apricots Archives - Healthy Green Kitchen

Overnight High Protein Oatmeal

As I mentioned a few weeks back, I am competing in my first powerlifting meet tomorrow. I am nervous but also looking forward to it. I’ve spent this week training pretty light, stretching a lot, and trying to get as much sleep as possible so I can go in with lots of energy and minimal anxiety.

I decided to compete in this meet about two months ago and since then I’ve made some adjustments to the way I eat, especially when it comes to my protein intake. Protein is always important, but perhaps even more so when you strength train with heavy weights. I work particularly hard to make sure I am eating enough of this macronutrient.

Though I previously wasn’t that big a fan of protein powders, I have found them to be nothing short of essential as of late: without supplementing with some protein powder on a daily basis, I simply don’t eat enough protein to meet my current needs. Right now I am eating about 110 grams of protein a day (this is 1 gram or protein per pound of my body weight).

Does this mean I think everyone should be supplementing with protein powder? No, not at all. While protein at or near the amount I am consuming may be useful to you, the amount of protein you need and whether or not protein powder is right for you depend on the context of your lifestyle and activity level, not mine.

{Ah, context. Such an important concept when it comes to matters of nutrition. We don’t all inhabit the same body nor do we live the same life (obviously!), so “one size fits all” nutritional recommendations really don’t make sense, do they?}

I like this recipe because I can quickly mix up 4 individual servings. Then I can grab one from the fridge in the morning and add a little more milk and maybe some fresh fruit (in these photos I’ve used pomegranate arils) before I head out to the gym. The lid makes tucking one into my purse super easy.

I don’t usually put my recipes through a nutritional calculator but just for kicks I decided to do it this time. The calorie and macronutrient breakdown of this overnight high protein oatmeal recipe (without any fruit or anything else added on top) comes out as follows:

For each serving (presuming 4 servings), approximately:
300 calories
10 grams fat
34 grams carbs
24 grams protein

I think this is great because there’s almost 1/4 of my protein requirement right there.

This recipe was inspired by Refrigerator Oatmeal from The Yummy Life. I used short 1 cup glass canning jars with plastic lids to make this recipe.

I’ve been a big fan of Anya Kassoff’s blog Golubka for a long time. It’s a lovely site full of gorgeously-photographed, health-promoting recipes, many of which are vegan and raw. Anya’s new book The Vibrant Table is just as beautiful and inspiring as her blog.

I received The Vibrant Table from publisher Roost Books a few months back. I’ve flipped through the book many times, reading Anya’s intriguing stories and “ooh”ing and “aah”ing over the photos (taken by her talented daughter Masha Davydova), but I could not decide what to make. I recently settled on the Apricot and Lavender Tart, and was so happy that I did…it’s fabulous!

Anya’s tart crust recipe is gluten-free and while I changed up the flours, mine is gluten-free, too. This recipe is also vegan. It’s the perfect dessert for when you want something that’s very visually appealing, but isn’t particularly over the top in terms of calories. This tart is actually very light, though you can certainly up the decadence factor by serving it with some vanilla ice cream.

Be sure to use very ripe apricots, otherwise your tart won’t be as flavorful as it could be. I found organic apricots at my local natural foods store and used those; I bought my dried lavender flowers at my natural foods store, as well. If you don’t need the tart to be vegan, I imagine butter will work well in the crust.

Apricot crisp from www.healthygreenkitchen.com

I spent much of last weekend visiting with dear friends I haven’t seen in years. We enjoyed lots of great conversation and feasting: it was so much fun! I made this fresh apricot crisp as part of a big breakfast I hosted on Sunday and everyone loved it. If you enjoy fresh apricots, I think you’ll love it, too.

Very ripe, local apricots are one of my favorite summertime treats. One of the local farm stands I frequent has them right now, and I keep making the trip over there to buy more!

If you can’t find fresh apricots, you can certainly make this recipe with a different stone fruit, such as nectarines or peaches or plums. You can also use a combination of different fruits, if you like.

This recipe does not contain all that much sugar compared to other crisp recipes I’ve made in the past. I prefer less sugar because I really want to taste the fruit in recipes like this, even if the fruit is a bit tart; also, as I mentioned above, we had this for breakfast (and I prefer to avoid very sweet things in the morning). Feel free to use a little more sugar if you go for fruits treats like this on the sweeter side, or if you are making this for dessert.

If you don’t eat grains (and therefore oats are out), you could make the crisp topping with ground nuts, such as almonds.

I have been sick as a dog this past week. {What’s up with that expression, by the way? My dog is perfectly healthy.} The kind of sick where you cannot breathe without all sorts of nasty gurgling in your nose. The kind of sick where your abs are ridiculously sore from all the coughing. The … Read more

Mostly Raw Vegan Apricot Blackberry Pie

When I first heard about Pie Day, I was stumped about what to “bring” to the virtual party. Because I’d just posted these cupcakes, I decided to go in a somewhat non-typical (and fairly virtuous) direction for my pie. I’m calling it virtuous because it’s a vegan pie that’s made with (almost) all raw ingredients. … Read more

Overnight High Protein Oatmeal

Apricot and Lavender Tart + A Giveaway

Fresh Apricot Crisp

Dried Apricot and Chile Jam

Mostly Raw Vegan Apricot Blackberry Pie