Josie Porter, a dietitian and cookbook author, has a trick to stop her go-to breakfast of oats, protein-rich yogurt, and high-fiber toppings from getting boring: she takes inspiration from her favorite desserts.
“They’re the ingredients I pretty much use mostly every day, most weeks. And then, I’ll just switch up how I use them,” Porter, the author of “How Not To Take Supplements,” told Business Insider.
She ends up with a nourishing breakfast that she spends more time enjoying than preparing. “My breakfasts are one of the things that I don’t want to spend too much mental energy thinking about,” she said.
Her approach helps her hit her nutrition goals of eating at least 20 grams of protein and at least six grams of fiber every meal. “I don’t aim for anything too rigid other than that,” she said.
Porter shared her favorite combinations of her tried-and-true breakfast.
Core ingredients
Jumbo oats form the base of Porter’s breakfast. She prefers them to more finely milled oats, like instant oats, because they are less processed and have a lower glycemic index. “So they’re going to give you a nice steady release of blood sugar and release of energy,” she said.
She uses strained Greek yogurt or Skyr, an Icelandic dairy product, because straining results in more protein per bite than other yogurts. She sometimes adds protein powder if she knows her meals later in the day will be lacking.
Then she adds a handful of seeds and a handful of nuts, “I try and have as many different ones as possible in the morning,” she said. She also has one to two portions of fruit.
Ingredients:
- Jumbo oats
- Strained Greek yogurt or Skyr
- Milk (cow or plant-based)
- Protein powder (optional)
- Nuts
- Seeds
- Fruit
Oats, 4 ways
Depending on how much time she has and what she’s in the mood for, Porter has four different ways of preparing her oats.
- Oatmeal (Cook on the stove top for 5 minutes, serve with yogurt on top)
- Overnight oats (Mix the ingredients together and leave in the fridge overnight)
- Single serve granola (Cook the dry ingredients for 10 minutes in the air fryer)
- Baked oats (Blend the ingredients together, then bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Serve with yogurt and fruit)
Flavor combos
Drawing inspiration from her favorite sweet treats, Porter flavors her oats with ingredients like cocoa powder, vanilla essence, and cream cheese to create delicious flavor profiles.
- Chocolate orange oats (cocoa powder and orange zest)
- Carrot cake granola (finely grated carrot, raisins, pecans, walnuts, coconut flakes, ground cinnamon, ground ginger, grated nutmeg, orange zest, maple syrup, and vanilla extract)
- Banana bread oats (mashed banana, vanilla essence, chopped walnuts or pecans, cinnamon, and dark chocolate chips)
- Guinness cake oat (non-alcoholic Guinness, cocoa powder, vanilla essence, and cream cheese)
- Cherry Bakewell tart granola (almond extract, flaked almonds, frozen cherries, chia seeds, and maple syrup)
- Sticky toffee pudding oats (dates, mashed banana, and pecans)
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