Breakfast Makeover: Celebrating Passover with Amazing Breakfasts (Part 2 of 3)

It's day 5 or day 6 of Passover. Alas, even you lost count on this early rainy morning. You've stumbled into the kitchen in a morning daze looking for anything healthy and quick to grab -- and all you find are matzo crumbs and some wilted dill. The situation is dire. Thoughts of bagels and lox dance in your head as your rummage in the fridge.

No worries. Breakfast Lab is here to help. Grab a tomato, that wilted dill, a can of sardines or another kosher fish, and prepare to create a masterpiece. It's not exactly bagels or lox, but it's still very very good.


Stuffed tomato
Satisfying tomato wholesomeness holding a good protein source to give you energy and brain fuel for the entire morning. Great thing about stuffing things is that you can create your own unique stuffing and each time it will taste a little different.

What you need:
5 minutes
a spoon, a fork and a knife
1-2 tomatoes
1/2 cup chopped dill
1 can sardines or another fish
a few leaves of basil

Chop dill and basil. Mash fish into the chopped greens.

Cut the top off the tomato and cut out the insides. Stuff the fish mixture inside. Bite in and savor the deliciousness.

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Breakfast Makeover: Celebrating Passover with Amazing Breakfasts (Part 1 of 3)

I recently received this letter from Karen, who graciously agreed to get a Breakfast Makeover.

I have been on a quest to eat healthier. I just discovered some breakfasts that do keep me full until I am ready for lunch. I dont know if I really paid that kind of attention to my morning appetite. Since Passover is approaching my choices for eating a healthy & fulling breakfast will be significantly diminished.

I wont eat eggs or beans and I am moving away from eating dairy. I am not a particularly "big" meat eater. I will consider tuna as breakfast.

I wont be able to eat any grains (other than store bought matzoh. Will you or have you already written about what you would do during Passover?

Dear Karen, here is my first choice for a Passover breakfast. It makes me sing anytime I create it. Try to make it and see how you feel!

Purple Breakfast Shake



This is a delicious and energizing way to start any day, but especially so on Passover. Eating all that white flour matzoh, you need to keep your blood sugar levels even and this is just the thing.

The flax seeds add the brain boosting omega-3, blueberries provide antioxidants, kale is rich in cancer-protective substances and the almond butter on top serves as a great bonus Rorschach test. Try to figure out what I drew!

What you will need:
10 minutes (5 to prepare, 5 to eat, 5 to wash the blender)
food processor or blender
1 cup kale (I used my favorite purple/red kale)
1 cup blueberries (frozen or fresh)
2-3 tablespoons of flax seeds
1/2 cup or more, almond milk (add as much as you need - less for thick, more for more watery shakes)
2 tbsp of almond butter

Process blueberries, flax, kale, 1 tbsp almond butter and milk in the food processor. Pour out into a cup and sprinkle the rest of almond butter on top. Savor slowly. It's so good.

More amazing Passover breakfasts to come tomorrow!

Do you have any suggestions for Karen in the meantime? Please post in the comments below.

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Black (Forbidden) Rice Cereal

Forbidden rice is a whole grain with a dark rich purple color, almost black. It has a slightly sweet chewy texture, good for puddings, desserts, and breakfast concoctions.

Black rice is rich in iron. If you have symptoms like pale skin, fatigue, irritability, dizziness, weakness, shortness of breath, sore tongue, brittle nails, decreased appetite and frontal headaches you might have an iron deficiency, in which case, this breakfast is a good way to begin your day.

Recipe
1 cup cooked black rice
1 cup of rice milk
1 teaspoon of agave syrup or dark molasses
cinnamon if you are not allergic to it

Combine all the ingredients together. Chow down.

How to cook rice:
1) Rinse rice until the water runs clear.
2) cover with water and soak the rice overnight
3) rinse the soaked rice again
4) place in a pan and cover with water -- about 2:1 ratio of water to rice
5) Boil, cover and reduce heat to the lowest setting possible.
6) cook for about 30 minutes.
7) try the rice -- if it's chewy and soft, it's ready

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Breakfast Lab Video Series

What is it like for musicians on the road? Take a peek into the life and tasty breakfast of Angel, a Dominican-born musician.

