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Bio-Friendly Breakfasts

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Just as we do not fuel our cars after the journey, but before, so we need to correctly “fuel” our lives before the day’s activities begin.

This being the case, the wise will ensure that their breakfast is a whole-food breakfast. Why try and make it through the day on “20 octane” refined food when you can “fill up” on the very best “97 octane” Nature’s Choice cereals, porridges, and breakfast foods? Using a whole food breakfast, your appetite will be more than satisfied until lunch time, your blood sugar levels will be stable throughout the morning, you will have better coping abilities, your thinking will be clearer, you will enjoy optimum energy levels, and you will have no desire for mid-morning snacks.

While most people try and do it the wrong way round, for best health, best feelings, and best energy levels we suggest that you “breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and eat the supper of a pauper.” For many people, this simple suggestion will resolve long-standing problems with insomnia and digestion.

When we eat a light meal in the evening, the stomach will be at rest while we sleep, and we will enjoy many benefits as a result. Going to bed on a full stomach, however, usually results in a restless sleep and we will usually awaken feeling un-refreshed.

Make it Attractive

When serving fruit for breakfast, always go out of your way to serve it in as attractive a manner as possible, especially for those who are changing over to a healthier diet. The more effort you put into fruit preparation, the more the kids will enjoy it.

If your child is averse to eating apples – then try presenting the apple more attractively by first grating the apple, topping this with a delicious, thick fruit cream, and a few NC raisins, NC nuts, NC dates or sliced strawberries.

Rather than simply placing a guava and a banana on the plate, slice the guava thinly and lay it in the plate, slice banana on top of this and then top with a simple, yet tasty, fruit cream. You may sprinkle a little coconut on top of this, or a strawberry and some crushed NC nuts.

Whole-Grain Porridge

The average commercial porridge is not a whole food – despite what some may claim. Nature has given us perfectly balanced grains from which to prepare our breakfasts and there is no reason why we should use refined or pre-prepared foods for any other reason than that they may be a little quicker and easier to prepare.

There is a danger in eating sloppy porridges in that we tend to eat them far too quickly and we do not chew them as we should. We thus rob the digestive system of the benefit of the action of ptyalin (saliva) in the conversion of starch to simple sugars. If there is too much liquid taken with our food, we dilute our digestive juices and we thus hinder the digestive process. No matter what porridge we eat, we should always add a liberal amount of raisins, dates, seeds and/or nuts, not only to improve the nutritional value, but also to force us to chew well and thus get our saliva well mixed in with our food.

Cooking Method 1: (Recommeded): Place 3 cups water in a glass baking dish. Add 1 cupo grain and 1 teasppon salt and stir. Cover with a tight-fitting lid or with foil and bake at 160C for 1 hour. This yields a firm and most enjoyable porridge.

Cooking – Method 2. Place 3 cups water in an appropriate (preferably glass) container. Add 1 tsp salt to taste. Bring to boil. Add 1 cup meal. Stir well. Simmer for 60 minutes.

Cooking – Method 3. Use of metal cookware is not recommended. Place 3 cups water in an appropriate (glass) container. Add 1 tsp salt to taste. Bring to boil. Add 1 cup meal or whatever. Stir well. As soon as water again begins to boil, place container in a wonder box overnight. If you do not have a wonder box you can place the pot on a cushion or bed and carefully position a folded duvet or blanket over it. In the morning the grain will be fully cooked.

Cooking – Method 4. Use of metal cookware is not recommended. To reduce cooking time in the morning, soak grain in water overnight, then cook as above – for half the time.

Serving Suggestion:- Sweeten porridges with NC Natural or Organic Honey, NV Fructose, NC Barley Malt Syrup or NC Sweet Molasses. According to your own taste, add any combination of dates, pitted prunes, chopped apple, crushed pineapple, coconut, sultanas, raisins, sunflower seeds, nuts etc. to taste – but avoid too many combinations. Serve with either milk, non-dairy milk or nut milk.

Miracles

Nature’s Choice Miracles Plus (a special seed mix) and Miracles Plus Plus (the same seed mix including pumpkin seeds) are available from your local stockist, or you may prepare your own mix as presented below:

To counteract the nutrient loss caused by food refining, chemical fertilizers and food adulteration, and to ensure a good intake of essential fatty acids, a seed mix supplement is highly recommended. The improvement to your skin and the difference in your energy levels will convince you that this really is miracle food.

