almond milk

Nutrient Dense Porridge

Let me start out by saying my motivation for this post was not the great breakfast I just had. It was the thought behind it; my general philosophy about food. If we are meant to be eating less (portion control) how are we meant to get all the nutrients in? By thinking. And being creative. Yes, you need a little education, but it’s really NOT hard. Here’s my example…

I’m not necessarily a porridge fan. I have found I usually digest it too quickly and can feel hungry again within 3 hours. This I put down to the fact that in cooking the oats, I’m removing some of the workload that my digestive system would otherwise be lumbered with, in breaking down the food. Now, in Winter it gets pretty hard chowing down on my usual bircher brekky: eating or drinking cold makes me cold from the inside, so I turn back to porridge (it’s the quickest thing to make before I start work, especially in the Thermomix). The question is, how to make it last longer?

Simple: add protein and/or healthy fats and/or fibre. Most of us know – or have surely heard by now – that fibre, protein & fats are satiating. Fibre & protein usually because of their ‘complexity’, fats because of their density. So my go-to porridge recipe is now a mix of oats and protein rich quinoa flakes & chia seeds, with whatever milk I’m feeling on the day. It has made a huge difference.

So my point is: get a little educated & be creative. Learn something about REAL foods and the nutrients they contain, especially those with the highest quantities (this is why I believe vegetables should be the base of the Food Pyramid: no other food group contains same the array & density as this plant matter) and it will be easy to find ways to slot them into your meals without having to eat them in ‘excess’. (And for the record, even though I don’t throw the word into my recipes, ‘organic’ choices are definitely first option.)food fervour

So with that, here’s the recipe for a (sizeable) single serve of this morning’s apple cinnamon & chia porridge:

½ grated apple, 35gm oats, 5-10gms quinoa flakes, 5gms (1 head teaspoon chia) seeds, 90gm water, 150gm milk of choice (today I used almond) 1 teaspoon cinnamon, coconut sugar to taste.

Stovetop cooks place apple, oats, quinoa & chia, water & milk into saucepan over a medium-low heat, reducing to simmer as the mixture begins to bubble. you’ll need to stir continuously. I honestly have forgotten how long it takes to make porridge on the stove top, but I would think it would be about 8-10 minutes, similar to the Thermomix cooking time.

Thermomixers you can ‘grate’ your apple in the bowl for 5 secs speed 5, or Turbo a couple of times. Then add the oats, quinoa, chia, water & milk, cooking for 8 mins, 90ºC reverse speed 2.

Serve immediately, stirring through the cinnamon with any extra milk you may or may not like to add and top with coconut sugar to taste *not TOO much*!

Coeliacs would evidently replace oats altogether, using 40-45gm quinoa flakes however since quinoa (& especially chia) will require more fluid you may need to almost double the fluid quantities. Stove-top cooks will be able to gauge the mixture thickening, Thermomix users won’t. Trial & error. That’s what it’s all about!

The Decadent Porridge

It’s my birthday. And I’m starting the day’s celebrations (after putting on a washload & cleaning some windows!) with a dish I usually reserve for ‘pudding’. It’s a simple quinoa porridge, which literally takes MINUTES to make. It’s the addition of the cacao powder that makes it feel more like a dessert, although there’s absolutely NO reason cacao needs to be associated only with sweets. Unlike your processed chocolates or cocoa powder, its nutrient content is much greater – notably its mineral density, in particular potassium & magnesium. Well, that’s what I always tell myself when I add it to anything!food fervour

All you need to do for a single serve, is throw ¼ cup of quinoa flakes into a saucepan over a low heat, with approximately ⅔ cup of your choice of milk (I usually use rice milk, but opted for almond today. Cow’s milk just takes a fraction longer to heat up) and be ready to stir vigorously as the milk approaches boiling because it will bubble and splatter! It really doesn’t need too long at all, perhaps 1-2 minutes; it will thicken quickly.

Remove from the heat, fold through 2-3 teaspoons cacao powder (to your taste) and your choice of sweetener (I use maple syrup or coconut sugar, and only 1-2 teaspoons at that) and serve.

You might want to add extra milk if it ends up thicker than you’d prefer. This morning I added strawberries & a little dollop of Greek yoghurt (which I don’t think worked so well :/ ) but for normally, for ‘dessert’, I’d eat it straight out of the saucepan!!!

 

Mum’s Kifflitzers Re-Invented

I have an admission to make: until I got my Thermomix, I’d never made real custard. I’d either bought it ready-made or, worse, cooked up the powdered stuff. Yes, shocking I know. But, I learnt from my mum….monkey see, monkey do…

So when cleaning out my pantry one Sunday recently, I found a container of custard powder hiding at the back, and pulled it out to throw away. But then I had a ‘Moment’.

food fervour

I love my Mum’s handwriting…

I recalled some biscuits mum used to make that I loved: “Kifflitzers”. Custard powder was a ‘key’ ingredient. She’d given me the recipe (hand written of course) so as a tribute to her, I decided to make some before I ditched the processed rubbish for good. It’s kind of poetic and yet ironic: I’ll never see my mum again, and I’ll never buy custard powder again, so I’ll actually never make these biscuits according to this recipe again either. Even though they tasted SO GOOD…

My ‘obligatory’ changes to her original recipe, included opting for gluten free flour and vegan-friendly coconut oil instead of butter, and they turned out entirely different to Mum’s biccies, but still ridiculously more-ish. I have to add however, that some custard powders are NOT gluten free so check the ingredient list on the product packaging carefully.

