Apple Pie Spiced Oatmeal

4 (4-block meals)
You can simmer this cereal first thing in the morning or let it cook all night while you sleep, so that you can wake up to piping-hot breakfast cereal.

Ingredients:
2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats or 1 cup and two tablespoons steel-cut oats (such as McCann’s)
2 small apples, cored and diced
3/4 to 1 teaspoon apple pie spice
4 cups cold filtered water (4 1/2 cups for steel-cut oats)
Four 1-ounce scoops vanilla egg white protein or vanilla whey protein (about 1 cup)
3 to 5 drops stevia extract liquid or 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon stevia extract (optional)
48 pecan or walnut halves, lightly toasted and crumbled

Instructions for overnight cooking – for steel cut oats only:
Before going to bed, combine steel-cut oats, spice and water in 3 1/2-quart slow cooker. Cover and cook on LOW for 7 to 8 hours. In the morning, turn off the heat and add the apples. Let stand for 10 to 15 minutes: The steam will condense and lift the stuck cereal off the bottom of the cooker for ease of clean up. Stir in the protein powder with a large wooden spoon to dissolve all the lumps. If too stiff, stir in warm water a tablespoon at a time. Stir in stevia if a sweeter taste is desired Stir again and divide among 4 serving bowls. Top with nuts and serve.

Instructions for stovetop cooking – for rolled oats only:
Combine rolled oats, apple, spice and water in a 2-quart saucepan. Soak, uncovered, overnight. In the morning, cover and bring to a boil over medium heat without stirring. If using an electric stove, preheat a second burner on low. When the mixture comes to a boil, reduce the heat to low or transfer it to the preheated burner. Simmer, undisturbed, for 30 minutes, then remove from the heat. Allow the cereal to stand, covered, for 10 to 15 minutes. With a large wooden spoon, stir in the protein powder to dissolve all lumps. If too stiff, stir in warm water a tablespoon at a time. Taste. Stir in stevia if a sweeter taste is desired. Divide among 4 serving bowls. Top with nuts and serve.

Note: Some brands of vanilla egg white protein are unsweetened. Taste before you add the stevia and use a light hand; stevia is 100 to 300 times sweeter than sugar.

Variation: Replace apple pie spice with pumpkin pie spice.

What is wrong with this picture? Too many carbs, not enough protien or fat :)

Comments

[Brian S]

Wow, I think I'll save this for the winter. It looks like it will really stick to the ribs. I haven't had oats since I started the zone.

This blog is a great idea!

[Adam]

I'm so happy we're doing this. After the cert I've been recharged to restart zoning. I think the biggest revelation was that they recommend crossfitters multiply their BMI/7 by .7, not 1.0! This makes a big difference in how many blocks you take in and perhaps is the reason I wasn't seeing any results before.

Also, they were saying we don't need to bother with counting the fat in our meats or worry about using butter to fry stuff (obviously don't throw the stick in the pan). That certainly helps when searching for flavor in your broccoli omelette. :-)

Biggest lesson learned so far: easy on the romaine lettuce. You have to eat far too much to make that carb block a pleasant experience.

[jessica]

i love the idea! i'm always in search of new recipes. Jason and I are almost on a week schedule. I need new ideas. We love to grill so that's easy, but it's the side dishes. For us its either steamed broccoli or cauliflower or grilled zucchini and squash. We really like all that but I'd like to try some other recipes.

[CFVB, Pat]

Thomi, you rock baby! This blog is a great idea.

I work from home a lot and one of my favorite "meals" is not really a meal, but it is fast and covers all my bases. For 4 blocks I will walk down stairs and get....

6 oz deli turkey (honey smoked)
1 apple
1 cup of grapes
12 almonds

If I go out to breakfast I find it pretty easy to zone. Here is what I get for a 4 block meal....

