A telltale sign that colder weather is approaching is my desire to move to warmer, albeit still clean, foods.  In the summer, I’m a big fan of a raw smoothie for breakfast — chock full of fruit, veggies like kale, and my favorite superfoods (I’m partial to cacao, blue-green algae and maca).  My smoothie is the essence of clean eating and the perfect way to get the day started on a healthy note.

But now that the weather has dramatically cooled (yesterday we had light snow!), I’m all about warming up.  One of my favorite morning treats is oatmeal. In the summer, I make a yummy raw oatmeal that I absolutely love that’s served at room temperature, but this time of year, it’s got to be hot.

Recently, I was flipping through the most recent issue of Clean Eating magazine when I came across a recipe for Jamaican style oatmeal that sounded yummy.  As you can probably imagine, the Jamaican part of it is that is has  tropical flavors — coconut, pineapple and banana.  When I saw it, I just knew it would be good, with a few adjustments.  I personally can’t stand bananas (except in my smoothies), so I took that out and added a touch of cinnamon instead.  It made for an absolutely delicious oatmeal, so much more interesting than just adding some berries on top, and the addition of nuts made it even more robust.

Best part of all is that I felt satisfied all morning long.  I’m a big fan of a bigger breakfast that keeps you feeling nourished and focused, in addition to setting your blood sugar level for the day.  This clean eating breakfast is just that — robust, tasty and so good for us.  Plus, oats are heart healthy, can lower cholesterol and can even aid in weight loss.  This is whole food nutrition at its best!

Jamaican Style Whole Oatmeal

Ingredients:

1 cup steel cut oats
1/4 cup almond milk (or use skim, rice or soy)
2 tbsp agave nectar
1/2 cup fresh pineapple
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/3 cup unsweetened, shredded coconut
2 tbsp. almonds, toasted and sliced

Directions:

Bring 3 cups of water to a boil in medium saucepan.  Add oats, reduce heat and cook for 20 minutes.  When oats are done, add milk and agave nectar, followed by the pineapple and cinnamon. Top with coconut and almonds.

What do you do to make oatmeal interesting and appealing? Do tell – please share your comments below.

And be sure to join me on Wednesday, October 21 at 8 pm ET for more clean eating and meal planning ideas on my next teleseminar, “Fabulous Fall Seasonal Eating and Meal Planning.” You can check out all the details and sign up here: http://budurl.com/falleating

Filed under: Agave Nectar, Breakfast, Cholesterol, Healthy Meals, Recipes, Whole Food Nutrition, Whole Grains, clean eating