First I measure the brown rice and flax seen into my clean coffee grinder. I give it a few pulses to get most of the rice chopped up into smaller more quickly cookable bits. The flax seed also gets ground up in the process. Pour these two things into the steamer bowl. Then measure everything else into the bowl of the rice steamer. I add the water, then cut up the apple into small pieces while the steamer starts working and then throw them in, since the apples need less time to cook. I also use my kitchen shears to cut up the prunes into smaller pieces. I steam it for 1 to 1 1/4 hours. For extra flavor, I add a cinnamon stick while it's cooking, and have tried a splash of vanilla, too.
I am not a 'morning person' so I've tried getting this ready the night before by adding the dry ingredients to the bowl and putting the prepared fruit in the fridge the night before. Then I add the water and fruit to the bowl in the morning. It works, but I don't usually get up on a weekday an hour and a half before leaving for work. The other way I make this work for me is to make it on a Saturday morning, then take one serving for that day, and put the rest in the fridge. This gives me five work days of a quick breakfast. just microwave for a minute, add milk, and eat. I've used skim, almond and prepared powdered milk on this. All are good, and add their own punch to the nutrition facts.
I could lower the calorie count by taking out the prunes (although the number given there seems awfully high - I'll have to check that out.) NOTE - I did check it out - There are actually 80 calories in 4 prunes, so 1/6 of that is closer to 14 calories. Thus, the actual calorie count is 222 calories per serving - much closer to my goal of 200 calories per serving.
If I add a half cup of almond milk, the total calorie count for this bowl of cereal is 252. If I add a half cup of skim milk, the calorie count is 267. I add a glass of water, to make all that fiber digestible, and a cup of coffee to wake me up. This holds me through a morning, and is pretty inexpensive as well.
I could prune down calories further by switching my wheat quantities, (making it 1/2 cup bran & 1/4 cup bulgar) but that's an experiment for the next time I try it.