My ingredient list included ⅔ cup Buckwheat flour, 125gm almond meal, ½ cup coconut sugar, 2 tablespoons custard powder, 90gms coconut oil (liquefied), 1 teaspoon vanilla (I used my homemade essence), approx 45gm almond milk.

The method is VERY simple. It takes less time than the oven takes to pre-heat (to 180ºC, by the way)! Because I’m a (proud) Thermomix owner, I freshly milled most of the dry ingredients first: placing the (⅔ cup) Buckwheat seeds and coconut sugar in together (approximately 10 seconds, Speed 9) then setting aside, so I could mill the (125gm) almonds into meal. I added the buckwheat & sugar mix back in to the Thermomix bowl, with the custard powder and mixed on speed 4 for a few seconds. For Non-Thermies, basically all you have to do is (sift &) mix all your dry ingredients together.food fervour

Add the vanilla, coconut oil & milk and mix well (Thermies 30 seconds, Speed 4-5) then mould spoonfuls onto oven trays lined with baking paper, with a little space between as they will flatten & spread during the cooking process. Bake for 10-20 minutes, depending upon your oven. Because of the high oil content, they will remain soft & ‘chewy’ even after cooling. Deeelish!

 

Baby Kale & Custard Apple Smoothie

Feeling like a green smoothie just now, I opened up the fridge and found half of a custard apple staring back at me. “Hmmm” I thought, “I haven’t tried anything with one of these little fellows yet”.

food fervourWell-ripened custard apples are pretty sweet, so chances are you won’t need to add sweeteners to this smoothie. Well, I didn’t.

I threw a big handful of some baby kale leaves (a first time purchase at the farmer’s markets last week) in my Magic Bullet, peeled and de-seeded the custard apple half and added it with one super-heaped teaspoon of my homemade vanilla bean paste, a good dash of ground cinnamon, nutmeg and about a cup of unsweetened almond milk.

Because custard apple has a slightly grainy texture I made sure I blended it well. Still a trace of ‘graininess’ but the taste trumped that. Quick, easy, yum.

So, Pancakes…

food fervour

Cinnamon Buckwheat Pancakes with Vanilla Brazil Nut Cream, Cacao Avocado Mousse & Berries

They are the quintessential sweet tooth’s Sunday breakfast. I always thought they were too much work…until about a year ago. When I got my little ‘Magic Bullet’ blender, the elbow-grease factor became zilch. And really, in terms of ingredients, they have never been a difficult option.

I am not coeliac, nor am I even gluten intolerant, but I have discovered enough about the stuff to want to cut it from my diet. In the event that the information I have is incorrect, I choose to avoid it for no other reason than the amount it bloats me (and you really have to give the stuff up, then consume it again to notice the difference).

food fervour

Coconut pancake FAIL

So my pancakes of choice are made with buckwheat flour (now that I have my Thermomix, I’ll be milling my own, yippee!) but I have experimented with a few different kinds. Coconut doesn’t work so well for me (see pic) but quinoa is nice, if a little bitter. There is so much fun to be had, mucking around with a basic pancake recipe!

This Sunday just gone I created the gourmet feast you saw above, based on cinnamon buckwheat pancakes. If anyone wants to spoil their mother this Sunday (Mother’s Day) you may want to pay attention as I divulge recipes for three parts of the meal, over the next few days. Just to confuse, I’ll start here with the pancakes, even though they’re last likely to be the last thing you’ll create.

Pancakes really are too easy. The ratio is pretty much 1:1:1. One cup of SR flour, one egg & one cup of milk. And that will feed two people (since I’m only one I halve the amounts – which makes the pancakes a little more ‘eggy’ – but I don’t mind, more protein for me!) So my buckwheat pancakes demand thus:

1 cup buckwheat flour, 1 teaspoon bicarb soda, 1 egg, 1 cup milk (I used almond this time) Oh and one hefty teaspoon of cinnamon….since cinnamon pancakes

Pop your frypan on a medium-low heat, drop in some coconut oil and blend the pancake ingredients well. Drop a small amount of batter in first, to make your ‘tester’.  If that bubbles, turns easily and browns nicely, go for your life with the rest! Stack on one plate or if you’re ‘particular’ about them remaining really warm, you’ll have needed to preheat your oven on a low temp so you can shove them in there as you cook. (Thermie peeps can chuck them in a ThermoServer…ain’t nuthin’ goin’ cold in that thing!)