I'd Like to Give Myself a Little Credit. At Least I'm Trying.

I have a problem. A breakfast problem.
I've really been making an effort to eat healthier and lighter. I'm not dieting exactly, because Heaven Knows I've dieted before and disappointed myself in too many ways to count. No, I'm just eating a lot more veggies and fruits and a lot less meat and sugar. Oh and fat. Less fat.

Don't be fooled by what looks like butter on my knife in the photo above. It only LOOKS like a tiny bit of butter.
(And if you believe that, then you've got your own problems.)

Anyway, here's the issue. When I get up in the mornings I don't really want to eat. Believe me. I get over this just fine as the day wears on, but I'm just not an early eater which leads me to put off breakfast to Oh About 11:30 or 12 which we all know is officially lunch time which just throws off my whole eating schedule and generally creates what we all now recognize as a THIRD WORLD PROBLEM.

And you were wondering where all these things started.

I apologize.

So I've been making an effort to eat earlier. I mean I'm smart enough to know that the body needs fuel to get going and breakfast is the most important meal of the day and yada yada yada and all that. As a former Biology teacher I'm aware of the chemical processes and such that start your engine in the morning and give you enough energy to get through Zumba without flopping onto the floor in a middle-aged heap and weeping for most of the class while all those tight-bodied little 20 year olds prance around you in their matching workout outfits and perky ponytails. I understand the science.

So here's what I'm doing. As soon as I get up I eat a bit of cereal (I'm into Special K) (but only because some genius at General Mills or Kellogs or somewhere chose to quit making my beloved Product 19) with a tiny bit of 2% milk and maybe some blueberries or raspberries if I can get to them before The Weege.
Then mid-morning I have a snack-y kind of thing which could be almost anything, you know snack-ish. And to make sure I had something fairly healthy for the snack this week I made Healthy Apple Oat Scones.


And keep in mind I made up the name myself because you might tend to wonder about the "healthy" part when you see that there is some butter in the recipe. I might be unable to fit in my jeans, but I am also not stupid. I know what makes a scone a scone and it's not good intentions. It's butter.

Look, I'm not trying to deceive myself or anyone else. They are healthier than the cheesecake in my freezer and half a jar of Nutella. So there.

And for Pete's sake (and yours) you don't eat three of them at a time like in the picture (remember the odd number photographic rule) and although one is odd, it mostly just looks lonely in a picture.


I thought you might like to try them yourself.

Here's the recipe. No pictures this time. I was in a hurry to get to the snacking part of the process.

Healthy Apple Oat Scones

(adapted from a Martha Stewart recipe)

1 cup flour

½ c. whole wheat flour

1 c. quick cook oats

½ c. steel cut oats

¼ c. light brown sugar

2 T. honey

½ tsp. cinnamon

½ tsp. freshly grated nutmeg

2 tsp. baking powder

¾ tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. salt

1 ½ sticks cold butter (cut in small pieces)

1 ½ c. diced Honeycrisp apple (one med. apple)

2/3 c. cold buttermilk

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Whisk together the flours, oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking powder, soda, and salt. Cut in butter with a pastry blender or your fingers.

Mix together the honey, apples and buttermilk.

Add to the dry ingredients and stir until just combined.

Pat dough out on floured surface until about ½ inch thick. Cut into small squares with a knife or use a biscuit cutter. Sprinkle each scone with some extra oats and a little coarse sugar. Bake on parchment lined (or sprayed) baking sheet for about 23-25 minutes. Make sure they are nicely browned.

Enjoy.

What's everyone else out there doing to get healthy healthier?????

Lu