Turkish Bread Topped With Smoked Salmon and Hummus. (Serves 2)

Ingredients:

2 slices Turkish bread, sliced down the middle to form 2 squares.

2 Tabspns hummus

4 smoked salmon slices

1 avocado

1 medium tomato lettuce,

a few leaves

1 cucumber

chopped fresh dill

chopped fresh chives

2 teaspns capers

1 teaspn virgin olive oil

2 lemon wedges

salt and pepper

Method:

Toast Turkish bread if desired. Spread generous serve of hummus onto each slice. Top with all other salad ingredients, then smoked salmon slices. Garnish with fresh herbs and capers. Squeeze lemon juice over the top. Drizzle with a little virgin olive oil. Flavor with salt and pepper if desired.

Oily fish such as salmon is consumed on a regular basis on the Mediterranean Diet. The omega-3’s that are contained in these types of fish are excellent for heart health.

Mediterranean Style Omelet. (2 generous serves, or 4 with toast.)

Ingredients:

1 medium tomato,

diced 1 bell pepper,

any color 1/4 cup pitted Kalamata olives,

chopped 2 cloves garlic

2 green onions,chopped

1 teaspn extra virgin olive oil

1 teaspn lemon juice

1 Tabspn fresh parsley, chopped

2 Tabspn skim milk

4 eggs

1 Tabspn fresh herbs, chopped,

select whatever you prefer, eg: chives, oregano, rosemary, or basil

2 oz feta cheese, crumbled

Method:

Combine tomato, bell pepper, olives, garlic, green onions, olive oil, lemon juice, and parsley in a small bowl. Let sit for a few minutes. Combine eggs, milk, and herbs in another bowl, and whisk. Heat non-stick fry pan or specific omelet pan, and add half the combined egg mix. Reduce heat, cook for 1 or 2 minutes. When omelet has browned around the edges and the top has lost most of its moisture, add half of the vegetable mix, to one side only of the omelet. (Much like cutting a circle in 2.) Add half the feta cheese. Gently fold omelet over to cover the cheese and vegetables, creating a half circle.Cover the pan and cook for about another minute. Turn off heat and allow omelet to sit a little longer until warmed through. Then gently slide onto plate.Repeat above instructions with remaining ingredients.

Can be served with Turkish bread drizzled with extra virgin olive oil, or a high grain crusty bread. (Remember traditional Mediterranean recipes would not be using butter on the toast or bread.)

Conclusion.

These easy Mediterranean recipes use Mediterranean foods that are easily available in most parts of the world. The fresh vegetables and herbs are typical ingredients for Mediterranean food recipes and will allow you a certain leeway in substituting your own favorites.Don’t forget, that one of the reasons that the Mediterranean diet is so healthy is that Mediterranean recipes use extra virgin olive oil. This is the olive oil made from the first pressing of the olives and contains far more health bestowing anti-oxidants than the following pressings which result in virgin olive oil and olive oil.

Hope you enjoy these breakfast meal ideas for the Mediterranean Diet. We think you will agree it is the tastiest diet around!

The intention of tapering is to sustain an athletes peak level of fitness over a long period of time. Inigo Mujika and Sabino Madilla, two researchers responsible for much of the recent scientific evidence on the subject, insist that tapering provides physiological and psychological benefits. Their research cited changes in the balance of key hormones which benefits the athlete with better moods, reduced fatigue, increased alertness and a feeling of less effort in performance.

Understanding how to taper correctly is vital to avoid ‘detraining’ your athlete. Mujika and Madilla in their work have detailed the following guideline for tapering the right way.

The Goal of Tapering – The aim of tapering should be to minimize cumulative fatigue, as opposed to achieving any particular fitness gain.

Training Intensity – It is absolutely imperative to maintain levels of intensity in training. Even where training quantity is reduced, training quality must be sustained.

Training Volume – Reduce training volume, with a focus on the most non-essential and low intensity activities. The scale of reduction can range from 40%-80% depending on the athlete and the sport. Training Regularity – Maintaining high levels of training frequency, roughly 80%, appears to be optimal to avoid detraining an elite level athlete. With more novice athletes, reductions of up to 30-50% is less detrimental.

Taper Duration – The duration of a taper truly must be customized per athlete. Tapers as short as 4 days and as long as a month have been observed to have positive effects. A coach or trainer must understand his/her athletes fitness peaks in order to identify an optimal tapering period.