Preparation: Dry mill your immediate needs in a coffee mill or a fast blender immediately before eating. Add at least a tablespoon per day to porridge, soup or stew, or sprinkle Miracles over your salad. You may eat miracles together with milk and a sweetener – but in small quantities.

1 tsp NC sesame seeds
1 tsp NC sunflower seeds
1/2 tsp NC wheat germ
3 – 5 NC nuts (mixed)
1 tsp NC pumpkin seeds
2 tsp NC flax seed

Baked Oatmeal

Combine in mixing bowl:

3 1/4 NC cups oat bran
1/2 cup NC coconut
1 tsp NC sea salt
3/4 cups chopped NC dates
1/2 cup NC (soy) milk powder
a little NC vanilla

Add 4 cups boiling water to above and mix thoroughly. Pour into lightly sprayed baking-dish and bake 375F or 190C for 1 hr.

Corn-Millet Porridge

Bring following to boil and cook carefully over low heat:

2 cup water
1/2 cup NC dehusked millet
1/2 tsp NC sea salt

Mix together:

1/2 cup NC corn-meal
3 cup water

Add above mixture to millet. When millet begins to thicken, add the following:

1/2 cup NC coconut
1/2 cup chopped NC dates or raisins

Cook for 5 minutes. Pour into oiled casserole dish and bake for 45 minutes.

Banana Split (N)

Cut a banana lengthwise down the middle. Lay the two halves flat in a saucer and top with fruit cream or try the following toppings:-

a) Finely chopped NC dates and slivered NC almonds blended in a little milk
b) Grated pineapple and NC raisins
c) Strawberries plus whipped cream and NC honey
d) Invent your own. See Fruit Creams for some ideas.

Baked Banana Split (N)

For a real treat, bake or grill your bananas in the skin. Scoop out the banana and top with a thick fruit cream made by blending milk, dates and granola together. Sprinkle with crushed NC pecan nuts. Eat using a knife and fork.

Apple Crisp (F)

5 apples
1 cup NC dates
1 cup pineapple juice
NC Granola
cashew or fruit cream

Core and peel apples. Chop apples and NC dates. Cook together with pineapple juice until apples are tender. Serve and top with NC granola and cashew or fruit-cream.

Paw-Paw Dreamboat (F)

In winter use paw-paw, in summer use spaanspek (cantaloupe)

1 paw-paw
NC coconut
orange juice
banana
NC dates and/or sultanas
NC nuts
NC Granola
grapes
fruit-cream of choice

Cut paw-paw in halves. Scoop out pips. Fill segments with any combination, of the above according to their availability and your taste. Top with whipped cream or fruit-cream. Eat, using a desert spoon. A favorite.

Whole-grain Granola (N)

1 1/2 cups NC coconut
2 cups NC ww flour
2 cups NC rolled oats
1 1/2 cups NC maize meal
1 cup NC sunflower seeds
3/4 cups NC honey
1/2 cup cream
1 cup water
NC sea salt to taste

Mix all ingredients together. Spread in a shallow stainless steel or glass baking-tray. Allow to stand for 1 hour. Bake in pre-heated oven at 140C for 1 1/2 hours. Mix through every half an hour. Serve with either hot or cold milk. For a softer texture, use more water and allow to soak well before baking. NC Cashew nuts may be used in place of or together with NC sunflower seeds – and NC seven-grain cereal instead of NC maize meal.

Granola II

Place in a bowl:

1/4 tsp NC sea salt
1 1/2 cup NC coconut
8 cup NC rolled oats
1/2 cup NC ww flour

Whiz the following in a blender and add to the above:

1 cup hot water
1 1/4 cup chopped NC dates
1 Tbsp NC vanilla
1/2 Tbsp almond essence (optional)

Rub mixture between fingers and bake on two cookie sheets at 250F or 120C until crisp. Stir every 30 minutes. When cool, add NC raisins and chopped NC almonds.

Whole-Grain Mealie Meal (Maize Meal) (N)

6 cup water
2 cup NC maize meal
NC sea salt to taste

Mix maize meal and 2 cups of water (cold) into a thick paste. Bring 4 cups of water plus the salt to the boil. Add the maize meal mixture, while stirring rapidly. Reduce heat and simmer for about 45 minutes. Serves 6. May also be cooked in a wonderbox.

Serving Suggestion: Serve with honey and milk – add desiccated coconut if desired. Chopped dates, nuts or sultanas may be added.

Snackwiches

Snackwich toasters are inexpensive and quick to use. Snackwiches are most enjoyable for breakfast and for school lunches. For this purpose, left-over meatless main dishes make an excellent filling. It is not necessary or desirable to spread oil or butter on the bread if you are using a non-stick toaster.

