Wild Rice for Breakfast

When I recommend a gluten free diet, people always ask," What do I eat for breakfast?" My first reaction is that breakfast is not restricted to eggs, bread, pancakes, cereal, ect. ( This will be a topic for a future blog).

A great, easy high fiber breakfast is to eat wild rice as a hot cereal. Just cook and enjoy. I recommend using a rice cooker ( 1 cup rice and 3 cups water) and then warming it up in the morning. It takes about 45 minutes to cook. Use whatever whitener that fits your diet (milk, soy milk, almond milk, rice milk, hazelnut milk, goat milk, water buffalo milk). Add toppings to make it tastier (nuts, dried fruit, honey, maple syrup).

Great for a cold winter day.

I find that this is a great source of fiber for people with irritable bowel syndrome.

Heidi's Muffins

The first recipe had to be the muffin recipe. I have loved this recipe! It is easy, tastes great, high in protein and fiber, and freezes well. I estimate that each muffin has 10 grams of protein. A great easy breakfast. I usually make the pumpkin variation. You may want to try it fist as most people like this version best.

Grind and add to the mix:
1 cup flax seeds ( grind them after you measure. Also make sure they are well ground- the muffins have a better texture.)
1/2 cup ground walnuts or hazel nuts or almonds
3/4 cup protein powder (Heidi uses BioPure Whey Protein powder – metagenics)
2/3 cup brown sugar – more or less depending on how sweet you like it. None if you want a sugar free treat. Or use date sugar, molasses, honey or maple syrup
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1tsp ground cinnamon ( ok I use 2 heaping tsps for its blood sugar control effect)
1/2 tsp salt
Zest of one orange

Mix the drys together, then add
2 TBSP butter
2/3 cup (mounded) cottage cheese (or ricotta – Heidi always uses cottage cheese) or water buffalo yogurt if dairy sensitive ( order at New Season’s)
2 eggs ( or duck eggs )
2 tsp vanilla
2/3 cup currants
2/3 cup grated zucchini

Mix well.
Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.

Variations:
Pumpkin- use 1 can of pumpkin instead of zucchini. I use 1 can of pumpkin pie- it has more spices and sweetener and then I omit the brown sugar). We also add chocolate chips. This version makes 16 muffins.

Banana- 3 bananas instead of zucchini

Carrot- use grated carrot instead of zucchini. Serve with cream cheese.

Introduction

I have decided to start a blog to share recipes and food ideas with my patients, family, friends, and whomever stumbles upon this site. I am a Naturopathic physician with a passion for cooking. I plan to post and share recipes, restaurants, and healthy food ideas. My family and I are gluten free so everything I post will be gluten free. I will try to include substitutions for other allergies as well Please post your questions, variations on recipes, and requests. Enjoy!