Recipe featured in this video: Mangu

This is a first installment of the Breakfast Lab Video Series - interviews with people from all walks of life about what makes their breakfast special.

If you would like to be profiled in the Breakfast Lab Video Series, please email breakfastlabnyc@gmail.com with your name, location and what makes your breakfast special.

You can also add comments and response videos to the timeline: just click on the + symbol above the timeline marker to add your thoughts.

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Mangú - Traditional Dominican breakfast

From Rossana Inez Rossi
This recipe feeds 2-3 people

This is what I like to call A Dominican Farmer’s Breakfast. I LOVED IT when my parents made me mangú with eggs on school mornings because I knew that was the day I wouldn’t be hungry at all before lunch.

And not only that -- Plantains are rich in Potassium, Vitamin C and contain compounds that are beneficial for people with ulcers - British Journal of Pharmacology: http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1987262

You will need:
A pot
Sharp knife
Butter knife
Potato masher
Bowl
3 Green (unripe) plantains
1 Onion
Cooking oil
Olive oil
Vinegar (the kind you like best)
½ pot of water
Salt

1. Put half a pot of water to boil. Add a teaspoon or two of salt, or to your taste. (Don’t know your taste? Taste the water a minute after you’ve added the salt.)


2. Prepare the plantains by cutting off the ends, then cutting them in half. Cut these halves in half lengthwise. Use the butter knife to peel the skin off.


3. When all the plantains are peeled, put them in the hot/boiling water. Cook them at a low boil (med-high heat) until a knife or fork breaks them easily - about 10-15 minutes.




4. While the plantains are boiling: slice the onion. Put the rounds in a bowl, and cover them with vinegar - about ¼ cup. Now, in a frying pan, heat up the oil. When it’s hot, add the onions and vinegar. Cover the pan to prevent the popping sparks from flying out. Check on them! Saute the onions, stirring every so often, cooking them over medium flame until they are soft or turn light brown. Turn off the heat.
   


5. When the plantains are done, pour about ¾ of the water into a bowl. Mash them up until they are soft –you’ll need to add some of the plantain-water as you’re mashing to make them nice and soft – like mashed potatoes, but stiffer.
   


6. Serve the plantains and drizzle the sautéed onions on top.


7. Yummy!

Dominicans traditionally eat this with:

• Scrambled eggs


• Sliced sausages: Cook them first (do not add oil, they have enough fat on their own), and cook the onions with them

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Do you Believe Corn Syrup TV Commercials?

Lucky Charms, cereal for kids: whole grain oats, sugar, modified corn starch, corn syrup, dextrose, gelatin, yellow 5&6, blue 1, red 40. Artificial flavor. Sugar. Oat flour. corn syrup. corn starch. salt. trisodium phosphate, color added, artificial flavor. vitamin E added to preserve freshness. + vitamins

Have you seen the latest tv commercials from the Corn Refiners Association in United States?

Here's a brief synopsis of one: A kid is having cereal for breakfast. His brother joins him and calls the kid a doofus because he's eating cereal with corn syrup. The kid with the cereal retorts with So What? and several great reasons for eating corn syrup. His brother steals the cereal bowl from the kid and starts to devour it.

Cute commercial. Alas, I have no money and no access to kid actors to make my own commercial about corn syrup, so instead, I collected some info about why I think consuming corn syrup is NOT a good idea for breakfast or any other meal.

Fact from the commercials: "Corn syrup is made from corn" and "is natural"
High Fructose Corn Syrup is manufactured from corn starch in vats using genetically modified enzymes.

Did you know? Corn syrup is banned in Europe.
On top of that, some corn syrup is manufactured using mercury-grade caustic soda and is routinely contaminated by mercury. Mercury accumulates in the body, and is especially damaging to women and their future children, as it causes brain damage and lowered IQ in the fetus. Granted, the amounts are small, but -- read it again -it accumulates in the body.

