What I Eat - Day Sixty-Two

Breakfast - Slow Cooker Oatmeal

I know, it doesn't look all that appetizing, but it tasted great!   It was really nice to wake up to warm, smooth oatmeal in the morning.   What wasn't nice was the amount of oatmeal that was wasted because it stuck to the sides of the slow cooker!   For me, this has become a recipe that is great for special occasions, but is too wasteful for regular use.  

Ingredients
3 cups gluten-free rolled oats
7 cups water
4 tsp. cinnamon
3/4 cup golden raisins
2 organic applies, cored and diced
(it turned out sweet enough, I didn't need to add any additional sweetener)

Instructions
Coat inside of slow cooker with butter or oil.   Add ingredients, cook on low setting for 7 hours. 

Lunch - Cucumbers and Salmon

This is regular go-to lunch when I don't have a lot of time or dinner leftovers.  I combined a can of wild salmon with a few tablespoons of Renee's dressing and sliced some cucumbers. That's it!

Did you know that cucumbers are one of the 'dirty dozen?'  Buy them organic whenever you can!  Or, even better, grow them this summer!

Dinner - Brown Rice, Veggies, and Tamari Sauce

This is an incredibly easy dinner to make!   If you have some pre-made brown rice in your fridge (like I did) it will, literally, only take you five minutes to make this meal.   I threw a stir-fry vegetable mix from President's Choice, which included soybeans, in my steamer basket.   When the veggies were cooked, I threw them on top of the brown rice (which warmed it up) and topped it with gluten-free tamari sauce.   I've left behind the Bragg's Liquid Aminos and gone back to the tamari sauce as part of my movement to include as many fermented foods in my diet as possible. 

Update on my Kombucha

Here's my SCOBY, which looks a million times better than last week!  That little white bit at the top is a bunch of bubbles, not mold.    Now that the SCOBY is more visually appealing, the kombucha itself has gone to vinegar.    So, next week I'll start up a new brew and, now that I have a slightly better feeling I'm not going to poison myself, I'll start tasting it earlier on.   I drank the commercial kombucha that I showed in last week's post, and I'm definitely getting a better sense of how kombucha should taste and smell.   I have admit, though, I'm finding it a significant hurdle to get past the giant sheet of bacteria and yeast at the top of the container to drink the liquid!   It's really gross!   I know that I am made of more bacteria than human cells, and I remain optimistic that increasing the fermented foods in my diet will bring health benefits, but it sure is challenging!