No Oat Oatmeal… It’s No-atmeal!
When you’re looking for a protein-packed breakfast, eggs and meat seem like the most obvious choice. But if you go for the most obvious choice every single morning, it’s easy to get stuck in a rut. So on those mornings when meat and eggs aren’t what you’re craving and you wake up feeling less like a hunter and more like a gatherer, try Mark’s Daily Apple reader Doug Descant’s ingenious recipe for No-atmeal.
Pronounced “note-meal” (as in, no oatmeal) Doug’s recipe, that he submitted for the Primal Cookbook Challenge, is for all you ex-cereal lovers out there and for anyone who needs a warm bowl of comforting goodness on a cold winter morning. As Doug says, “it’s a hot meal full of essential proteins and fats, not to mention the necessary vitamins and minerals, in order to stay energized for the cold weeks ahead.”
In Doug’s recipe a blend of pecans, walnuts and a dash of flaxseed is warmed up with almond milk custard, mashed banana and almond butter to create a wholly satisfying hot cereal. The texture is rich and so is the flavor, especially when you add warming spices like cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger and a topping of fresh berries and almond milk. Just thinking about eating No-atmeal for breakfast is guaranteed to coax you out of bed in the morning.
Ingredients:
- 1 small handful of walnuts
- 1 small handful of pecans
- 2 tablespoons ground flax seed
- 1/2 – 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 pinch of ground nutmeg
- 1 pinch ground ginger
- 1 tablespoon almond butter
- 1 banana, mashed
- 3 eggs
- 1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk (add more if you prefer it a little runny)
- 2 teaspoons pumpkin seeds
- 1 handful of goji berries or fresh berries
Directions:
Add walnuts, pecans, flax seed and spices to a food processor and pulse it down to a course grain, making sure to stop before it’s totally ground into a powder. Set aside.
Whisk together eggs and almond milk (Doug uses a Blender Bottle) until the consistency thickens a little bit into a loose custard. Thoroughly blend together the mashed banana and almond butter and add it to the custard, mixing well.
Stir in the nut mixture. Microwave or gently warm on the stove until the “no-atmeal” reaches your desired consistency; this should only take a few minutes. In both cases, stir the mixture frequently as it cooks.
Sprinkle pumpkin seeds and berries on top. Add more almond milk if you want. Lick the bowl clean!
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Posted By: Worker Bee
Yesss, I always find that when I start trying to replicate non-primal dishes in primal form, that they are often just as carb Efficient. They are also very very calorie dense. Makes sense though since the base is always a nut meal.
-pk
I agree with Sue. If it doesn’t suit you you don’t have to put everyone else down. Did anyone read that “Diet as Dogma” post? If you didn’t, check it out! If you did, maybe take a look over it again and let it sink in.
a bowl of GF oatmeal would be less carbs,lower tannins,maybe lower anti-nutrients and probably easier to digest for many people.
I have to agree with others though…for me it’s either meat/eggs and veg/fruit or I’m not hungry enough to eat yet.
I am so going to try this.
I use in-shell pasteurized eggs. Since they’ve been carefully heated in warm water (not cooked) the nutrients are more bio-available. I’ve experience salmonella poisoning once too often.
(And, no, organic eggs are not safer.)
Weighing in that I just made this according to spec and it was pretty tasty. Odd, due to the consistency of the eggs, and the cooked banana, but still tasty.
Beyond the taste, I knew it was a healthy and nutritious meal going down, and it filled me up nicely. Great way to follow up my morning workout.
Not to mention it was fun to make. If you know how to work quickly in a kitchen and not dilly dally, it shouldn’t take any more than 15 or so minutes. Well worth the time for something that seems to me more of a treat, than a daily staple.
I suspect that it would behoove some of you commenters to get off your high horses, and not be too rigidly fixated on one idea (‘no carbs whatsoever’) that you can’t even branch out and try new things.
I mean seriously, I’m all about primal, low carb living, etc. but I seriously doubt that when Grok came across a banana (or whatever plantain-like predecessor it resembled in his day) he would freak out and run away for fear of gaining love-handles.