Some Suggested Fillings

(1) Scrambled egg and sliced tomato
(2) Mushroom, green pepper and tomato sauce
(3) Left-over savory dishes from the day before
(4) Savory filling as per Piquant Avocado
(5) Honey, sliced banana and whipped cream
(6) Sliced banana, raisins and grated apple
(7) sautéed onion and mushroom
(8) NC Peanut butter, NC honey and banana

Waffles

There is little to beat a whole-food waffle, served with Farmhouse Ice-cream and honey. Alternatively, you may serve waffles with a variety of healthy toppings. Search for “snackwiches” for some ideas. To be fair to our customers we need to warn that all non-stick surfaces that we are aware of are toxic and that they can cause toxic reactions – including insomnia – in sensitive individuals.

A nice variation to the waffle idea is to use a `Contact Griller’ to prepare your waffles. This was intended for grilling meat, but it does a fine job on waffles. It uses the same principle as a waffle iron, but the plates have vertical grooves instead of the squared pattern of a conventional waffle iron. To protect your waffle from the toxic non-stick coating you may line the griller with foil – which seems to be the better of two evils.

The following is a basic recipe which may be used as is, or to which you may add sunflower seeds, wheat- germ, other grains, rolled oats, bran, or chopped nuts. Add a little Nature’s Choice NC aluminium-free baking powder (recipe on p.59 ) for an even lighter end-product.

2 cups NC ww flour
2 cups water
1 egg
NC sea salt

Blend together. Pour into waffle toaster or contact griller. Bake until well-browned. Whole-grain products must be thoroughly baked. A lighter waffle is achieved if the egg-whites are beaten separately, and then the other blended ingredients are folded into the whites. Consistency may be altered by adjusting the flour-to-water ratio.

Waffle Toppings and Fillings

(1) NC Honey, cream and sliced banana.
(2) Banana, apple, and NC dates blended together with a little orange juice or water – plus cream.
(3) Pineapple, peaches and a little water blended together. Serve with cream.
(4) Oven-roasted NC peanuts blended with NC raisins and topped with whipped cream.
(5) Mashed paw-paw, sliced banana, NC raisins, NC sunflower seeds and whipped cream.
(6) Scrambled egg that has been prepared with 1/4 tsp NC thyme per egg. Plus a home-made tomato sauce.
(7) Mashed avocado sprinkled with NC dates and/or nuts.
(8) Avocado, cottage cheese (or mashed tofu) and minced NC dates, sprinkled with NC nuts.

Honey-Oat Waffles

4 cups water
2 cup NC oats
1 tsp NC vanilla
1 Tbsp NC honey

Blend the above and add to the following:

1/2 cup NC ww flour
1/2 cup NC garbanzo flour
1/2 cup NC mealie meal
1 Tbsp NC sesame seed

Bake each waffle for 8 – 15 minutes on medium/high until waffle is brown, crisp and releases easily.

Baked French Toast (F)

1 cup water
1/2 cup orange juice
2 Tbsp NC raw cashews
8 NC dates
2 bananas
1 Tbsp NC ww flour
6 pieces of NC ww bread

Blend together all ingredients except bread. Pour into broad bowl. Dip bread-slices into blended batter and place on shallow baking-tray. Bake @ 220C until golden brown. Turn and brown other side. Eat as is, or top with date spread, applesauce, or a blend of fruits.

Tomato Sundrops (F)

3 medium tomatoes
1/2 cup cream
6 eggs
NC sea salt to taste

Cut tomatoes in half. Scoop out soft inner portion of tomatoes, leaving skin and ribs intact. Place 1 Tbsp cream in each tomato-half. Add salt to taste. Break an egg into each tomato-half. Bake at 180C for 40 minutes. Serve with avocado on a bed of brown rice or maize meal. Tasty served with Egg-plant Steaks.

Breakfast Traveling Bars

1/2 cup warm water
2 Tbsp NC sesame seeds
5 NC dates
2 Tbsp warm water
3/4 cup NC rolled oats
3/4 cup NC oat flour
3/4 cup NC ww flour
3/4 cup NC chopped cashews
1/2 cup NC coconut
1 1/2 tsp NC sea salt

Whiz water, seeds and dates together. Combine dry ingredients. Add liquid mixture to dry ingredients. Knead into a stiff dough. Roll out on a cookie sheet. Bake at 325F (about 165C) for 1 hour.

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