Hi everyone!

This past weekend, we had four different parties to go to in two days! One of the parties we went to was a henna party for a bride friend of ours who is getting married in a month. Henna parties are much more popular in Indian and some African cultures than they are in Egypt (where we’re from and where the bride was from too), and they are even less popular in Western culture. Most modern Egyptian brides either don’t have a henna party, or if they do, they might have a very informal one a few weeks before their wedding, rather than having a specific emphasis on henna shortly before the event. We took some portrait photos of the couple and several shots of the henna. Here’s one of the photos we took of the artwork that henna artist Bridget Punsalang drew on the bride-to-be’s hand:

Here’s a shot of all the pretty decorated hands:

I just had to share these pictures – I love the designs!

These two pictures above show the henna paste right after it was applied. It needs to stay on for a while until it dries and starts to flake off. When it flakes off, it leaves an orange color, but then darkens by the next day (next day pics below!). It takes that long for the henna to give the intended appearance, which is supposed to last for about a week before it starts to fade.

This morning, I was trying to figure out what to have for breakfast. As I mentioned in a previous breakfast post, I usually make a hearty breakfast of either eggs, beans, or oatmeal. Of the three, oatmeal is the one we eat most frequently (4-5 days of the week). So, I figured it’s time for a post about oatmeal! When Sherif and I moved to Chicago, we bought packets of organic oatmeal. For the first 5 months, we were eating this stuff every day. It took us 15 minutes in total to make breakfast for both of us.

Now, for the past 2 months, we have been getting creative with our oatmeal by trying different ingredient combinations. So far, we have come up with four or five tasty recipes, and today, I’d like to share with you our most recent original recipe: ginger oatmeal! We were really pleased with the results!

Of course, we had to take a couple of fun shots to show off my henna art… These actually show the final result, which you can’t see in the previous pictures:

Here’s what you need to make enough ginger oatmeal for a hungry couple at breakfast:

• 1 cup old fashioned organic rolled oats, soaked overnight
• 1 cup filtered water
• 3/4 to 1 cup organic whole milk from grass-fed cows, or unsweetened coconut milk
• pinch of  sea salt
• shavings of fresh organic ginger root (I used a grater to grate about 2 inches of fresh ginger)
• 4-5 organic ginger snaps, preferably homemade (in this case, I used a packaged kind – albeit organic – that I regretted buying later)
• 1 and 1/2 tablespoon of flaxseed oil
• 1 tablespoon of raw honey
• 1/3 cup of walnuts
• sprinkle of organic cinnamon

Here are the solid ingredients, haha.

Here’s how to make it in under 10 minutes:

1. Add 1 cup water and 3/4 to 1 cup milk to a pot with 1 cup of soaked oats.
2. Bring to a boil. Add a pinch of salt, and lower heat to medium-low.
3. Keep pot covered and stir occasionally for 5 minutes.
4. Using a grater, grate about 2 inches of fresh ginger root into the oatmeal, and stir.
5. Turn off heat, add 1 tablespoon of raw honey, and stir.
6. Break walnuts into smaller pieces and crumble 4-5 ginger snaps into oatmeal, and stir.
7. Add 1 and 1/2 tablespoons of flaxseed oil, and stir.
8. Add a pinch of cinnamon.

Not only was this oatmeal delicious, it was also one of the most nutritious variations we’ve made so far. Ginger has an astounding number of health benefits including gastrointestinal relief, relief of nausea during pregnancy, anti-inflammatory effects due to “very potent anti-inflammatory compounds called gingerols,” protection against colorectal cancer, anti-tumor effects on cancer cells, and immune boosting action (WH Foods).

Have you ever had ginger oatmeal before? What are your favorite oatmeal recipes?