Cereal is about to take a backseat. Sorry, oatmeal. You're out, too. This breakfast grain bowl is everything you want for breakfast...warm and comforting, sweet and nutty, healthy and satisfying.
Although I started making these for breakfasts, I probably now eat them for lunch most often. Each and every spoonful is a treat.
One of my favorite things about this breakfast bowl is that I can't scarf it down mindlessly like a bowl of cereal or a carton of yogurt. This is a MEAL. It's chewy and crunchy - and substantial. And after eating it, I don't feel overly full or tired; I feel nourished.
You can see that the bowl can be easily customized, but this is my favorite. You'll need:
- rice (brown or white or a combo). This is a great time to use those Trader Joe's microwave rice bags or heat up leftover rice. If your tummy isn't used to eating a big bowl of whole grains, I'd start with white rice or a combination of white and brown
- coconut sugar. I've talked about my love of coconut sugar before. It has a toasty flavor (not coconutty at all) that can't be matched. You can sub brown or muscovado sugar here.
- sunflower butter. I use this vanilla sunflower-chia butter that I make on the regular. Of course, store-bought is fine. You can also use almond butter, but I wouldn't do peanut butter here.
- pecans. You'll toast these in a bit of olive oil and toss with a good pinch of fine sea salt. So good.
- blueberries. You have a bag of frozen blueberries in your freezer, don't you? Just barely defrosted in the microwave, they are the perfect texture for the bowl.
- chia seeds. Topped off with a little chia, the bowl gets a little added crunch along with all of their incredible benefits.
So, it's a little more work than grabbing a protein bar, but I promise you
can put it together when half asleep. And you'll feel so much more
satisfied.
Blueberry and Salted Pecan Breakfast Grain Bowl
olive oil
1/4 c. pecan halves
pinch fine sea salt
1 cup cooked rice (brown, white, or combination)
1 tablespoon coconut sugar
1 heaping tablespoon
vanilla sunflower-chia butter
(or store-bought sunflower or almond butter)
1/3 - 1/2 cup frozen blueberries
chia seeds
Heat oil in a skillet. Add pecans and cook, stirring, until toasted and
fragrant. Toss with a pinch fine sea salt. Set aside. Heat leftover rice in
microwave if needed, place in serving bowl. Stir in coconut sugar and
sunflower butter. In a separate bowl, heat blueberries in microwave for 20
seconds at 30% power. Add to bowl. Sprinkle with chia seeds.
Make one this week! I promise you'll love it!