And what food was tested to have more mercury levels than any other from the study? Quaker Oatmeal to Go

Source: Not So Sweet: Mercury in HCFS (A Study by Institute of Agriculture and Trade Policy, published January 2009)

Fact from the commercial: It's nutritionally the same as sugar
True. Both sugar and high fructose are refined sugar mixtures - primarily glucose and fructose.

But why is fructose so bad? Cells in our body can metabolize glucose, but only the liver can metabolize fructose. Because it is metabolized by the liver, fructose does not cause the pancreas to release insulin the way the body normally does, and fructose converts to fat more than any other sugar.

Unlike fruits, which have fructose packaged with vitamins, minerals and fiber, refined sugars like corn syrup leech the body of nutrients in order to digest it and metabolize it.

Source: Weston A. Price Foundation and The Double Danger of High Fructose Corn Syrup

Nephrologists (kidney specialists) at the University of Florida, found that fructose consumption raised blood levels of uric acid, which can foster “metabolic syndrome,” a condition of insulin resistance and abdominal obesity associated with heart disease and diabetes.

Source: The Endocrine Society

Translation: There is a link between diabetes and fructose consumption.

Fact from the commercial: It's natural
To me, natural means: Present in or produced by nature. Genetically modified foods created in vats by scientists are not natural. You will not find corn syrup oozing out of corn.

Fact from the commercials: It's just fine in moderation
Anything is fine in moderation, even cyanide, but the reality is that corn syrup is in so many foods that it requires constant vigilance to detect it -- it's in ketchup, in "healthy" energy bars, in cereals, in bread crumbs, in "healthy" salad dressings, in cookies, in sausage, and of course, in so many beverages.

Here's another interesting study that demonstrates that corn syrup, when combined with carbonated beverages, is not innocuous at all:
"Researchers have found new evidence that soft drinks sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) may contribute to the development of diabetes, particularly in children. In a laboratory study of commonly consumed carbonated beverages, the scientists found that drinks containing the syrup had high levels of reactive compounds that have been shown by others to have the potential to trigger cell and tissue damage that could cause the disease, which is at epidemic levels."
Source: Press release by the American Chemical Society

Want to eat something natural? Try these tasty breakfasts:
Garbanzo Wonder Salad
Bacteria Breakfast! Kefir with Cranberry Walnut Pecan Raisin Trail Mix
Açai Fruit Smoothie
Winter Red Quinoa with Wild Berry Tea

Photo by headexplodie used under the Creative Commons license

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Winter Red Quinoa with Wild Berry Tea

Chewy and warm with fragrant notes of sweet and sour dried wild berries, this breakfast is nourishing and highly satisfying on a cold winter day.

When you need strength and warmth, the best thing for breakfast is a hearty warm grain. The Scots have their oat groats, which have been known to warm the soul on a foggy cold morning and we all know how good they are for us. (That is, of course, if you don't have an oat allergy.)

And then there's quinoa! Ancient people gathered quinoa in the high altitude plains of Peru's Andes, Bolivia and Equador and thrived in those harsh living conditions. And no wonder - quinoa is a complete protein that rivals other grains in nutrition.

What you will need:
a pot and stove
1 cup of organic red quinoa
2 cups water
1 tablespoon or 2 teabags of wild berry tea or hibiscus tea.*
1 teaspoon of dried mint

Soak quinoa overnight and rinse in the morning. Place in a pot with water, mint and tea on the stove on medium-high heat until boiling. It will look like this:



Reduce heat to low and cover. Set timer for 15 minutes and do whatever else you like. Come back in 15 minutes and take off heat -- drain water and serve.

You can also enjoy it with milk or milk substitute.

* If you are lucky enough to find a cheap wild berry tea in an international / specialty market, all the better. I usually buy a Polish wild berry tea in a Russian store here in NYC. If you are lucky enough to have tea or markets like that nearby, good! If not, any dried wild herbal tea or even hibiscus tea would do.

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