I echo Joe and Sue’s comments. The PB provides a framework and principles for living a healthy life. A big part of that is being flexible. Even I wouldn’t eat this on a daily basis, but there is room for it in the context of the PB. Yes, it’s a little carb heavy, but if your eating in the 100-150 maintenance range and your consuming 2500 calories a day this meal is reasonable. Too many calories or carbs for you? Adjust the recipe to fit your needs. Again, the point is that it’s the principles that matter. Once you Grok the PB you can alter recipes and workouts and certain lifestyle behaviors to suit you personally.
p14157 – I usually get this sort of response from at least one person when we publish a Primal variation on non-Primal food. I get it. That said, in my experience this type of recipe really does help the newbie, the person that needs help transitioning to the PB. And heck, it’s kind of fun seeing what healthy Primal creations we can whip up in the kitchen.
Thanks for all your comments, everyone. I love the feedback. Grok on!
Mark,
Thank you for throwing the initial wrench at conventional wisdom and giving us a place to throw our own wrenches.
I think it’d be a great breakfast just before a race. yeah yeah I read about over training, but I dont. I just like to run.
if he did run away from the prehistoric plantain, he might have logged it as a “sprint” on his weekly workout journal, which was probably a flat rock.
i agree. a banana once a week isn’t going to kill you, unless you try to swallow it whole.
ohhhh my god this made for a wonderful breakfast =) I have a systemic inflammatory disorder and so can’t eat ANY starches, and porridge in the morning is one of the things i’ve really been missing…
that’s awesome. glad it worked for you.
Great way to jump start the day. It really works wonders. My personal trainer from Carlsbad also advised me the same and since then i have made oats a part of my healthy life.
Awesome!
First of all, let me apologize for not responding to this sooner. I was reading the latest post on MDA and happened to come across it. I want to thank you all for your comments. While I may not agree with a few of them; I will definitely take each suggestion to heart.
I knew I would catch some flax…, sorry I mean flack for using the high carb banana. As Mark and others suggested, you can modify it to fit your nutritional needs; in regards to proteins, fats, and carbs.
One person used apple sauce, so what makes blending up an organic apple any different? I also feel that roasted butternut squash or pumpkin would work quite well.
The main reason I used a banana was because I had one that would have gone bad in the following days. I figured that I better use it and get my money’s worth. If I’m trying a new recipe, I’d rather use items I already have than go out and spending more money. (BTW, I spend less at the g.s., as well, since going Primal.)
Many of you may not think it’s necessary to “Primalize” non primal recipes, and that’s totally cool. My kitchen is my canvas and the PB ideals are my brushes. I just dig creating new dishes based on my eating style.
As far as the caloric content is concerned, modify it to your needs. I used a medium banana and about 1/3 – 1/2 c of nuts chopped. I used organic raw almond butter and make my own almond milk. All this isn’t set in stone. In fact, I’m going to try it w/ coconut milk and pumpkin the next time I make it.
I eat to live, rather than live to eat. This meal definitely keeps me full and energized well into the afternoon.
I am a fire fighter paramedic who works at a very busy station. It is not uncommon for me to be away from my PB lunch kit at the station for hours on end. With that in mind, “No-atmeal” is the fuel I need to keep me going strong.
Am I trying to win the contest? That would be cool; however, a greater reward would be for someone to use this recipe as a transition into the PB style of living and then telling me about it later.
Thanks again for the comments and please let me know how I can improve this recipe.
Oatmeal used to be my favourite breakfast food before I went primal, so this recipe will be enjoyed at least weekly. *__*
Thanks!
I made the no-atmeal for the first time this morning and it was pure genius. Thanks for sharing!
Stephen
Thanks for the comments Stephen and paleo_piper. You guys have awesome blogs. I’m looking forward to reading them.
I really like my protein in the morning! Thank you for this no-atmeal recipe, it is absolutely incredible!
Thank you for trying it.
I just made this and it was excellent. I ate only half of it so no problem with excessive carbs or calories. I put a few blueberries and raspberries on it and some whole milk, too. Next time I’ll try it with pumpkin instead of banana. Thanks for the tips, folks.
Thanks for the comment, Roadrogue. Let me know how the pumpkin turns out. I’m gonna try it tomorrow.
just wanted to give you guys an update.
i just made this, but substituted 1/2c pure pumpkin for the bananas and it was awesome!
you may have to adjust the spices according to your taste, but i think this is a great low carb meal that would work for those of you who need to be a little strict about your carb intake.
there are 11g of carbs in the 1/2c pumpkin that i used, which is drastically different than using a banana.
give it a shot and let me know what you think or if you have any suggestions.