3 eggs omlette with cheese (about 4 blocks with the cheese)
2 pieces wheat toast
Peanut butter (spread on toast for my fat)

I will blog about my favorite topic later.......cheat days!

[gerry]

nice work thomi

[Weezy]

Thanks for the real-life meal suggestions, Pat. I am going to love this blog. I am more of a 3 blocker, so if any 3 blockers want to offer up some of their favorite snacks and meals, that'd be a massive help to me. I don't do well with numbers and math especially when I am hungry.

[Thomi CFVB]

One of my favorite 2 block snacks in one of the single serving of Fage (or other "greek style" yogurts) with one cup of blueberries and two teaspoons of almond (or peanut) butter stirred in!!! Yuummmmy!(You can always use strawberries or bannana or whatever you want, stevia sweetens it a bit too)

[jessica]

I kind of do what Thomi posted for my breakfast or a mid afternoon snack. It's real quick and easy to make. I do 3/4 cup of low fat cottage cheese, 1/2 cup of crushed or cube pineapple and 2/3 cup of no sugar added mandarin oranges. And to change it up a bit some times i'll do 1 cup of sliced strawberries, and 1 cup of blueberries. then for fat, 9 almonds. pretty simple.

[CFVB, Pat]

Lisa,

I do 3 block meals a lot since I am a 15 blocker. I try to do five 3 block meals.

A 3 block breakfast for me this morning was....
1 whole wheat Thomas' english muffin
3/4 cup egg beaters
3 tsp almond butter

I'm currently on single fat, hope to double it up soon. The only reason I bring that up is that 1 block of fat is 1/2 a tsp of Almond butter. So it appears that I had double fat with breakfast, but I didn't. There are very, very few protien sources that are fat free. Egg beater egg whites would be one or a protien powder with zero fat would be another. In those rare cases double fat is actually considered single fat since there is no fat in the protien source. 99% of the protien sources you will use will have fat in them that is already precalculated into the zone block prescription. Hope this helps!

[Weezy]

Thomi~I am confused. One cup of Fage is 19g of protein, 9g of carbs and 4.5g of fat. Wouldn't adding the peanut butter or almond butter bring the fat up past a 3 block meal? I did a cup of the Fage this morning for breakfast with 1 TBP of raw honey (17g of carbs) which I thought would have made it a 3 block meal. If I can add peanut butter too that would really make Weezy happy!

[Thomi CFVB]

Weezy,
You do not count the fat in your protien source unless it is an especially fatty source of protien *eg bacon
You would also not count the carbs in your protien source eithier unless you are consuming a *mixed block* very few items fit into the mixed block catagory.
That being said, one of the small containers ( which is what I use ) of the 2% Fage is as follows
PRO 17 g
CHO 8 g
FAT 4 g
If anything you might consider it a *high carb* protien as opposed to a high fat protien as the zone expects there to be about 1.5 grams of fat per block of protien in the measure hence, a two block ZONE PERFECT bar has 6 grams of fat. :)
Let me know if you have any other questions

[Adam]

I liked the white background. Oh well.

Lisa, I'm a 3-blocker so we can talk turkey...literally.
The things below are easliy divided up and measured. It is a pain in the a**, but weigh and measure for two weeks straight to get yourself used to it.

The staples I'm keeping around are:
Sliced deli turkey (boar's head is tastiest obviously)
low fat alpine deli swiss
grapes
nectarines
pears
Oikos (or Fage) Yogurt
lowfat cottage cheese (not non-fat)
zucchini
spaghetti squash - add some tomato sauce and parmesan cheese and maybe even a turkey meatball.....mmmmmmmm.
eggs
ezekiel bread (1 slice = 2carb, .5prot)
baby carrots

[Weezy]

Geez, I feel like such a dope. I need a Zone tutor! Adam, are you available? :-) No wonder my breakfast yesterday only lasted me 2 hours before I had a blood sugar issue instead of the 3 you guys say it should. Hopefully, eating more zone friendly will make me smarter.