Grits and Smoothies - Breakfast of Champions!

Well after my liver and tongue posts I thought I had better bring it back to normal a bit. Not too much -as you will see - but some.

When I ate gluten free for several years I often ordered grits at the restaurant when we went out for breakfast in place of toast or oatmeal with my eggs and bacon. It was just OK - I never could figure out the attraction. Until today. When I ate my own homemade grits. Absolutely to.die.for. I wouldn't lie to you my friends. The creamy goodness was out of this world. Maybe it was the cornmeal I used, or the butter, or whole milk or real maple syrup?? I am sure it is a combination of all of them.

It all started out when I made girlichef's  Herbed Cheese Polenta for dinner. The cheesy goodness just spoke to me. My kids kept asking what it was, they couldn't keep the word polenta in their brains but cornmeal mush - that they got.

So today I decided to make grits using the same basic recipe and it is a real winner.

Grits aka Cornmeal Mush

4 1/2 cups of  water

1 Tbs. salt

1 1/4  cups. yellow cornmeal

1 cup whole milk (I used raw) + additional as desired

5 Tbs. butter, cut into pieces + additional as desired (do NOT substitute margarine PLEASE)

Maple syrup

The first thing to do is bring your water to boil then add the salt.
Slowly add your cornmeal a little bit at a time whisking as you go. Once it is all incorporated reduce heat to low and continue stirring often. When the cornmeal thickens it is done. Take the pan off the heat and add milk and butter, stirring until the butter is melted.

Spoon out into individual bowls and top with extra milk and butter - to your liking. Then pour over some real maple syrup. Delicious and oh so healthy!

Kefir Slushy (Smoothy? - really what is the difference?)

That in itself was a winner but I also made a kefir slushy - this is where it gets a little weird again but stick with me please! I don't use a recipe, more of a process and I will walk you through.

Beware that it looks like a lot of stuff but you are just dumping them in the jar. And any and all ingredients are optional except the fruits and kefir or you can even substitute whole milk or yogurt for that.

I drink one of these almost every day. It is a great way to get in a bunch of different super foods that I don't always have time to fix in a real recipe. Alex at A Moderate Life explains in her post about the Power of the Puree how her daughter will eat fruits and vegetables pureed but not whole or even diced in a dish - and I totally get that!

First you will need a quart canning jar and an immersion blender - for ever I made these in my blender but this is much easier on the cleanup but if you don't have an immersion blender than use a regular one.

Into your canning jar put one broken up frozen banana, a cup of other frozen fruit, one cube of frozen orange vegetable, one cube of frozen green*, one cube raw liver if you have it, a teaspoon of expeller pressed coconut oil or coconut butter,  and 1 raw egg from healthy chickens. Top it off with kefir - fill cover. I then let it sit about 15 minutes to let the frozen stuff thaw a bit. Put the immersion blender in and mix up - it is really delicious. If it is too tart add raw honey until you like the taste - I do this when I am sharing with my kids.

Before kefir and without eggs - my chickens aren't laying (they will soon be dinner).

So,
1 banana
1 cup other fruit frozen or raw cut up
1 cube frozen orange veggie - I cook different squashes and pumpkins and then mash and freeze in icecube trays and save in baggies. (opt)
1 cube green veggie - I do the same with spinach and kale (opt)
1 cube raw ground liver (opt)
1 raw egg
1heaping tsp or so of expellor pressed coconut oil or butter(important so you can better absorb the nutrients in the fruits and vegetables)
1-2 cups kefir
TBS of raw honey if you want

Let sit 15 minutes to melt frozen stuff a bit. Mix with immersion blender and drink - delicious!

 

 So easy a 5 year old can do it! 

Here Sylvia is modeling the delicious and nutritious smoothy.

 

Showing off the deliciousness of the smoothie

But beware, when you do a photo shoot with a 5 year old and a cold, damp canning jar this is what can happen next!

Sad sad day! It tasted so good too ;o[

* Sarah, the Healthy Home Economist explains in her post about the importance of cooking certain vegetables why we should cook them before eating. So, I always steam my greens before I blend and freeze them. Jenny at Nourished Kitchen also has a great post explaining the whys of eating healthy fats with fruits and vegetables.

Submitted to:
Simple Lives Thursday @ A Little Bit of Spain in Iowa and EKat's Kitchen's Friday Potluck.
Sue at Couscous and Conscousness' Make it With....Mondays. Where there are some great recipes for using cornmeal - yum!!