I also did a pumpkin version. Pretty good
Really good! I made some this morning. I didn’t have time to finish it before I had to run out the door, so I’m eating the rest now as my post-workout snack/lunch (it’s 2:15 pm and my schedule’s a little “off”!). I didn’t use any berries and I made it with coconut milk. Pumpkin would be excellent!
I’m glad you liked it Jenny. What kind of coconut milk did you use? I looked for some the other day, but wasn’t too interested in what I found.
I used something called “SO Delicious Coconut Milk.” It’s in the cooler in the health food section at our grocery store and comes in a carton rather than a can. I bought it because I had a coupon. Someone who knows more than I could tell you if it’s actually “primal” or even good for you! I think regular coconut milk would be too thick.
it sounds primal enough. it really depends on what else is in it. better for you than milk i’d imagine.
A former oatmeal lover, this could be the ticket for fulfilling that craving. I am definitely trying it next weekend. As a disc golfer who goes out and plays for 5-6 hours straight without sitting down, I need some carbs to go with my protein & fat. If I don’t get plenty of liquids, potassium, and carbs, I’m prone to leg cramps after a day of disc golf.
that’s awesome dude. let me know how you like it and how the disc golf went. gotta course by my house that i need to visit. do you have any good links to the rules and where to get the discs?
sure do.
http://www.pdga.com/ for starters.
ebay has tons of discs. To start out, buy a BUZZZ or ROC — both are good all around discs. There are 100s of different discs, each with their own unique flight characteristics (obviously there is considerable overlap).
the sport is essentially free (buy a disc, pay to enter some parks), it’s great walking exercise, and as you get better, you’ll be surprised at how many fast twitch muscles you need to deploy in order to propel the disc from your hand to a basket 350 or more feet away.
um yeah i think i’m hooked. i used to play golf but wasn’t very good at it. it’s too damn expensive and a big stress on the heart (in regards to how pissed off on can get on a par 3)
DG looks to be very relaxing and laid back. as soon as the weather clears up here in houston, i’m gonna jog to the course and give it a shot.
thanks for the info.
ok i have to ask. any tiger woods jokes floating around the disc golf community?
of course but I think Tiger Woods jokes are floating around EveryWhere
I just started going Primal and made this for breakfast this morning. OMG, it’s AMAZING! I used two eggs instead of three, soy milk instead of almond (it’s all I got for now) and added a dash of coconut milk. I used a combo of almonds, pecans and walnuts, about .20 oz. I topped it off with some blueberries.
I plugged it all into FitDay and came up with the following:
413 calories
24.6 grams of fat
34.5 grams of carbs
18.9 grams of protein
This is way better than oatmeal!
Sorry, that’s .20oz each, not in total.
thanks for the awesome comment pat.
It’s me again!
I found that making this over the stove, over low heat in a saucepan turns out better than in the microwave. It starts to resemble scrambled eggs at first, but don’t panic – keep whisking like crazy! It comes out smooth and creamy.
This is seriously addictive Doug; I’ve been eating it almost every morning since my last post!
I’ll have to give it a go on the stove. thanks pat
WOW…making it with pumpkin (and a little bit of honey) is like having pumpkin pie filling for breakfest! Just when I thought it couldn’t get any better, it did! It also comes out thicker with pumpkin. YUM!
I like it better with pumpkin too Pat. Not that the banana version isn’t freak’n good, but I like the pumpkin for its heartiness.
I really wanted to like this and maybe if I had some berries on hand to throw in it, the taste might have been better. I didn’t follow the recipe exactly because I just didn’t have all the ingredients. I could ‘feel’ the eggs cooked in there, I just couldn’t taste them. Maybe next time I’ll throw some berries in it or something to give it more flavor.
What’s wrong with oatmeal?
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The ‘oat’ part.
Really? Good luck with that. I had spam for lunch today.
Really? Good luck with that. See you back here in a few years.
For now, quit trolling. There’s plenty of sites out there advocating oatmeal and Spam. They’d love you to hang around and spam them.