Oatmeal for breakfast daily is a miracle meal. I have it 5 days a week. Doing this ensures you get enough fiber, resets your regularity, boosts and builds your gut biome, reduces your cholesterol, lowers your risk of cancer and heart disease and a whole lot more. Oats are just that good. However, quick oats and instant oats DO NOT COUNT. They’re overly processed and not as nutritious. Besides, the old fashioned kind cook in like 3 minutes, so no big whoop.
Now for this first recipe, don’t think of it as oatmeal. It’s not oatmeal. It’s a single serving veggie stew of celery, mushrooms, greens, noochie, spices, and a half-cup of rolled oats just to thicken it up.
Credit for this, and for so much more in my life right now, goes to Ann Esselstyn, whose husband is Dr. Caldwell B. Esselstyn. You know him from the documentary, Forks Over Knives. I’ll link her fantastic, do-not-miss YouTube series where she partners with her daughter Jane below.
Ann has been eating whole food plant-based way more cleanly than I have, for forty years. She turned 90 this summer and still runs a mile before breakfast. I want to be Ann when I grow up, and lately, she’s inspiring me like few others have ever done.
Ann makes her “Warrior Oats” with artichoke hearts and adds sriracha. I haven’t found any artichoke hearts I can bear yet. I tried canned, and found them just awful, so I’m thinking fresh, but just haven’t sourced them yet. Meanwhile I sub in celery and poultry seasoning. No sriracha for me, thanks.
*Later note: Still haven’t found any artichoke hearts besides canned, however, the Sclafani brand is fantastic. Most brands you have to peel off the outer leaves, as they’re too tough to even cut, but with Sclafani, I chop up the entire artichoke heart. Nothing gets wasted. I also kept the celery just because I like the flavor. I eat this stuff 6 to 7 days a week and crave it when I don’t.
Ann says even if she doesn’t eat another thing all day, she has most of what she needs in this one meal, including B12 from the nooch. I don’t even take the B12 supplement when I have my Warrior Oats. You can find her version of this recipe in her cookbook, Be a Plant-Based Warrior Woman. (The spiral bound is the best for kitchen use, IMO. That’s the one I have.)
I have my own version of this breakfast that does the same, and I do it a little bit differently. Ann throws everything into the pot at once and lets it simmer for 20 minutes or so while she works out. (Did I mention, she’s 90?) My method leaves the pot far easier to clean when you’re done. I tried it her way first. Clean up was rough! Even Ann says it’s way easier with her Caraway brand pans, which I have not yet and probably never will acquire. (They’re pricey.)
I’ll also give you a more traditional oatmeal recipe right below this, so no matter how awful this first one sounds to you, keep scrolling. Hubby says it tastes sort of like Campbell’s Chunky Cream of Chicken Soup without the chicken. So go into it with that expectation.
Savory Breakfast Bowl *modified from Ann’s Warrior Oats
INGREDIENTS
2 cups water
2 cups greens, any kind, rinsed
3 button or baby Bella mushrooms, rinsed, chopped
1 stalk celery, washed, chopped
3 artichoke hearts, chopped
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon poultry seasoning
1/2 cup rolled or steel cut oats
3 tablespoons nutritional yeast
Black pepper to activate the turmeric
1 teaspoon black chia seeds
1 teaspoon flax seed meal
METHOD
Put the water, greens, mushrooms, celery, turmeric, ginger, and poultry seasoning into a larger-than-you-think-you-need saucepan. Not your usual little oatmeal pot, the bigger one.
Put on the lid and turn on the heat. We want to bring it to a boil, lower the heat, and let it simmer for a good ten to fifteen minutes, to get the veggies cooked.
Add the rolled oats and stir, return to a simmer/low boil. Cook another ten minutes or so. Keep cooking until it’s spoonably thick.
While it’s cooking, put the fresh ground pepper, chia seeds, flax seed, and nutritional yeast into a big bowl.
When the veggie-oats are done, pour into the bowl and mix thoroughly with a spoon, getting every bit of the nooch and pepper and seed blended in.
*It makes a huge amount. I usually eat half of it, and set the other half aside for second-breakfast.
POST SCRIPT: I can use the canned artichoke hearts! I just need to take off the tough outer leaves and chop up the rest! I’ve continued adding celery, though, because I love it, and now add 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder and 1/2 teaspoon (heaping) of poultry seasoning. Chef’s Kiss!
A More Traditional Oatmeal
INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup oatmeal
1 cup water
1 teaspoon flax seed
1 teaspoon chia seed
3-5 strawberries
3-5 blackberries
1/4-1/3 cups raspberries
1/3 cup blueberries
*Do not add a banana. If you add banana, your body won’t absorb the beneficial antioxidants from the berries as much, so save your banana for later-in-the-day.
Okay, so pour the water and oats into the saucepan and simmer until it’s the thickness you like. Take two or three minutes. While it’s cooking, put the flaxseed meal and the chia seeds into your bowl.
When the oatmeal is done, pour it into the bowl and stir up all the seeds.
Slice the berries over the top. Your bowl can be up to half berries, if you want.
This is another excellent meal to start the day, this time leaning more sweet than savory.
A note about smoothies
Digestion begins in the mouth, and it begins with chewing. Chewing your food gives your body the first opportunity to absorb its nutrients. Most B12 is absorbed in the mouth, before you ever swallow it. (That’s why they make those dissolve-on-your-tongue tablets.) Don’t get your nutrition from smoothies. Chew your fruits & veggies.
Follow Ann and Jane Esselstyn’s YouTube series here.
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We love Ann and Jane! I also love those savory oats. Thanks for helping me get my fiber this morning!