My Favourite Breakfast

Hey Everyone, I’m Zoe (aka The Friendly Vegetarian) and welcome to my blog about all things vegetarian! 😛

I have been a vegetarian basically my entire life! I still live at home and one the benefit is, my amazing mother LOVES to cook! Even though my family are carnivores, she never has an issue making a veggie meal for me. Sometimes, I wish she didn’t enjoy cooking as much because I never had the opportunity to learn the craft myself…

…Until now.

My journey

It only makes sense to start my blog talking about my journey, learning to create my favourite vegetarian breakfast: oatmeal.

Ask yourself the following question: how ‘foolproof’ is making steel-cut oatmeal in the microwave?

Pictured, ‘The Oatmeal Disaster of 2015’!  You’re probably shaking your head, thinking how can anyone screw up microwaving oats and water? Well, for me making the oatmeal wasn’t as easy as it sounds. I forget what brand of steel-cut oats I used but the directions on the box said ‘makes two servings’. – Wanting to make one portion, I divided the ingredients in half but neglected to reduce the cooking time!

Let’s just say for a week our kitchen smelled horrible!

The Present

Fast-forward to today and I’ve become quite the steel-cut oatmeal chef 👏. It’s no surprise (as with anything) practise makes perfect. I have mastered the art of making oatmeal and have it for breakfast every day!

This is my standard Steel-cut oatmeal recipe. I call it the ‘Zoe special du jour’ –  I incorporate different fruits every day, depending on what is in fridge. I usually use Quaker or PC Blue Menu steel-cut oats and the recipe is as follows:

– 1/3 cup of Steel-cut oats
– 3/4 cup of water

The oatmeal cooking times vary for different brands of oatmeal. Today, I am using Quaker and the directions said to microwave on 50% power for 2 minutes and 50 seconds. Once it’s finished cooking, let stand for 2 – 3 minutes.

Now for my favourite part: dress-up! It really takes the hassle out of preparing food when you make it pretty. Every day is a different masterpiece! My fruits of choice today:

– strawberries
– green grapes (my favourite)

 No matter the day, I always include the following ingredients to give my oatmeal added protein and a ‘kick’:

– A spoonful of peanut butter
– A tablespoon each of: roasted & unsalted pumpkin, sunflower and chia seeds

There is no better feeling than when you create something that is visually appealing and tastes good too (not to mention ‘healthy’). I finally understand why my mom so enjoys cooking.

Mastering beginner vegetarian recipes will be a HUGE accomplishment for me! I can’t wait to share with you my passion for vegetarian food, as I reward myself by enjoying the fruits of my labour.

I’d love to hear about your favourite vegetarian breakfast!