AIM Food: It's All in a Day

This month, your intrepid AIMers decided to do a progressive post - sort of like a progressive dinner, where you'd go to one person's house for an appetizer, than another's for a salad, and another's for the main course - but we are going with an entire day's worth of meals (because honestly none of us eat that much for dinner).  Breakfast starts with me, followed by lunch with Cammy, appetizer/vegetarian meal with Lynn, dinner with Lori, and dessert with Debby.  You can follow our posts in meal order, or just skip around...it's all for fun, but maybe you'll get some new meal ideas.

Of course, in my case, you know if I'm doing breakfast, I'm going to serve you my tried-and-true Greek yogurt with homemade granola and fresh strawberries.  Does it seem like I eat that all the time?  Well, I do. And the reason being, aside from liking it a lot, is that years ago when I read Dr. Oz's book You: On a Diet, he recommended having a tried-and-true meal so you don't have to figure out what to eat all the time.  This became my default meal for breakfast (and sometimes dinner, truth be told) and over five years later, it's still my favorite.

Here's what you'll get for breakfast at my house:

Fage nonfat Greek yogurt, fresh strawberries, a sprinkle of cinnamon, and some homemade granola.  Plus lots of hot coffee.

Hippie Granola
3 cups oats (I use Bob’s Red Mill extra thick)
1 cup coarsely chopped pecans
1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
3 tbsp packed brown sugar
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp (generous) salt
1/3 cup honey
2 tbsp canola oil

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.  Line rimmed jelly roll pan with parchment paper if using non-stick pan.  Mix dry ingredients in large bowl.  Stir honey and oil in saucepan over medium-low heat until smooth.  Pour honey mixture over oat mixture, toss.  Spread on prepared pan.  Bake for 25 minutes - no need to stir. Remove from oven – granola will crisp up within a few minutes.  Let dry, break up and store in an airtight container.

Now, go on over to Cammy's place and see what she's serving for lunch!

AIM: Adventures in Maintenance is Lynn, Lori, Debby, Shelley, and Cammy, former weight-loss bloggers who now write about life in maintenance. We formed AIM to work together to turn up the volume on the issues facing people in weight maintenance. We publish a post on the same topic on the first Monday of each month. Let us know if there is a topic you'd like us to address - here's the link to our Ask Us (almost) Anything form - click here and ask away!