Breakfast Grain Bowl

I’m not a chef by any stretch of the imagination. I’m not even a good cook. In reality I’m just a 61 year old guy who is a raging diabetic who refuses to eat vegetarian. I tried that stuff. Vegan- vegetarian for an entire year. But you know what ? I missed real food. I spent a fortune at grocery stores buying stuff that was considered vegan / vegetarian and nearly went broke in the process. I looked at all the ingredients labels and couldn’t pronounce half the things listed there. I’m not a trustee of modern chemistry and I came to a conclusion. I may or may not be right in my thinking. I’m just an aging old Marine artilleryman after all, so what the heck do I know ? I bought cookbooks and read articles until my eyes nearly crossed. What's with the trend to hate meat ? “Meat is murder; it's cruelty to animals.” If God didn't intend for men to eat animals, why did He make them from meat and give me these really cool canine teeth ? If vegetarian is so great, why do they sell vegetarian products in grocery stores and claim it tastes like meat ? Why do they want carrots to taste like hotdogs ? Some doctors are jumping on the bandwagon of not eating meat -- it's bad for you. Here..... have some of these juicy delicious crickets instead. I'm not a gecko or a trout, why would I eat a bug ?

I just made up my mind to simply eat what I could find that tasted good to me and I could understand the ingredients labels. I continued to cut back on my meats, but I still eat them in small quantities. No more fast foods, nothing processed anymore. And NO chemistry set required. My only requirement is that it must be certified organic and sustainable. So yeah. I'm now a label reader in the supermarkets.

This morning I decided I wanted something different for breakfast, but I didn’t know what exactly it would be. At this point I’m simply off the reservation and I don’t know what I’m doing. I don’t really care, either. I stood looking at the fridge with the door open and just started grabbing leftover containers.

I started off with about 3 ounces of ground chicken and threw it in my pan on the stove.

Unlike most people who just put leftovers in a container and stick them in the fridge until they turn into a garden of mold — I actually use mine up by throwing them together to create a sort of “fusion” of different foods. More like “confusion” actually, but there you have it.

I have numerous bags and containers of grains that I keep stored on hand. Oooohhhh ! Forbidden rice ! I haven’t tapped into that bag yet — so let’s see how it comes out.

Forbidden rice is so black colored that it’s actually a deep purple. It’s got a nutty flavor all on it’s own that’s actually pretty good.

Next thing I made was a cup of Tri-color quinoa in my InstantPot.

While the quinoa is cooking, I added some chopped bell peppers to the frying pan along with the chicken. Throw in some garlic, turmeric, black pepper, chili powder, adobe seasoning, and basically anything else that grabbed my attention in the spice cabinet.

Oh wait ! I forgot that I have some leftover pico-de-gallo in a container in the fridge. Pico has tomatoes and jalapeños in it, along with kernels of corn. So let’s throw that in the pan too and simmer on low heat with water added instead of oil. This way everything steams and cooks instead of fries.

At this point some of my readers are looking at me like I have grown a second head on my shoulders. What the heck is this mess ? I don’t know, and I have no idea what to call it either. It’s one scoop of forbidden rice and one scoop of colored quinoa. Another scoop of the stuff from the frying pan and all of it stirred together.

All I know for sure is that things like this keeps me full, fat, and happy for the most part. Is it just “too busy” with the flavors ? Probably is. But unlike most people who just put leftovers in a container and stick them in the fridge until they turn into a garden of mold — I actually use mine up by throwing them together to create a sort of “fusion” of different foods. More like “confusion” actually, but there you have it. As I've always said.... a man can't really survive with just a tin can and a microwave.

The most important thing is that none of what I had for breakfast this morning has a bunch of carbohydrates in it. Low glycemic, high in fiber, and hopefully doesn’t drive my blood sugars through the roof and cause me to get the needle out again for another round of insulin shots. Oh, the joys of getting old and fat. (Where’s the sarcasm font on my keyboard?)