healthy breakfast – The Hungry Athlete

A Healthy Three Course New Year’s Breakfast

January 11, 2016January 11, 2016thehungryathlete

Cheers to a Happy and Healthy New Year, Hungry Athlete Style!

Wishing everyone good fortune in health, family and love. While some of us celebrated the end of 2015 with joy and cheer, some of us experienced tragic personal loss. While some of us look forward to new challenges in 2016, others must bravely face daunting uncertainties. My wish to everyone is to have the strength, wisdom and support to deal with whatever 2016 brings.

“The quality of your life is in direct proportion to the amount of uncertainty you can comfortably deal with.” ~ Tony Robbins

And may we have gratitude, every day in 2016, for the things and people we are fortunate to have in our lives.

I will begin with gratitude for you, whomever you are, for taking the time to read this! I hope my blog and recipes bring a little joy to your world. I am, of course, very grateful for my family and friends.

I am also grateful and honored to be a part of Team Betty 2016! This is my second year as an ambassador for Betty Designs, a pretty rad line of stylish, functional and high quality cycling, swimming, running and athletic wear for women designed by a pretty cool athlete, mom, graphic artist and entrepreneur named Kristin Mayer who’s mottos are “Badass is Beautiful” and “Do Epic Shit”. I was fortunate to be invited by Kristen to join a team of 200+ inspiring female athletes, mostly triathletes and ultra runners, from all over the world.

Last year I had the pleasure of meeting teammate Katherine in Arizona. Katherine happens to be the inspiration for my first post in 2016! Katherine asked me for advice on a healthy three-course breakfast she wanted to prepare for her husband on New Year’s Day. I suggested starting the first course with a Greek yogurt parfait, followed by an egg & vegetable casserole and a chocolate avocado mousse for the final course.

Here’s what Katherine made:

“We began with an acai bowl-style gluten-free Greek yogurt fruit dish, followed with an egg bake of vegetables, Gruyere and mozzarella, and sausage. Finally, a dessert of Ghirardelli avocado mousse.”

Looks and sounds amazing Katherine! Katherine is well versed in healthy eating and shared her story about how good nutrition helped her increase speed and move up in her age group, podium and qualify for USAT Nationals. Katherine’s inspiring story can be found here.

As for the Hungry Athlete, for my very first meal on New Year’s day, I prepared my Simple Granola to accompany Greek yogurt, then poached eggs served over smoked salmon and asparagus sautéed in olive oil. A clementine and mimosa were the sweet notes in this orchestra of flavors.

A couple days later, after my first group trail run of the year, I invited the gang over for a brunch and served my Egg, Vegetable and Croissant Breakfast Casserole, my Simple Granola and Alton Brown’s overnight cinnamon rolls. No, the cinnamon rolls are not healthy nor do I want to try to attempt a healthy version. I believe in indulging when the time is right and after a wet, cold and hard trail run, my friends earned cinnamon buns for running that extra mile.

Want to host a healthy 3-course breakfast, most of which you can prepare, stress-free by prepping the day in advance? Here’s The Hungry Athlete’s Three-Course Healthy Breakfast:

First Course: Greek Yogurt Fruit Parfait with Homemade Simple Granola, Raspberries, Blueberries and Pomegranate Seeds

Second Course: Egg, Vegetable and Croissant Breakfast Casserole

Third Course: Chocolate Cinnamon Avocado Mousse

granola parfait — First Course: Greek Yogurt Parfait with Homemade Granola, Raspberries, Blueberries and Pomegranate Seeds

HGJAN2016-17 — Egg, Vegetable and Croissant Breakfast Casserole (here with vegetarian sausage, caramelized onion, mushroom, broccoli and Manchego cheese)

Colcannon with Poached Egg and Smoked Salmon

March 17, 2015March 19, 2015thehungryathlete

What’s as good as Colcannon (Irish mashed potatoes) for dinner? Colcannon for breakfast of course! I prepared this breakfast on a weekday morning in 5 minutes using colcannon left over from last night’s dinner.

The hardest part of this recipe is poaching the egg. A fried egg works well too. I have tried several methods of poaching eggs over the years. The way my mother taught me to poach eggs works the best. Mom and I tried using vinegar. While vinegar helps to keep the egg whites pretty, I’m not a fan of vinegar flavored eggs so I don’t use it. I also have an egg poaching pan and silicon egg poaching cups. These gadgets work well when poaching several eggs at the same time but if you are just making a couple eggs, don’t bother using them. The article below does an excellent job demonstrating how it’s done. I often use a slotted spoon to lift the egg up and keep it from sinking.

How to Poach Eggs

This breakfast contains nutrient rich vegetables (potatoes, kale, cabbage and leeks) and protein (egg and smoked salmon). I can’t wait to have it again tomorrow morning after my workout. The recipe for colcannon is found here: Crispy Salmon and Colcannon

Serving size: 1 Ingredients:

3/4 cup of colcannon
1 egg
wild smoked salmon
salt and pepper
chives for garnish

Directions:

Poach the egg as instructed above for 2 minutes for a runny yolk and up to 4 minutes for a firmer yolk. Timing will also depend upon the size of your egg and how cold it is. I have an ultra runner pal who likes to poach his eggs for 6 minutes. To figure out how long you like to poach your eggs, gently lift the egg out with a slotted spoon. If after inspecting the egg it needs more time, you can always drop it back in the water for another minute or two.

While the egg is poaching, warm the colcannon in the microwave. Place the smoked salmon on the colcannon, then place the poached egg on top. Make sure the egg is not wet. Garnish with finely chopped chives and season with salt and pepper.

Simple Granola

January 3, 2015January 11, 2016thehungryathlete

Who doesn’t like granola? My favorite way to enjoy granola is over Greek yogurt for breakfast. Sometimes I’ll add milk to a bowl of granola for a great alternative to cereal; sprinkle it over ice cream as a yummy crunchy topping; or add 1/3 cup of dried fruit, such as cranberries, cherries, raisins, dates or apricots, and eat it by the handful as a snack. The type of nuts or seeds can be swapped out. I sometimes use more walnuts and omit the pecans or use pepitas (pumpkin seeds) instead of sunflower seeds. Choose your favorite nuts. Just make sure the nuts are unsalted. The granola can be stored up to 1 week in an airtight container. Placed into a mason jar wrapped with a bow, fresh homemade granola makes a nice little gift. Who doesn’t like granola?

Ingredients:

3 cups old-fashioned oats (not instant or quick oats)
1/3 cup unsalted sunflower seeds
1/2 cup chopped, unsalted & roasted cashews
1/2 cup chopped, unsalted & roasted pecans
1/2 cup chopped, unsalted & roasted almonds
1/2 cup chopped, unsalted & roasted walnuts
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon Kosher salt
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup maple syrup
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup dried cranberries (optional)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F

Combine oats, sunflower seeds, chopped nuts, cinnamon and salt in large bowl. In separate small bowl, whisk together oil, honey, maple syrup and vanilla extract. Pour over oat mixture and combine thoroughly. Spread out evenly over parchment lined baking sheet. Bake for 30-35 minutes until golden brown, stirring granola every 12-14 minutes to ensure even browning. Allow granola to cool on pan completely unless you forgot to line the pan with parchment paper. Clean up might be easier if the granola is transferred from an unlined baking sheet to a glass casserole dish to cool. Otherwise, the granola will cool to crisp little chunks and slide right off the parchment paper. I prefer to leave the granola in some smaller chunks to store.

Cool and store in airtight container up to 1 week, if it lasts that long.