Photo from: http://www.maangchi.com/

This is a Korean dish that we have been enjoying for breakfast lately. My husband usually has the pleasure of making it and I eat it promptly without thinking of taking a picture first, so I have to link to other bloggers for photos.

We use brown rice, shredded carrots, spinach, bean sprouts, corn and ground chicken and eggs to make our bibimbap, but you can add whatever you want and it will taste good in my opinion. 🙂 We like to use lots of gochujang, which is a Korean Red Pepper paste. Sunchang makes a good Gochujang paste and Annie Chun’s also has a milder sauce that is readily available in stores.

Annie Chun's Gochujang

Here are some great bibimbap recipes. It’s a great way to get a healthy start to your day with carbs, veggies and protein. 🙂

•  Bibimbap recipe – Smoky Wok
• Vegetarian Bibimbap -Saveur
• Vegetarian Korean Dolsot Bibimbap – TheKitchn

I ate a little bit bad last night. I admit it. I had a piece of lasagna, some ice cream and about 3 glasses of wine. It was NYE and I couldn’t say no to bad for me eats. This morning I was determined to make my first meal of 2012 healthy. I love Isreali style breakfasts and I had enough veggies in the fridge to make it work. 😉

A classic Israeli breakfast usually contains a salad of finely chopped fresh vegetables, scrambled or fried eggs, a soft cheese or yogurt and fresh bread. I was too groggy this morning to finely chop most of the vegetable aside from the cucumber, but here you have it my  “California-style” version:

• pickled tomato
• slices of avocado
• grape tomatoes
• chopped cucumber
• baby carrots
• sugar snap peas
• jicama
• Wasa crispbread
• 2 fried eggs
• Greek yogurt mixed with garlic.

Very filling and very good for you!

Chia seeds have been making a bit of a comeback lately. My mom used to drink these seeds back in Mexico as a kid. Grandma would give this to all her kids, especially when they were sick. When you soak chia seeds in water, they take on a unique gelatinous consistency. This gel will actually help to keep you hydrated, which is great before or after a hefty workout…or if you are sick with fever. Chia seeds are also the richest in Omega-3’s and help with satiety, since they absorb water. They are also a decent egg substitute in vegan diets.

I got some inspiration for this recipe from a Chia Seed Pudding recipe at whatscookinggoodlooking.com. I really liked the recipe, but thought it would be fun to make into a flan. 🙂

Makes 1 six ounce flan (Make as many as desired)

• 6-oz ramekin or custard cup
• 1 1/2 – 2 heaping tablespoons of chia seeds
• 4-5 oz of Vanilla Almond or Coconut milk – sweetened
• raw honey (or sweetened condensed milk)
• cinnamon, to taste

Add honey to the bottom of your ramekin/cup. In a separate bowl, whisk milk, chia seeds, and cinnamon together until seeds are separated and not clumpy. Pour mixture into ramekin. dust with cinnamon. Cover with saran wrap and put in refrigerator for 4 hours  or overnight (preferable). The seeds will soak up with milk and take on a custard-like consistency. Just run a knife around the ramekin to loosen and serve or just eat it straight from the cup. 🙂

This is also great with raisins added. Next time I’m going to add some cocoa powder and see how it comes out.