The following are the four types of taper described by Mujika and Mudilla, with the progressive tapers boasting the most positive results:

Linear Taper – A progressive, ramp like, linear reduction in training load

Step Taper – A non-progressive, step like, reduction in training load.

Exponential Taper (slow decay) – A slow non-linear decline in training load

Exponential Taper (fast decay) – A fast steep decline in training load

For an athlete seeking optimal performance, correct application of tapering is important. There may be a bit of trial and error in determining the most beneficial tapering period, but once achieved, effective tapering has been shown to enhance an athletes performance in competition up to 6%.

Read more at http://www.sports-fitness-tips.com

Thing You Need to Know about Living a Healthy Lifestyle #1 The Beginning

The first thing you need to do is meet with your doctor. Have him give you a physical so you can find out how much weight you need to lose, if any, and what might be the best way to go about losing it. If your doctor tells you to lose 25 pounds, then lose 25 pounds, don’t strive to lose 40. Listen to the doctor. He didn’t spend a decade in school so that you could ignore him.

Thing You Need to Know about Living a Healthy Lifestyle #2 The Middle

This is the hard part and will take you the longest to complete. Your doctor probably told you the best way to live healthy is through diet and exercise. Well, he’s right, but he probably didn’t tell you that there are a number of regimens to choose from. You’ll need to do some research to find out which one best suits you.

Once you’ve picked out a healthy lifestyle regimen, you need to stick to it. You also need to reprogram the way you think. Research which foods are good for you and which ones are bad. You may want to consider investing in some cook books that provide healthy recipes. This will allow you to plan your meals and keep them inventive so that you don’t find yourself getting bored and wondering down to the corner for a hamburger and French fries.

You’re also going to want to become inventive and create ways of helping you avoid cravings during moments of weakness, and trust me, there will be plenty of them. You might consider taking up a hobby that occupies your down time so that you can turn your mind from your hunger. You should also strongly consider creating some kind of reward program for yourself to reward you for your gains. Perhaps allow yourself your favorite snack food for every five pounds you lose or every successful week that you stick to your healthy lifestyle.

Thing You Need to Know about Living a Healthy Lifestyle #3 The End

Living healthy is a lifetime commitment. If you want to live long and maintain an attractive body then you have to continue eating healthy and exercising regularly. Continue to reward yourself for a job well done each week that you stick with your healthy lifestyle and always seek new ways to keep being healthy interesting.

And there you have it. Everything you need to know about living healthy in two minutes. It won’t be easy, but you can do it. People do it all of the time. You just never hear about them because it’s more lucrative to the diet industry if you don’t. Living healthy is not temporary. It’s a decision you make and stick with for the rest of your life, but it is one decision that you will never regret.

If you are determined to maintain a healthy diet throughout this party season, there are ways you can stick with your weight loss program without feeling left out. Nothing is worse than passing on your favorite holiday treats. After all, they only come around once a year, right? Instead of missing out, simply change the way you approach the temptations. Here’s how…

Healthy Habit Maintenance Tip #1: Use A Smaller Plate. Sometimes it is not what is on a persons plate that makes them gain weight, but rather the big portion they give themselves. One tradition you can do without is stuffing yourself until your belt buckle bursts. Portion control is key to losing weight no matter what time of year you make healthy eating goals.

Instead of giving up your favorite holiday foods, simply use a smaller plate and eat less. Wait at least two hours before you go back for seconds and sip on a few cups of hot herbal tea in the meantime to keep you feeling satisfied. Losing weight does not have to be the chore that most people make it out to be.

Healthy Habit Maintenance Tip #2: Alter Recipes. If you are the person in your family who is doing all of the cooking, you have the upper hand. Using low fat ingredients like egg substitute, applesauce for oil, reduced-fat cheeses and fat-free sour cream will go virtually unnoticed by you and your guests. The more colorful you can make your plate with fruits and vegetables, the healthier you will eat.

Just because your grandmother used to drown everything in fatty butter and gravy does not mean it is a tradition you need to carry on with. Just remember not to snack all day long while you are cooking and then eat a huge meal. Many times it is the cooks who gain more weight than the customers because they do not realize their fingers are constantly grabbing for samples.

Healthy Habit Maintenance Tip #3: Eat Before You Go. Do not arrive at parties on an empty stomach unless you want to end up overeating. Many times when you attend a party, the food is different from what you normally eat and you will be tempted to sample everything new that you see. Going to a holiday party empty stomach is like letting a child loose in a candy store.

