Hello fellow lifters, runners, yogis and health enthusiasts! Welcome to my third blog post in this sports nutrition series. I am Masha from Masha’s Jars and I will be your source of food tips and tricks for the week. Every day I’m providing you with 2 healthy recipes and all related nutrition info! Today, I will share the best oatmeal ideas and my secret tofu recipe. Check out my last posts and follow @mashasjars on Instagram for more delicious inspiration!

Breakfast: Grandmother’s oatmeal

Oatmeal sounds like a boring, old-fashioned breakfast porridge with no taste at all. But the contrary is true: your grandmother may have been serving you the best pre-workout food in history. Being a gluten-free whole grain, oats are a great source of important vitamins, minerals, fibre and antioxidants. They add a good portion of carbs and protein to your meal. But don’t get deceived by commercial “easy” oats and try a little harder to create a yummy fulfilling breakfast!

Oatmeal

INGREDIENTS

  • Oat flakes: I prefer old-fashioned or “rolled” oats for their health benefits and texture
  • 400ml milk: try full milk or any plant-based milk. My favourite is roasted almond milk.
  • Dash of salt: try to use non-ionized salt 
  • 1 tablespoon almonds or other nuts (I used pecan)
  • 1 teaspoon seeds: hemp, chia or flax are my favourites
  • 1 handful of frozen berries
  • If you have a sweet tooth, 1 teaspoon of honey can be a nice addition
  • boiling pan
  • frying pan
  • bowl
  • spoon

 

INSTRUCTIONS

Stay away from the microwave and make your oatmeal in the authentic way: poor the milk in a pan and heat up over medium to high heat. Full milk is recommended for its valuable nutrition, which gets very much lost in semi-skimmed milk. If you’re trying to reduce your fat intake, mix 200ml full milk with 200ml water. Or just use a plant-based alternative!

You don’t have to wait for the milk to boil, so just add 1 to 1,5 glass of oats to the pan and stir well. Add a bit of salt to create a balanced flavour palette.

Stir continuously while the oats are boiling and turn off the heat when your porridge reaches a consistency you like. I like mine more liquid, while others prefer a firm mass.

Meanwhile, put your frying pan over high heat and add the almonds when hot. Immediately turn the fire lower (6 on a scale of 9) and flip the nuts after a couple of minutes. Almonds are extra tasty when roasted on both sides! If you do this 1 day in advance, they taste even better.

Pour the oatmeal in a bowl and add frozen berries. They will slowly melt while you’re eating.

When your almonds are roasted, add them as well. Preferably cooled off, cause then they’re tastier. Add the seeds and if you want, some honey. Just make sure that your porridge is not boiling hot, so it doesn’t break down the nutrients in the honey.

 

Voila, you just made yourself a very filling, natural and healthy breakfast!

What’s so cool about it? You start off with a pretty plain-flavoured oat, you can add anything you want and make your own unique creation. Most nuts add healthy fats, protein ànd carbs, and so do most seeds! Don’t overdo it on the seeds though, they are so packed of nutrients you should stick with 1 teaspoon max. Berries add vitamins and some even burn calories! Adding other fruit can help topping up your energy and reaction speed. Last but not least: feel free to add any spices you like! Cinnamon brings great taste, while turmeric (kurkuma) has many proven health benefits (and I truly experience them!).

Lunch: Tofu kebabs with peanut sauce

Tofu can be so loved, yet so hated. It has no flavour on its own and the chewy texture doesn’t appeal to many of us. The trick is to really make it in the correct way! I am very sure that if you try out my recipe, you will start to like tofu. It has so much protein and vitamins, it’s really the perfect meat-substitute!

The trick to achieving good flavour is twofold: marinating and frying. Let your tofu sit in a marinade for one night to achieve the best results, then fry it on every side till brown or in a fryer. The crispness will convince you.

Kebab with peanutsauce

INGREDIENTS – 2 portions

  • 1 pack of tofu, usually about 300g
  • 400ml soy sauce, try to ask for a good one in an Asian store, they really know best
  • 1 tablespoon honey, preferably runny
  • 1 teaspoon sambal (or other spicy sauce)
  • juice of 1 small lemon
  • 3 tablespoons peanut butter
  • 1 glass of basmati rice per portion
  • 1 whole broccoli

 

INSTRUCTIONS

The night before or the morning of eating this meal, we make the marinade. But first, we need to remove excess liquids from the tofu by pressing it. 

Open the pack of tofu, remove the liquids and take a couple of paper towels to wrap the block of tofu. Set it aside and put a heavy object on it, like some books or a pan with water.

While the tofu dries, look for a wide and flat Tupperware box or simply a couple of ziplock bags. Fill it/them with the soy sauce, honey, sambal and lemon and mix well. This creates a strong mass of salty, sweet, spicy and sour flavours to give a kick to your tofu. 

Take the tofu out of the paper towels and cut it into cubes of 1x1x1 cm or slightly bigger. Add the cubes to the marinade, make sure they are all covered, and put the box or bags in the fridge overnight. Let it sit for 8 to 24 hours, but be careful not to make it too strong. I prefer to keep it under 10 hours.

The day of, we will fry the tofu and make the peanut sauce.

Heat up some olive oil in a large frying pan or get your (air)fryer started. Get your box or bags out of the fridge and without throwing away the marinade, pick out the cubes of tofu one by one, putting it in the oil. 

Fry until one side looks brown and crispy, then turn all cubes over to another side. Repeat until every side is fried and crispy. Here, it’s very important to be precise and patient to achieve good texture with all sides fried evenly. 

Meanwhile cut the broccoli into bite-sized pieces and steam it to a hardness you like. Boil some rice to add carbs to the dish.

Now, take some kebab sticks and put the tofu cubes on them. I like to add some broccoli in-between te tofu and I would perhaps even throw it in the oven for 20 minutes if I have the time.

For the peanut sauce, we will be using the leftover marinade! Yay recycling. 

Poor the marinade left in your box or bags into a bowl and add the peanut butter. Mix well and you’re done!

Serve the kebabs with a side of rice and some extra broccoli and serve the peanut sauce in a bowl to share. Have fun!

 

Now, why is this such a healthy dish, especially if you work out a lot? 

Well, tofu is a great source of protein and contains all of the essential amino acids your body needs. It also provides fats, carbs, and a wide variety of vitamins and minerals. Furthermore, peanut butter is an amazing food for sportspeople, containing lots of healthy fats that slow down sugar absorption, carbs, and protein! Using broccoli adds even more vitamins and protein, and rice adds carbs that fill up your glycogen levels.