Last night, within minutes, I received two emails from readers asking very similar questions about breakfast and protein:
I’m so sorry to say that I just don’t like oatmeal. You’re so creative with it and i know it is a great source of protein but I just can’t get into it. Do you have any ideas or advice on getting enough protein to keep me full in the morning?
I tried to replicate your typical breakfast, but I really hate peanut butter so I used almond butter hoping that would be better. Unfortunately, I didn’t like that either. Do you know another easy way I can add protein to my breakfast if I still want to eat oats?
It turns out, last night, our CrossFit coaches shared an awesome protein-packed Paleo recipe for No Oat “Oatmeal” with us, which I thought would be a perfect suggestion for these two readers. I also used it as inspiration for this morning’s breakfast.
The No Oat “Oatmeal” recipe used three whole eggs, but I wasn’t sure how the yolks would taste with a sweet ingredient like banana, so I used egg whites instead. I also nixed the almond butter and added it at the end like I normally do with my oatmeal, so if you don’t like nut butter, you can just eliminate it all together.
“Oatmeal” Minus the Oats
Description
Serves 1
Ingredients
- 1/8 cup chopped walnuts
- 1 tbsp ground flaxseed
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 banana, mashed
- 3/4 cup liquid egg whites (or 3 egg whites)
- 1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk (add more if desired)
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Whisk together egg whites and almond milk and then stir in walnuts, ground flax, banana, vanilla extract, and cinnamon; blend well.
- In a medium saucepan, warm the mixture on the stove, stirring frequently, until the “oatmeal” reaches the desired consistency; this should only take a few minutes.
- Top with berries, nut butter, seeds, or whatever else your little heart desires.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1
- Calories: 376
- Fat: 16
- Carbohydrates: 36
- Protein: 26
I’m not going to lie, I was pretty skeptical about this recipe at first (I mean, eggs as oatmeal?), but it turned out so well. I know it’s going to become a regular breakfast in my house. It didn’t taste egg-y at all – the banana, vanilla extract, and cinnamon definitely helped hide the flavor. The consistency was oatmeal-like, but not as creamy and a little bit slimy (like eggs). I guess I’d equate the texture to really light and fluffy scrambled egg whites.
I topped my oat-less “oatmeal” with fresh blackberries and two scoops of peanut butter, and it tasted so delicious. And, the best part: this breakfast has three times as much protein as a 1/2 cup of rolled oats!
Other protein ideas for breakfast: eggs of all kinds (egg sandwich, omelet, frittata, hardboiled), Greek yogurt or cottage cheese (with fruit, cereal, nuts, seeds, or stirred into oatmeal), smoothies with SFH protein powder, Protein Pancakes, nut butters (added to smoothies, mixed into oatmeal or yogurt, spread on whole grain bread, English muffin, or waffles with fruit), beans (mixed into eggs), and turkey sausage.
Question of the Day
What are your favorite proteins to include with breakfast?
257 Comments
Must be good, but I’m just too lazy to try new recipes. I love oatmeal porrige in the morning, I just mix a tablespoon of peanutbutter with it for protein. And sometimes add little honey too.
I tried this today and it was really good! And filling! Just one question though, mine never really “fluffed” and did not look like the picture you took at all. Still tasted great, so I will make it again, but just thought I might have done something wrong or maybe there was a trick to that. Thanks for the great recipe!!
That’s great!! Try adding more almond milk next time. It makes it a bit fluffier! 🙂
Is this for one or two servings?
One.
Just made it. Yummy.
HOW HAVE I NOT SEEN THIS. Hello tomorrow’s bfasttttttt
Looks great can’t wait to give it a try!
Just made these–yum! I actually left the mashed banana out and put frozen banana slices on top with almond butter a little agave. This was really good!
is the flaxseed absolutely necessary in this recipe? i dont have any and was wondering if it would totally bomb without it…
No, it’s not necessary! 🙂
@Tina: Do you know if regular low fat milk would work with this recipe? …
Probably! 🙂
@Tina: Two things: 1. the regular milk didn’t absorb and I just had really watery “oatmeal” -does that happen with the almond milk? and 2. do you put the cinnamon in yours? Mine was much darker than yours?
The oats are my favorite part though!
I just tried this today… DELICIOUS!
This recipe is so good. I was skeptical about this for months, but I finally gave it a whirl. It might just become a regular recipe. Yay!
In case anyone is wondering (I was, and it hadn’t been mentioned), you CAN do this in the microwave. We are staying in a hotel right now and still trying hard to eat healthy! I micro’d it in 1-minute increments and stirred in between. It ended up taking about 3 minutes. I did have to add a little extra almond milk at the end to get the consistency right, but I may have eyeballed it wrong to begin with.
Oh, and I did it with canned pumpkin instead of banana, and pumpkin pie spice instead of cinnamon for a fall-y twist…YUM!
Good to know! Thank you!!
A nice post. I believe that just setting ourselves a weight loss goal can be the start of our downfall. Yes we want to achieve a certain look or shape but the bathroom scales are rarely the best way for us to find out how our body is really changing. The SMART goals you mention are a great way of focusing on what we want to achieve and I find that setting some fitness goals helps. I challenged myself to run a certain distance in a certain time for example. Having a fitness goal and not just a weight goal means that I look at fitness as a journey and don’t get too obsessed when the scales are not in my favor from one week to the next. Eating yummy ‘healthy’ recipes like these and keeping active for a balanced and long life are what we should focus on.