Drink a healthy protein shake before you go, or a nice big glass of ice water. There is no harm at trying new things, but making sure your tank is half full before you go will allow you to make decisions based on your stomach and not on your eyes. You will probably still want to sample that 5 cheese and salsa dip, but you won’t want to eat half the bowl.

Healthy Habit Maintenance Tip #4: Keep Yourself Active. One of the key components to good health is exercise. We all know it and it is more important over the holidays than any other time of year. Most people promise to join a gym after the holidays, but the problem with that is how they live during the holidays. They eat more than usual and when judgement day comes, they have their work cut out for them.

You can find ways of moving around more without going to the gym before New Years Resolution time comes around. Offer to do the dishes after Thanksgiving instead of plopping yourself down on a recliner in front of the TV. Grab a long lost relative during a party and walk around the block. The more you move around, the more calories you will burn.

Healthy Habit Maintenance Tip #5: Forgive yourself. If you do surrender to temptation, forgive yourself and get back on track the next day. One overindulgent evening will not destroy all the previous days that you maintained your healthy habits. Holidays are usually more about one day though, so make sure that you do not make a habit of spending every evening at a different party filling up on junk food.

The key to losing weight and maintaining an ideal weight is leading a healthy lifestyle. This means you are making healthy choices about what you eat and you are keeping yourself active with daily exercise. It also means that you should not give up the things you love just because you are afraid to gain a pound. Tomorrow is always a new day, but the choices you make the night before can dictate how your new day will go for you.

A diet that is too healthy means eating only a limited selection of foods specifically for their purported health properties. The lady who refused the Easter egg may be one who thinks that she will live happy and healthy in a body free from ‘bad food’ – she may even snack continually on carrots for better eyesight. Obsessive behaviour is one reason why people may go to extremes in their healthy eating. Other reasons include a health scare (at risk for osteoporosis), or an excuse to overindulge (red wine and dark chocolate). Many healthy eating extremes are also triggered by the concept of health-crazing.

The evidence of health-crazing can be seen on checkout conveyor belts; punnets of blueberries, cans of salmon, and boxes of green tea. ‘So what?’ you might say, ‘What is the difference between the familiar food pyramid and the blurb on a box of tea about the powers of antioxidants?’ Basically, health-crazing is when diet is focused on one food rather than a total approach to health through a balanced diet. Health-crazing isn’t necessarily bad unless it influences the fundamental balance of nutrients within the body.

Even those of us who aren’t strict with everything in their diet may tend to favour one food. Over a period of about eight months, Suzie* ate three bran muffins each day, and a bowl of bran cereal for breakfast. Sure, she was ‘regular’ but then she was too regular, causing a rectal tear, pain and lethargy. Bran also reduces iron uptake; an explanation for her low haemoglobin level. The solution? She cut down on the bran, and increased so-called ‘stodge’ foods like fats. But what drives the craze that made Suzie fixate on bran? Or an office colleague gulp down their morning blueberry smoothie? The answer is money. Why else would someone steal an entire blueberry field in Canada after the health craze for blueberries reached fever pitch?

The recipe for the smoothie may have come from a women’s magazine, a TV show, or any number of advertisements that bombard us with the latest in food with properties to burn fat, give youth, and arouse libido. But how can you tell if this advice is even genuine?

Remember our office colleague at the beginning of the article? Eventually we got her to eat the Easter egg – we used the magic words: ‘Scientists say it’s good for you’. But who are these scientists and can we believe them? There are ways to recognise whether advice used in heath-crazing is genuine.

++ vague source of information – common phrases are mentioned, such as ‘scientists say’ or ‘it has been proven’. There is no reference to who the scientists are, and whether they are from public or private enterprise.

++the entertainment angle – current affairs shows are notorious for their thinly researched stories of magic water and fat loss foods as they know that these topics have sure-fire ratings.

++ marketing angle/money to be made. For example, advertorials about the benefits of high calcium intake from a company that just happens to sell calcium enriched milk.

++ sourced from a thorough study – peer reviewed, trialled and the product/thoery is used over a period of time.

++ endorsed – if a government body also endorses scientific findings then this adds credibility to the discovery. But be wary of endorsement that sounds important but is really just a front for commercial organisations eg the ‘Tobacco Information Service’ run by the Tobacco Merchants Association.

