training” — but it’s fashioned to where I am in my fitness right now and what my goals are. It’s my version, not some track star’s version. We can tweak these forms of “training” to fit our age and goals. The idea is to NOT give up. You want to be gardening and walking to the bookstore and carrying your bags of fresh produce from the farmer’s market and buzzing around in your kitchen until you’re 95 — right? We need to “train” for that our whole lives. Sitting, poor eating habits, stress, lack of quality sleep, etc. is our downfall. One or two generations ago, we didn’t sit at all. Like the waitress you refer to, we were on our feet working in one way or another all day. I don’t recall ever seeing my grandmother sitting down. She raised 10 kids, had a big garden, canned vegetables, had a root cellar, washed clothes in an old hand wringer, hung the clothes out to dry, shoveled snow, chopped wood, etc. Even under harsh conditions in the mountains of Colorado, she lived to be 95. We didn’t evolve to live like this — in front of a computer screen, watching TV for hours, eating boxed cereal and fast food, etc. We’re supposed to be moving — even if that means cleaning the kitchen.
I’ve missed you! Thank you so much for your visit. I’ll reconnect for real soon. =)
Melissa
xo
Melissa,
I can’t believe someone would unsubscribe from that last post. It was great! I love the science detail you put in here.
The sourdough GF recipe your friend is working on: does it use xanthan gum? I have periodically tried using the natural sticky properties of buckwheat and flax to make a bread, but have had limited sucess. My favorite “bread” to this point is cornbread, pancakes, and your oatmeal biscuits.
Keep it up and don’t change a thing!
Chelle,
Thank you for your comment, I really appreciate the support. I actually don’t take it personal at all when people unsubscribe, but I must admit, I had more people unsubscribe after that post than any other. After I published it, there was a slow, but steady stream of unsubscribers for a couple of days. Nothing major, but more so than usual. =) Having said that, I always get unsubscribers when I focus on science stuff. We all have our likes and dislikes. Luckily there are a bazillion bloggers to choose from.
I haven’t tried making sourdough yet, but I did order a book that a friend recommended. I haven’t received it yet, but when I do and when I get the starter, etc. I’ll do a post on it. I’m thinking I might try making a loaf from a mix of oat flour and teff. I’m going to try it without xanthan gum. We’ll see how it works. I’ll keep you posted and chime in if you have any ideas.
Thanks so much!
Ladies, (and gentlemen of course!)
For anyone who’s interested in starters and ferments, I have recently found ‘Sekowa Mais Spezial Backferment, Glutenfrei’ from a UK site which also happens to sell authentic bread proving baskets etc. I currently have the non gf variety of this dried baking ferment but haven’t tried it yet. Hope this helps.
Cid
Cid,
I have no idea what you just said. =) I will run this by my science advisor (he’s an expert in starters and fermenting) and be enlightened (if possible). Thank you! I will be in contact soon. I love hearing from you. I always learn something new.
xo
[…] foods – breakfast doesn’t have to be prepackaged cereal and toast. Try a smoothie, some stir-fried greens, or grain-free […]
I love the idea of the nontraditional breakfast, though it took me a while to get use to the idea. I think I have the hang of it though because I cooked myself up some sea scallops with sauted mushrooms last week for my first meal of the day.
Now I love my green smoothies, but I am open for anything in the morning, as long as it sounds good and falls within the realm of the foods I can eat!
I just discovered your blog and I am enjoying looking through it! I followed a link from Celiacs in the House.
Tina,
Welcome and thank you for stopping by. There is a lot of good information here and a good part of that is the stellar comments people leave. I’ve got some amazing readers who contribute to the mix. Thank you for becoming one of them!
Melissa
Just posted your recipe on FB (VEGETARIAN/VEGAN RECIPE EXCHANGE ) in response to someone’s question ‘what are collards? tee hee
I love the comment by Cid on movement (& sourdough!) … As a massage therapist, I’m also on my feet lots when at work, & do live a few blocks from our year round Farmer’s Market & my CSA pickup - love walking it! Or biking to work (if it gets warmer sometime soon!!)
I do qigong several days a week, & would also like to be one of those who’s moving into my 90s!! My dad sure was (OK, 80s when he died, but one bro died at 103, & was pretty chipper till that last year!)
Back in the day, I used recipes from the New Tassajara Bread Book (N California, Buddhist monestary) - there are some great sourdough ones, plus how to make your own starter, which can include beginning with ‘soured’ grains of any kinds - so rice, quinoa, GF otameal, etc that’s been around several days, not ‘bad,’ …. and to mix that with yeast, flour, sugar & water, let it sit on the counter 3 days, till it’s rather bubbly & starting to sour! Or even some ‘torn up yeasted bread’ (for us, GF!!) rather than yeast to help get it started!
