Breakfast Oats with Winter Fruit

Oatmeal gets pretty boring after a while. Sure, you can mix up the toppings, dressing it up with different dried or fresh fruits and nuts, but it's essentially the same thing morning after morning. So recently I started preparing raw oat groats at night, soaking them in water to be drained in the morning. These yield a much chewier oat than basic oatmeal and can be blended up and sweetened, sprinkled over yogurt, or served straight up with toppings.

With so many fall and winter fruits in stores, I put together this very seasonal bowl of oat groats topped with persimmon, pear, pomegranate seeds, and vegan sweet cream for an extra special touch. Feel free to sub in whatever fruits you like and have on hand.

Breakfast Oats with Winter Fruit

Ingredients

• 1/2 C raw oat groats
• 1/2 persimmon, cubed
• 1/4 pear, cubed
• 1/4 C pomegranate seeds
• 1-2 tbsp Sweet Dessert Cream

Method

1. Place oat groats in a bowl and cover with filtered water. Let sit overnight.
2. Drain and rinse the oat groats. Put oats in a bowl to serve. Top with the fruits, then drizzle with dessert cream before serving.

This would be equally good with fresh summer berries when the season arrives. Keep this recipe tucked away for summer berry season!

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Raw Zucchini Salad

I'm not generally a big fan of zucchini, I quickly get tired of the taste so it's relegated to baked goods (zucchini brownies, anyone??). It's still early yet this season and I was intrigued by a recipe I saw recently.

This salad is light, refreshing, and good enough that I think I'll make it at least once this summer season! I didn't have shallot on hand, nor did I use slivered almonds or fresh herbs, but it was still good none the less. I think the addition of fresh thyme would be fantastic with the lemon flavor of the salad, maybe next time?

Raw Zucchini Salad

Ingredients

• 2 zucchinis, julienned
• 1 tbsp minced shallot
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• Olive oil, about 1-2 tbsp
• Fresh black pepper, to taste
• 1/4 C toasted slivered almonds, optional
• 1/4 fresh herbs (thyme would be lovely), optional

Method

1. Place zucchini in a bowl and sprinkle with 1 tsp salt. Toss an additional teaspoon of salt and let stand for about 15 minutes, or until softened and limp.
2. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, mix the shallot, garlic, and lemon juice to make a dressing.
3. Drain the zucchini, then taste for salt, rinsing if too strong. Toss the zucchini with just enough olive oil to coat, then add the dressing.
4. Season with pepper and taste for lemon juice and salt. Garnish with nuts and herbs.

This salad could easily be made ahead of time for guests or a picnic. Store the salted and rinsed zucchini in the fridge, then toss with the olive oil and dressing prior to serving.

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Almond Milk

I've gotten into homemade non-dairy milks as of late, first it was pecan milk, then coconut milk, and now I'm at almond milk. After some hesitation, I recently bought a nut milk bag. Previously I had used a sieve to strain out the pulp, but even that leaves you with a slightly grainy texture, so I decided to take the plunge.

The thing I love most about using a nut milk bag is the speed. The one I purchased suggested using your hands to squeeze out the liquid from the solids which is much quicker, and releases more liquid in my opinion, than simply allowing the liquid to drain on its own (as I had been doing with the sieve method). Not to mention, the nut milk bag yields a much creamier milk.

Almond Milk

1 cup raw almonds

water for soaking

4 cups water

1/2 vanilla bean

3 pitted dates

1. Place the almonds and soaking water in a large bowl for 8 hours or overnight.
2. Drain and rinse the almonds well. Combine almonds and remaining ingredients in blender, blend until smooth.
3. Place nut milk bag over a bowl or storage container, then pour blender contents into the bag. Allow milk to strain for several hours or squeeze the bag by hand to extract the milk.

Stays fresh for 2-3 days, if you can hold onto it that long!

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