++ able to be researched for yourself – look for a source, such as in a medical journal. Then go and read the full article. Look for how the study was conducted, how many participants, what was the error margin, etc.

Does all this reading and double-checking sound like a lot of effort? Who do we believe? Thankfully there is an answer to a truly healthy diet and it doesn’t involve hard work or sacrifice; it’s about getting the balance right.

The Recommended Daily Intake – RDI – is a proven scientific analysis of all the nutrients the body needs to function at optimal level. Each macronutrient (eg carbohydrate), vitamin (eg Vitamin C) and mineral (Eg Calcium) has a measurement that the body must intake each day, ranging from micrograms to grams. But how do you know if you’re meeting this level, or exceeding it?

Read the labels on the packaging, for example, a slice of typical wholemeal and grain bread has 7% of the RDI for iron. Be aware of which nutrients have an upper limit that must not be exceeded or else adverse health effects may arise. For example, any more than five carrots a day (Vitamin A Carotene) will cause skin to tinge orange. Fat soluble Vitamin A Retinol found in liver and fortified milk, in the short term can cause headaches and vomiting and in the longer term, hair loss and liver damage if consumed in greater quantities than 3000 milligrams a day, which is approx three times the RDI usually caused by exceeding dosages in vitamin supplements.

Being too healthy can be harmful to your health unless you follow genuine advice within scope of the RDI. The key to a truly healthy diet is balance; never ever eat too much of one thing, and allow some indulgences like Easter eggs. After all, the Easter bunny eats carrots, but he eats chocolate too.

* Name changed.

And if you doubt the facts in I’ve written, then good, I’ve proved my point.

Go read more about where I got the information:

+++Carrots turning skin orange: www.dietitician.com/vitamina.html

+++Too much Vitamin A retinol: Department of Health and Ageing and Ministry of Health, 2006, Nutrient Reference Values for Australia and New Zealand Executive Summary, Commonwealth of Australia. PDF From www.nhmrc.gov.au

+++Stealing a Blueberry farm: http://bluecrabbouevard.com, Sep 21 2006

+++What happens when you overdose on vitamins: Note, can you trust these sources?: LifeForce Hospitals, 1999, ‘Vitamin Overdose’ `http://chemo.net/newpage35.htm 1999 and

Changing Shape, ‘Vitamin, mineral, chart’, www.changingshape.com/resources/references/vmchart.asp

Tobacco Merchants Association: www.tma/org tobacco

Typical bread iron quantity: Burgen bread, www.burgen.co.nz

Lowering your cholesterol levels is one of the easiest ways to reduce your risk of heart disease, so it looks like coconuts are back on the menu! This tasty tropical treat is still high in calories, so don’t overdo it. Instead, buy a bag of shredded coconut and have just a handful as a mid-morning snack or mixed into your trail mix. Try to avoid a sudden spike in your blood sugar by making sure you consume bagged coconut that is free of added sweeteners. If you’d like to try cooking with coconut milk, try a delicious grilled coconut shrimp or coconut-crusted chicken on a balmy summer evening for a change of pace. If you’re really in the coconut tropical mood, go ahead and plant a palm tree, buy a set of tiki torches, have a Caribbean cookout, because you’ll be jam’in to a healthier you!

Recipe (serves 2)Coconut Crusted Shrimp

20 medium shrimp

1 tsp. garlic and herb seasoning

1/2 tsp. black pepper

3/4 cup flour

2 medium eggs, well-beaten

1 cup shredded coconut

Directions:

Preheat oven to temperature 400°F. Spray a large baking sheet with nonstick spray. Sprinkle garlic and herb seasoning and pepper evenly over the shrimp. Place the flour, egg, and coconut in three small separate bowls. Dip shrimp into the egg, then the flour, then the egg again, and then into the coconut. Place shrimp on the baking sheet at least 1 inch apart. Bake for about 12-15 minutes, or until they are crisp and golden brown.

Serving suggestion: dip in mango sauce.

1.    Beneficial effects of virgin coconut oil on lipid parameters and in vitro LDL oxidation. K.G.Nevin and T. Rajamohan, Clinical Biochemistry 37,2004;830-835).Recipe is adapted from Chefs.com

Vegetarian cooking is not difficult. The goal here is to remember that varying degrees of exclusion of animal products from your preferred diet sometimes makes it difficult to lay hands on certain proteins. Most plants, legumes, and grains contain at least some amino acids that make the complete proteins found in animal products. Mixing and matching foods is a great way to be sure that vegetarians get all amino acids. Your job is made easier by the fact that most vegetarians are not vegans, which means that many include some variant of animal products into their diets.

