life promoting foods | Gotta Eat, Can't Cook

Posts Tagged ‘life promoting foods’

April 22nd, 2025

Anti-Inflammatory Foods, Anti-inflammatory Recipes, Beans, Blog, Cereal, Cycling Food, Fitness Food, Grains, How To & Tips, Microwave, One Bowl Meals, Running Food

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Warm Overnight Oats with Chickpeas, Pesto and Cheese Picture Directions

Overnight oats with chickpeas, basil pesto and cheese banner with link to picture book recipe

Last post showed how to make a sweet overnight oats recipe: overnight oats with grapes, yogurt, jam & kefir. This post puts a savory twist on those same overnight oats – all very easily and fantastically flavorfully.

Here are the ingredients needed to make overnight oats with chickpeas, pesto & cheese, though I did add a couple ingredients after first shooting the dish as noted below.

Overnight oats with chickpeas, basil pesto and cheese ingredients with link to picture book recipe

I’m what a I call a “peripatetic eater”, or someone who bounces from table to kitchen just a bit during a meal. And you know the deal here: FLAVOR RULES! So, though I liked this dish with just the ingredients above and as shown below,…

Overnight oats with chickpeas, basil pesto, cheese and hot sauce with link to picture book recipe

…I liked it even better – and made it look more photogenic – by just adding chopped jalapeños and sun-dried tomatoes…

Chopped jalapeños and sun-dried tomatoes to add to overnight oats with chickpeas, basil pesto and cheese banner with link to picture book recipe

…to make this.

As I say in the recipe and often here, a recipe is only a guide. The real fun is trying different ingredients to make the flavor of a finished dish all your own both regarding flavor and any dietary restrictions you might have.

Click this link or any picture on this page for a full step-by-step picture book recipe.

Overnight oats with chickpeas, basil pesto and cheese recipe pages with link to the full picture book recipe

Next post will show on an on-the-fly improvisation using leftovers with those same overnight oats.

April 2nd, 2025

Anti-Inflammatory Foods, Anti-inflammatory Recipes, Blog, Breakfast, Cereal, Cycling Food, Grains, Hiking Food, Nutrition, Running Food

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Overnight Oats with Grapes, Yogurt, Jam and Kefir Picture Directions

Summary of how to make overnight oats with grapes, yogurt, jam and kefir with a link to picture book directions.

As I mention in the first tip that you can almost see in the above banner, “overnight soaking” really means soaking oats for at least 12 hours – 24 hours is best – to make the most of both oat nutrient and fiber benefits. And this very quick, easy and fully flavorful overnight oats with grapes, yogurt, jam and kefir recipe is a great way to boost those benefits.

Here’s all you need for ingredients: overnight soaked oats, grapes (or any fruit), yogurt, your favorite jam, kefir (optional, but a great source of probiotics) and raisins (or any dried fruit).

Ingredients needed to make overnight oats with grapes, yogurt, jam and kefir with link to picture book recipe.

As always, what you see above are only suggested ingredients – and they taste great together. But, the real key to making the most of this recipe, and any recipe, is making it all your own by adding or substituting ingredients to suit your taste and/or support any dietary restrictions you might have.

Click any picture on this page or this link for a full picture book recipe.

3 sample recipe pages with a link to the full overnight oats with grapes, yogurt, jam and kefir picture book recipe

March 25th, 2025

Anti-Inflammatory Foods, Anti-inflammatory Recipes, Blog, Breakfast, Cereal, Food & Health, Grains, How To & Tips, Nutrition

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Overnight Water-Soaked Oats Picture Directions

Picture book directions show how to water-soak oats to maximize nutrient content use in either sweet or savory dishes.

There’s no such thing as a particular “superfood”, or one food that will work miracles on your body to make you feel stronger, become healthier and prevent disease all on its own.

The real “open secret” is enjoying a varied diet rich in whole foods – whole foods are key – and oats, with their highly nutritious, gluten-free and fiber-rich properties plus their equally versatile use, which corresponds beautifully with my often-used “imagination is your only limit” line, are a great food to make part of your quality-of-life enriching eating habits.

For more information about the nutritional value of oats, which includes digestive support, heart health benefits, blood sugar moderation and weight loss/maintenance properties, and more, click this link to Healthline’s “9 Health Benefits of Eating Oats and Oatmeal”.

When it comes to simplicity, convenience and maximizing both nutritional and digestive advantages, water-soaking oats for at least 12 hours is the best and easiest way to enjoy rolled oats and open them up for use in either sweet or savory dishes like what you see below: oats with grapes, nut butter, yogurt and jam (left) and oats with chickpeas, ricotta cheese, tomato and avocado (right).

Examples of water-soaked oats meals: oats with fresh fruit, yogurt and raisins and oats with chickpeas, ricotta cheese, tomatoes and avocado

For easy-to-follow step-by-step overnight water-soaked oats picture directions, click this link or any picture on this page.

Next up: Easy-to-make overnight water-soaked oats with fresh fruit, nut butter, yogurt & jam

January 15th, 2024

Blog, Empowerment, Salads & Salad Dressings

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Helping Seniors Empower Themselves to Make Life-Promoting Foods with AARP and Eastway Rec.

I’ve written this here before, and it’s entirely true; only you can empower yourself. Sure, others can help. But the best anyone else can do is provide you with the skills you need to empower yourself because empowerment comes from within. You have to feel it, own it. Once you do, ha!, you’re off to the races!

I’m now 65 1/2 years old, a legitimate senior citizen. And I’ve just started working with AARP to help fellow seniors learn the skills they need to empower themselves to make quality of life-promoting meals on their own though a program we call “Gotta’ Eat Smartly” at Eastway Rec. Center in Charlotte, NC.

To pull back a bit to the bigger picture, even though we’ve just begun, the program’s intent is to start locally, right at Eastway, to develop a proof of concept that connects directly with seniors and shows positive results. Those results include growing participation and seeing how seniors actually apply the skills they learn at our live in-person sessions and at home.

Once we do that, we can then replicate those same skill-providing techniques and use them more widely throughout central North Carolina and beyond. Like throwing a stone in a pond, it’s all about creating an enthusiastic splash that ripples out and connects with as many people as possible by providing seniors – and eventually others – with the skills they need to make life-promoting foods, foods that our bodies and mind need to function as effectively as possible, give us the foundation to live the best quality of life possible – and taste killer good!

Regarding flavor, the next two posts will show the two recipes we put together at Eastway last week: Instant 5-Ingredient Salad Dressing…