Baked Berry Oatmeal

My running friend Cathy Jackson shared this simple to make Berry Baked Oatmeal recipe. It's the perfect breakfast or pre-run fueling for runners! 

Baked Berry Oatmeal 

1 hour - Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups Old Fashioned Oats
• 1/2 cup Steel Cut Oats
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/4 cup coconut oil (I used canola oil)
• 1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce 
• 1 large egg, beaten
• 2 cups Unsweetened Coconut Milk (I used 1% regular milk)
• Raspberries
• Blueberries
• Blackberries
• Chopped Almonds
• Coconut Sugar

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400°F.

In large bowl stir together rolled oats, steel cut oats, baking powder, salt & cinnamon, set aside.

In medium bowl combine brown sugar, honey, oil, applesauce, egg & milk.  Add to oat mixture & stir until combined.

Pour into a greased 2 quart casserole dish (a 9" x 13" glass baking dish works good too).  Top evenly with berries, chopped almonds & sprinkle lightly with coconut sugar.

Bake uncovered for 40 minutes or until set and lightly browned.  

Serve warm -  top with Greek Yogurt and chopped almonds 

The Orange: Great Last Minute Pre-Run Fuel

Ever realize 15-30 minutes before a run that you forgot to fuel up? Grab an orange! An orange has 100% of your daily Vitamin C needs. Vitamin C helps prevent muscle injury by replacing collagen in the muscle fibers that bread down during running. Oranges provide needed simple carbohydrates, but they're low on the glycemic index so their natural sugars won't cause your blood sugar to spike and crash. Oranges also contain quercitrin, a citrus flavonoid, that some research shows helps to

increase tolerance for exercise, quicken recovery time, and increase performance. Eat a whole orange not orange juice before a run. Orange juice has a much higher concentration of the natural sugars and may cause GI issues in some runners. So, keep a few oranges on hand for those times you forget to fuel or just want to give yourself an extra boost.

Potatoes: A Great Food for Runners!

Running and pasta are like Bert & Ernie, Yin & Yang, Lavern & Shirley, Thelma & Louise. That's all well and fine. Pasta is a great source of carbs for fueling your runs, but did you know that thepotato is a nutritious source of  carbohydrates, even more than rice or pasta? Yep, this often shunned veggie has gotten a bad wrap in the whole anti-carb movement. Like many foods, it's how you prepare it that makes or breaks the nutritional value of the spud. Cover it with butter, melted cheese, and bacon bits and you've created "food porn." Bake it and top it with a dollop of Greek yogurt and voilà, nutritious yumminess! Sport nutritionist Nancy Clark supports the spud too.  She shares that this super veggie is a great source of Vitamin C (gives 1/2 of your daily needs) and provides the potassium you'd lose in three hours of sweaty exercise. It's cousin the sweet potato provides even more health benefits!  A standard potato (like you'd get with a restaurant meal) contains around 200 calories. That's about the same as most sports bars. The spud makes a great pre-and post-run snack as well as a part of a meal. Pre-baked spuds that are sliced and refrigerated make great snacks before or after a run.  In her book, NancyClark's Food Guide for Marathoners, she gives some great ideas for potato toppers such as low-fat salad dressing; low-fat sour cream, chopped onion, and low-fat shredded cheddar cheese; cottage cheese and garlic powder; milk mashed into the potato; plain yogurt (I like using the Greek yogurt. It's very similar to sour cream); flavored vinegars; soy sauce; steamed veggies like broccoli; chopped jalapeno peppers; lentils or lentil soup (I like topping it with veggie chili or black beans); applesauce.  Worried about the potato being high on the Glycemic Index? Valid concern, but did you know that when you pair the spud with certain foods, it actually lowers its GI? Adding healthy fats to your spud such as olive oil, sour cream or avocados, will lower the GI. Increasing the acidity by adding vinegar, citrus or salsa lowers the GI of the spud too. Eating the potato with the skin on increased the fiber slowing digestion and lowering the GI. Oddly enough, cooking the potato, then cooling it before you eat it, lowers the GI. So, give the spud a try!!

The Runner's Palate: Sweet Potatoes & Apples

Last week, I posted on the benefits of the potato as a training food for runners. That post got quite a bit of feedback in support of the spud. Several readers mentioned how much they enjoyed eating sweet potatoes as a training food. One reader, Ashley, described (in a comment she posted) a recipe she makes with sweet potatoes and Granny Smith apples that sounded awesome. So, I asked her to share it with us on the blog. It's simple to make and a great source of Vitamins A and C, Potassium, complex carbs, and fiber. Here's Ashley's recipe:

Sweet Potatoes and Granny Smith Apples

A little background: This recipe evolved from a recipe I found on line. Originally it called for ground mace, butter, and about 3x the brown sugar. I quickly learned that ground mace is not for me, must be a learned taste. So the next time I made it with cinnamon and a tiny bit of cloves. Then I decided to try it without butter, didn't even notice it was missing. Then I decided that the granny smith apples made it sweet enough that I could cut back on the brown sugar as well. This has been a hit with everyone I've made it for. It's easy to prepare and doesn't require exact measurements so it is easy to adjust the amount you want to make. The recipe below makes enough for about 8 servings.

Ingredients:
2 Large Sweet Potatoes
2-3 Granny Smith Apples
Brown Sugar
Ground Cinnamon
Ground Cloves

Tools Needed:
Covered baking dish
tablespoon
potato peeler

Directions:

1. Peel the sweet potatoes and cut into 1 to 1.5 inch scallops. Place in a pot, cover with water and boil until tender, about 10 mins.
2. While the potatoes are boiling preheat the oven to 350. Core and dice the apples, leave the skin on the apples.
3. Once potatoes are tender drain water from the pot.
4. Place the potatoes in a single layer in the bottom of the baking dish then add a layer of apples.
5. Take 1 heaping tablespoon of loosely packed brown sugar and sprinkle evenly over the apples.
6. Sprinkle some cinnamon and cloves over the brown sugar, I use more cinnamon than cloves but you can add according to your own tastes.
7. If you have more sweet potatoes and apples repeat steps 4-6.
8. Cover and bake for 40 to 50 minutes until apples are soft.

Thanks Ashley! I made this over the weekend and it tastes great! Be sure to check out Ashley's website Adventures Of Running Mom.