These proteins are excellent supplements to a vegetarian dish of their favor. Textured vegetable protein (TVP), and soy proteins such as those found in tofu and Boca also make vegetarian cooking much easier. Most of these proteins do not have much flavor of their own, so they will blend in nicely with whatever dish you are cooking. When it comes to vegetables and grains, just remember the basics: the more colorful the vegetable, the more nutrients it has, and whole grains make better nutrition than their bleached counterparts. Legumes are excellent resources, but be sure to cook them well as legumes are often difficult to digest for most people.
Many of the same rules for vegetarian cooking also apply for diabetic cooking. Instead of animal products and protein, the issue here is sugar. When most people think of sugar, they think of candy and other sweets. However, there are other foods that contain those simple sugars that often overload the system of diabetics. So, the goal for preparing diabetic dishes is to avoid the temptation to use these sugars in excess. Try using whole grains instead of bleached ones such as white bread and pastas.

Feel free to serve dessert, but try using a sugar substitute and stick to whole grain flour. Sugar substitutes are a must for consideration when serving drinks such as sweet tea and soda. Fruit is a possibility, but do not expect your diabetic guest to eat a whole bowl full. Even so, keep some sugary snacks and juices on hand for blood sugar emergencies when blood sugar has dipped well below healthy levels.

Light cooking recipes presents the least hassle because most westerners are beginning to appreciate its benefits as a means of disease prevention. The trick to light cooking is simple. Stay away from heavy meats such as meat with a lot of fat on it or red meat. Try substituting meat with TVP or tofu when you can get away with it. Lightly fry foods in cooking spray rather than butter or oil, and use foods that will offer the best nutrition possible.

The goal of healthy cooking for special diets is to fill the belly with enriching foods that promote good health. Of equal importance is to find creative ways to meet dietary needs without much fuss.

Here are a few tips and ideas for doing just that:

Think outside the lunch box. Don’t just create a plain old boring square sandwich every day. Try a lettuce wrap, a tortilla roll-up, a pita, or a sandwich made with a cookie cutter or whole grain waffles (use some of the organic frozen ones) for the bread. Try various types of bread to create unique sandwiches that will be not only healthy but fun and exciting for your child to eat. Presentation is big with kids. They love to eat foods that look interesting.

Another outside the box idea is to use small plastic containers or Bento boxes to create a fun, visually appealing meal. Try veggies and bread sticks with yogurt dips or sauces. What about slices of meat and a few different cheeses with crackers? You can create your own meal that is much more healthy than the pre-packaged ones that you can buy in grocery stores. There are several websites that teach Bento – the Japanese art of take out – that have fun ideas for kid’s lunches. Try browsing these for inspiration.

Be big on variety. Offer your child lots of options. This will help them to find something that they like. Include fruit, bread, a veggie, a protein source, and a drink. Try to alternate them as well instead of sending an apple daily, sending an apple one day, an orange the next, grapes the next and then swap it up. For their drinks, try a smoothie. These are easy to make and fun to experiment with.
Get the kids involved. Kids are creative and savvy moms know they are more likely to eat something they have chosen for themselves. They can even find fun ways to package the items to make them more appealing. Let them use cookie cutters to create playful sandwiches or cuts of cheese. Have fun together browsing cookbooks and websites creating new ideas for future lunches. Let them help you do some of the work in the kitchen preparing their lunch box for the next day.

Use your leftovers. Who says lunch has to be a cold sandwich and an apple? If your child loved last night’s dinner and you have leftovers send them for your child’s lunch. At least you know they will eat it. It saves you some work too.
These are just a few ways to make healthy lunches that your child will eat. You’ll also feel certain that they are getting the nutrition they need to stay focused at school.

1. Make a great low fat mayonnaise by combining one teaspoon of Dijon mustard or satay sauce with a low fat yogurt.

2. Don’t skip meals. Skipping meals tricks the body into slowing down your metabolism in an attempt to conserve calories during a period where limited fats and fuel are available. Eating increases the metabolism.

3. Stuff vegetables like capsicum and zucchini with flavored fillings or minced chicken, white meat or fish. These are healthy and have very low levels of fat.

