Pear Oatmeal

I like to cook elaborate dinners, but breakfasts and lunches around here are pretty simple and repetitive. I generally have one of three things for breakfast: Shakeology, kale and eggs with toast, or oatmeal.

My oatmeal flavors vary depending on the season; summer sees a lot of fresh fruit and I like canned pumpkin all year long. Lately my favorite has been pear oatmeal. Do you eat many pears? I feel like I forgot about them for a few years, and then someone gave us a gift basket that included a few and I remembered how great they are.

Here is how I fix my super quick, super delicious pear oatmeal.

I start with regular rolled oats. The generic kind, as the brand with the crazy looking dude on the front is double the cost, for some reason.

Note that I use the regular old-fashioned oats, not the quick-cooking kind. The quick-cooking oats are just rolled oats that have been cut into smaller size, which in my opinion makes them have the consistency of paste. Yuck.

So, I take 1/2 cup of oats, and add 1 cup of water. Then I chop up half a pear (Zach gets the other half), and sprinkle about a tablespoon of flax on top.

Pop in the microwave for 2 minutes. When it comes out, I stir in a squeeze of honey (that's the technical term -- a squeeze), some raisins, and some skim or almond milk. At this point I have a choice to put either chopped walnuts (if available and if I feel like chopping nuts, which isn't often on both accounts) or some Grape Nuts on top. I love having something crunchy in my oatmeal, and we have been crazy for Grape Nuts ever since Rip Esselstyn endorsed them in the E2 cookbook.

Ocassionally I will also stir in 1/4 scoop of vanilla whey protein powder if I know I'm going to have a light protein day.

So yummy!

With a breakfast this quick, cheap, and delicious, there is really no excuse not to take 10 minutes for breakfast in the morning. It will keep you going all morning long!

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Workout of the Day

Asylum 2: X Trainer

Week 3. Is it possible that this workout is getting harder? Today we tried something new with our agility ladders, creating a ladder out of tape directly on our mat. Is this cheating a little bit in that you don't trip over your ladder? Yes. However, it also ensures that you don't waste precious time adjusting your ladder when you mess it up. You can go harder and faster, and I felt that this morning. Big time!

Shaun T is not messing around!