Whenever you make a recipe with it, add your flour & liquid & sweetening the night before, to get it going, & then reserve a Cup in the AM for your starter, & add oil AFTER that, as you don’t want oil in your starter 🙂
My favorite was the Sourdough Raisin rolls - where you ferment 1/2 C raisins for 3 days. I soak them in some cider, kombucha, fruity herb tea, etc, which gets them going faster! (~ 2 C liquid) - reserve 2 Tbsp of the juice & a few raisins for the next batch.
If you add the raisins to the starter & more flour/liquid etc when you start your ‘sponge,’ the sourdough you take out in AM will have raisins in it ‘you may want to keep some traditional starter w/o raisins separately for other baking, or just use this as your main starter’
I keep thinking of to trying this again w/ GF grain, as the rolls are flatter to begin with!! (in the original recipe, you shape the rolls after taking out the starter, then bake in AM w/o reshaping - boy! Those turned out flat, LOL!! So I started shaping in the AM, & they’re still quick & MUCH rounder!)
Another tradition for getting things to rise - boil some potatoes (OG), mash them & use both the potatoes & water (rather than potato starch!) in your bread recipe, to replace some of the flour & liquid (& don’t need to use potato starch in your flour blend!)
“if you make these rolls regularly, you can keep a batch of raisins going by using all the water & a portion of the raisins each baking, then replenish both.” Refrigerate if it will be a few days before your next batch!
Want to play?
Sourdough Raisin Rolls
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
2 1/2 C favorite flour blend (mine has sorghum, br rice, tapioca, corn or potato starch)
& 1/2 C coconut flour
1 C coconut rice or other several day old grain, potato, etc, blended with a bit of raisin water
1 cup sourdough starter (or the whole batch)
1 3/4 C raisin water
1/2 C fermented raisins
1/2 C dry raisins
extra flour as needed
Mix cinnamon with the flour. Put the starter on top of flours, & stir in raisin water, a little at a time to form a soft dough.
Stir with a wooden spoon, & add fermented & dry raisins.
Let sit 20 minutes & replenish the starter (remove 1 C sourdough mix, place in clean glass jar, cap & store in fridge for next batch. This will have raisins in it, you can keep a seperate batch for the raisin rolls, or use it in any recipe)
Mix again, add the salt & a little more flour as necessary, 2 Tbsp Honey or sugar, 1 Tbsp melted coconut oil; cover & let sit overnight.
In the morning, cut in half, add flour sufficient to roll out & cut each half into 6 pieces (12 in all) Roll each piece into a ball, & place on a greased baking sheet or in glass baking pans.
Let rise 20 minutes while you preheat oven to 375*
Bake 20-25 min or till well browned. Serve warm with coconut oil.
Oh my gosh, Nadya — this is amazing! Thank you so much for taking the time to write all this out. You’re a doll. As for Tasajara, I have all their original cookbooks, including the Tasajara Bread Book. I made my own bread on occasion “back in the day.” Too bad I used whole wheat!
Yes, Cid is a riot. She’s been a regular reader of mine for years. I’ve become very fond of her. Too bad we can’t all meet for tea! We’ve created quite an interesting group of women here in food blogger land! =)
I will be trying this recipe of yours. It looks amazing.
Thank YOU!!
Melissa
Melissa, great post! I am thoroughly enjoying reading everyones posts here. So much wonderful information to absorb and use and do.
It is at “their loss” that you had UNsubscribers to your wonderful site.
I grow a large garden each summer. I have all the ingredients in my freezer, except the collards, so will sub with the kale that is waking itself up from a long winters nap out in my garden. I love collards, I just noticed I don’t have any to plant, so thanks I will have to get some soon to plant.
I recently purchased “Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day”.. I am new to gluten free by choice, about 8 months now, I am thrilled that this book also includes gluten free recipes. Tomorrow I will be making Gluten Free Goat Milk Cheese and Sesame Bread. I am subbing Goat Milk Cheese for the Cheddar, as we only consume raw cow milk cheeses and we are down to the goat. I am also subbing Oat Flour for the Soy. This will be an artisan type bread. One recipe will make three 1 1/2 lb loaves, the dough stays in the refrigerator till needed. I am excited, as I have not eaten bread in a very long time.
🙂
Dee,
Thank you so much for your thoughtful comments. Yes, we have some amazing contributors to this blog. I’m truly blessed! I’ve learned so much from my readers! Wow, it sounds like you are on a healing and thriving path with all your gardening and cooking. I don’t eat much dairy and if I do, I often stick to goat products. Not raw, but at least very a very “clean” product comparatively. I”m really interested in your bread. What oat flour are you using? I know some farmers in Montana who are growing very high protein and healthy oats (guaranteed and tested to be gluten-free). I’ll check out that book. I make some oat bread on occasion, but the store-bought versions of gluten-free bread are so lacking in nutrition that I usually skip bread altogether. It’s not worth it most of the time.
Thanks so much and welcome to the conversation!!
Melissa
Yum! I eat something similar for lunch on most days. Sometimes I fry an egg in there too. I am so glad I found your blog today. I am a dietitian and brand new celiac. Looking forward to reading more!