4. Use pita bread roll ups or wraps with salad fillings.

5. Eight hours after waking up, our metabolism slows down and that’s why 30 minutes of exercise before dinner will increase your metabolism for about two to three hours. This produces an increase in fat calories burned – even hours after the work out is over.

6. Good cooking and healthy eating begins with learning about nutrition and how to prepare healthy recipes.

7. Learn how to make your families favorite recipes and make sure that fats, salt, and sugar are cut out as much as possible. Substitute non-fat yogurt for cream, stir-fry without oil and use herbs and spices instead of salt to taste.

8. Consult your doctor before beginning an exercise or weight loss program.

9. Slowly eat and chew each bite during meals. This naturally causes you to eat more slowly and since it takes 20 minutes or more for your brain to realize that it’s full, you will eat less.

10. Complete three small meals and two snacks everyday instead of one or two huge meals. This prevents you from getting to hungry and over-eating.

11. Use chicken stock when stir-frying. This will cut down on hidden fat.

12. As much as possible do not remove the skins of fruits and vegetables since most of the nutrients are concentrated on the underside of the skin.

13. Warm water with just a squeeze of lemon juice before breakfast get the metabolism going for the day, this also help prevent constipation and is excellent for your skin.

14. Look for a weight loss “buddy,” club, or support friends. This will motivate you to stay on and enjoy your weight loss program.

15. Though it’s hard at first, try not eating 3 hours or more before bedtime.

16. Chilli helps to speed up metabolism – even the milder varieties.

17. Try making omelettes without adding the yolks! A dramatic decrease in fat.

18. Remove fat by dropping ice cubes into the baking tray. Fat will stick to the ice cubes.

19. Drinking hot water instead of cold water in the morning can increase the speed of your metabolism and burn more calories.

20. Eat before you go food shopping and always prepare a shopping list.

There you have it – a great list of weight loss tips that, if followed, can help keep you on track for your individual weight loss plan. To me the most important items is #14 – the buddy system. Losing weight and sticking to a weight loss plan is just so much easier with a good support system. That’s why I recommend an online support. They are there for you every step of the way. From delivered meals to personalized exercise plans they help and guide you every step of the way to a new and healthier you.

This is a scene that is replayed in most homes each weekday morning. Despite the fact that most people are guilty of rushing through breakfast or just missing it altogether, we could not deny the fact that breakfast is the most important meal for the day, especially for our kids. After a long period of fasting through the night, it is the nutrition that we get at breakfast that will get us through our day. So yes, we do have to eat like a King.

To address the need for nutrition at breakfast, we now have a wide choice of healthy breakfast meals to choose from. We have cereals of different flavors, instant oats, instant waffles, instant everything. Even eggs now come in tetra-packages, ready to be poured onto a hot skillet for instant scrambled eggs. But then again, we can only have so much cereal and instant foods before we grow tired of it.
Luckily, we now have the option to wake up to the smell of breakfast, with a breakfast fit for a King waiting for us in the kitchen. How? Crock Pot breakfasts! When you know you have absolutely no time to make anything in the morning and you feel like you just cannot have another bowl of cereal or instant oats the next day, it’s time to take out your crock pot and whip up a breakfast casserole the night before. It will be warm, ready and waiting the moment you wake up.

Breakfast Suggestions

•Southwest Crock Pot Breakfast- With your Crock Pot you could choose to have a Southwest-themed breakfast with peppers, chilies and cheese and a whole lot of sausage. Prepare all the ingredients you want with your favorite Southwest-inspired recipes and layer them in your Crock Pot. Plug the Crock Pot in just before bed time and have sour cream or fresh salsa ready in the fridge. A hearty and hot Southwest Crock Pot breakfast could be just what you need to pick you up in the morning.

•Crock Pot Cobbler- Check out your fresh food section at the grocery or your favorite fruit market for the freshest fruits in season. Apples, peaches and pears make for great, warm, breakfast cobblers using your Crock Pot. You can use just one kind of fruit or mix it up! Combine fruit slices or chunks with granola and cinnamon, place in your crock pot and drizzle with a honey-butter mixture. The cobbler will cook through the night and will greet you with its sweet smell in the morning.

Making breakfast using a Crock Pot will actually be more than just a convenience for some. In areas where electric current charges are lower at night, Crock Pot cooking will also allow you to save up on costs.

So go ahead, eat breakfast like a king. There’s nothing better to get you through the day.