Scrumptious THM Buckwheat for One with Sweet Cinnamon Swirl

(Dairy-free, oat-free, gluten-free, sugar free, THM E meal)

So, I'm still loving Trim Healthy Mama. There are a few negative blog posts about it right now but I haven't had a problem with tweaking things a bit to accomodate my ultra-purist traditional foods approach. Maybe because I was gluten, dairy and corn free for so many years, recipes containing ingredients I avoid don't faze me. I'm grateful to Trim Healthy Mama for helping me out of some dark woods and holding the vision of nourished and truly healthy mamas everywhere! 

All that said, it does take a little time to do the math and make traditional foods favorites THM certified. So here is a cheat sheet for an amazing breakfast that more or less fits the guidelines, AND a delicious sweet cinnamon recipe that you can use liberally without risking the unpleasantness that is too much stevia in one place at one time. ;)

I'm going to introduce you to one of my faves: hot cereal made from raw hulled buckwheat groats. It has been my most-often-appearing breakfast for years. It's full of protein (actually a seed not a grain I think, but don't quote me), packs a nutritional punch (B vitamins, niacin, thiamin, magneseum, phosphorous and manganese), and is of a most lovely chewy, fluffy texture. It is as easy as can be to prepare- just bring it to a boil and shut it off, and it will be ready for you when you get out of the shower. When ground in dry form in the blender, it yields my favorite type of gluten-free flour, nothing like what you buy in the store. 

If you've had a bad experience with it before, please don't panic. There are lots of ways to prepare it and many are dry, mealy or strong tasting. This recipe is none of those things. If you are dubious, just bring your 1/3 c measuring cup to your local bulk foods section and get enough to try this once. 

And as for the sweet cinnamon, when I started out on THM I used truvia- I made my own homemade. It was a good crutch for ditching sugar, but it brought back some corn-allergy symptoms for me so I discontinued it. I was So Sad to not have a workable way to sweeten foods. I like to cook off the hip, and that wasn't working for me with stevia. It's just so sweet it can be hard to manage. Even the little tiny scoop that comes with it is way too much for most things I make and causes a not-tasty experience. I also had trouble with stevia flash mobs, in which the sweetness in one treat would vary from one mouthful (unsweet) to another (whoa nelly, too sweet!). One night, when I couldn't sleep, it came to me. Eureka! I needed a new bulking agent!! Why not use food!? So sweet cinnamon swirl (and its fraternal twin, sweet chocolate swirl) was born.

I pray you find joy and balance in you life and nourishment, as I have. And I sure hope you'll enjoy this breakfast!

Scrumptious THM Buckwheat for One

1/3 c raw hulled buckwheat groats (not toasted kasha)

1 T chia seeds or almond meal

1 T gelatin

1 c water

1/4 t salt

1 t apple cider vinegar

Optional: 1/12 of an apple, finely chopped, or 2 T fresh cranberries whole or chopped (not dried or swetened please)

Before bed, combine all ingredients except fruit in a stainless steel or enamel pot. In the morning, stir once, add fruit, bring to a boil and turn off. Let sit at least 15 min. When serving, generously sprinkle on sweet cinnamon swirl to taste.

Sweet Cinnamon Swirl

1/2 c cinnamon

1/4 t powdered stevia (I used Now Better Stevia)

Combine in a small jar and shake well. Then, use as a topping, or in recipes that call for cinnamon that you also want to sweeten.

Nutritional Details 

15 g protein

38 g carbohydrate with apple / 37 g carbohydrate with cranberries / 36 g carbohydrate without fruit

4.8 g fat