When Recipe Girl talked about doing “Ten in 10“, I thought “No time like the present.”  See, everyone commits to diets, runs to the gym during the first couple months of the year but then you see things tapering off.  As BR once taught me, it’s about life changes.

While uploading some pictures from back in the day, I also encountered some pics that I was none too pleased with – namely those pictures of when I was 75lbs heavier than what I am now.  At the time I was in a seriously bad relationship, had made some really bad choices and decided enough was enough.  BR helped get me on the right track and 75 lbs came off with LOTS of hard work (and lots of cursing at him while he made me do sit ups).  I think the problem with diets is that it’s like a quick band-aid on a problem, not a lifelong change.  In today’s society of processed foods and drive-thrus, I think we’re always looking for the quick fix and I decided that I was going to take these 10 weeks to make some changes for the better.

I am not a fan of breakfast and I’m working on making changes with that.  Normally when I have breakfast first thing, it never fails – I get severely sick.  Don’t know why.  However, after watching an episode of Simply Delicioso, I saw Ingrid Hoffmann making a Berry Mint Salad along with an Old Fashioned Avena Oatmeal Smoothie.   That didn’t look too bad as berries never seem to drive my stomach insane.  The Avena smoothie takes some prep work as much has to be done the night before.  It’s simple but the end result is well worth it.  I am happy to report that I didn’t even want a coffee that morning and you know for this coffeeholic to say that, it has to be good.  The energy I had all day was insane.  Considering that I’m not much of a fan of oatmeal, I was surprised I liked it as much as I did.  I did halve the recipe and I substituted Agave for the sugar.  The berry salad put quite the twist on your typical fruit salad and will be a tried and true in this household.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Old Fashioned Avena Oatmeal Smoothie

Recipe adapted from Ingrid Hoffmann, Simply Delicioso

Ingredients

• 1 cup old-fashioned oatmeal
• 6 cups milk, plus more if needed
• 2 tablespoons to 1/4 cup sugar or agave
• 1 cinnamon stick
• pinch of nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, optional

Directions

Place the oats and milk in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat and bring to a rapid simmer. Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook, stirring constantly, until the oatmeal is thick, about 10 minutes. Add sugar or agave, to taste, nutmeg and cinnamon stick and set the oatmeal aside to cool slightly.

Transfer the oatmeal to a container and refrigerate it for at least 2 hours or overnight. Strain the liquid, remove the cinnamon stick, add the vanilla and add more milk if you want it thinner. Serve cold.

Gather the Ingredients….

Don’t forget to strain the mixture in the morning…

The End Result…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Berry Mint Salad

Recipe courtesy of Ingrid Hoffmann

The Final Product….

Tweet This Post