Monday, August 15, 2011

Mid Morning Porridge

One of my most loved and challenging tasks throughout morning garden and playschool days is meal preparation.
For morning garden, the young children are served an organic snack; they bring their own beverage and cup.


During playschool, I serve 2 snacks and a hot lunch. All meals and snacks are included in 'tuition', so I work very hard to keep food costs within my budget. This doesn't mean I buy cheap, processed and empty calorie foods. 98% of the food I serve to the children is organic (always produce) and I never purchase anything containing food dyes. (which, by the way, *really* creep me out. I know I am not alone in this.)
Most of the food is also, consequently, meat free, since I am a near life long vegetarian. I do prepare organic meats for my family, but it doesn't fit into my playschool/garden meal budgets.
My "go-to" staple for snacks and meals is whole grains.

W grinding grain at The Waldorf School of Philadelphia

Grains are filling, nutritious, and very much within any budget.
Rudolf Steiner emphasized once, 'if everybody will eat one kind of grain per day, good health will be the result of it...'
In fact, and many of you may already know this, there is a "Whole Grain for each day of the week" that is followed in many Waldorf schools, and I am interested in beginning this rhythm in the coming season...

    Monday: Rice
    Tuesday: Barley
     Wednesday: Millet
     Thursday: Rye
      Friday: Oats
     Saturday: Corn
     Sunday: Wheat

To help me along, I might purchase these food plans from Little Acorn Learning...
Making grains ahead of time for the following days really helps me with cutting preparation time before the meal when the children are becoming hungry. I create dishes using grains by making them either sweet (by using maple syrup) or savory (a teaspoon of organic vegetable base). It's easy!
Lately, my favorite creation is Mango and Quinoa Porridge.


It is as good as is sounds, friends!
Quinoa is my favorite grain, as it is delicious and packs a serious protein punch for those growing bodies:)
But, wait! Why isn't it included in the weekly grain calendar?
Who knows?
But, it's surely included in mine:)

Recipe for Quinoa and Mango Porridge
1 c. of rinsed and prepared quinoa
4 tbsp of coconut milk (or other milk)
3 tsp of pure maple syrup
handful of diced mango and shredded coconut
a bit of vanilla

Simple. Mix all ingredients together and enjoy.

...more information about whole grains and the days of the week can be found in the Waldorf Kindergarten Snack Book

11 comments:

  1. I think quinoa wasn't included in the list because it's only become popular recently. : ) I think. Miss you!

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  2. Mmmm, sounds yummy! I love quinoa as well. You are reading my mind as I've become interested in varied grains lately. I want to look into purchasing in bulk and meal planning. I'm going to go check out the food plans you linked to.

    Thanks!

    Becca

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  3. That porridge looks delicious. We are gluten free (for health reasons) so yummy recipes for breakfast are a real treat to find. Right now we are on a grain free caveman diet (it's horrible even if the weight is coming off). I will have to try this next month. Thank you and take care.

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  4. I grew up wating quinoa as part of our diet, and I remember when I was breastfeeding C my mom and grandmo used to cook me lots of quinoa, it helps you to produce more milk..it really works!!
    Now I am following the tradition with my family, Just cooking once a week quinoa, so far they love it!
    Keep up the great job my friend : )
    Patty

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  5. I love this Rebecca! And the Waldorf Kindergarten Snack book is one of our favorites!

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  6. I was told by a Waldorf teacher (who prepares quinoa for her little ones) that it can be substituted for wheat in the rotation. Hope that helps!

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  7. Sounds delicious! I'll make it for my little ones! I'm allergic to 4 of the weekly grains and quinoa doesn't agree with me so I'll just have to have toast! :o(

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  8. That porridge sounds yummy! :-)

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  9. Lucky children to have such yummy nutricious meals prepared for them:)

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  10. Let's hear it for quinoa! I "subscribe and save" for my quinoa from Amazon...last time I checked it was cheaper per ounce than the quinoa at Wegmans, and it's organic too (Arrowhead Mills)!

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  11. We do the grain a day, too! Well, as best we can...there's a lot of rice and wheat all over the week, but I like the idea of emphasizing as different one each day. Yay, variety :)

    Whole grains deserve some serious cred - there is a lot of grain phobia these days (maybe especially where I live?) and folks forget how darned good for us they are! I eat lots of them and am most grateful :) Thanks for this educational and fun post! xoxo

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