Carrot Cake Overnight Oats with Lemon frosting

Carrot cake. I used to make this A LOT back in the days. You know, when I was still eating tons of sugar, butter and non-wholewheaty things. I used to make this according to the recipe of the Hummingbird Bakery in London. The recipe used sunflower oil instead of butter making it very moist (I hate drie cakes), loads of different spices, coconut, peccans and a beautiful fresh cream cheese frosting. It was always a giant hit with the family on birthdays!

This breakky is a homage to my favourite carrot cake, but than super healthy. I made it into an overnight oats recipe because lately, with winter coming to an end and #springiscoming I'm not really into warm porridge. I'm using a date to sweeten the porridge and to go on top but you can use raisins instead if you please, I'm just more into dates.

Warming spices, peccans and oats vs sweet coconut, lemon and yoghurt. It works believe me.

Enjoy guys!

X
Fleur

Servings: serves 1

Ingredients:

Porridge:

• 30 gr oats
• 150-200 ml rice-coconut milk
• 1 banana
• 1 date (or 1/2 date for blending and 1 tblsp raisins as topping)
• 1 medium sized carrot
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• pinch of ground ginger
• pinch of gingerbread spice
• pinch of ground cardemon
• small squeeze of lemon juice (to taste)
• 3 tblsp (15 gr) dried shredded coconut
• 1 tsp hempseeds (optional)
• 1 tsp linseeds (optional)

Lemon 'cream' frosting & toppings:

• 4 tblsp low fat quark / Greek yoghurt
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• additional dried coconut
• additional sprinkle of cinnamon
• 30 gr peccans
• 1 tblsp natural nutbutter

Method:

1. Grate the carrot using a boxgrater
2. In a bowl, mix together oats, grated carrot, milk, cinnamon, ginger, gingerbread spice, lemon juice and zest, dried coconut and optional hemp- and linseeds. Put the bowl in the fridge to set overnight or for at least a couple of hours.
3. Next morning blend the oat mixture smooth with 1/2 banana and the date. 
4. In another bowl, mix together the quark/yoghurt with the lemon juice and scoop on top of the oats.
5. Top the porridge with the lemon quark, peccans, the other banana half, nutbutter and sprinkle with cinnamon and dried coconut. 

Oven Pear-Oat soufflé with Ginger & Orange

There are many versions of baked oats on the internet but I was never very happy with them. I found them either to sugar loaded to serve as a healthy breakfast or simply not tasty enough to put in all the effort of making them. These soufflé baked oats started out as an experiment of my own and I'm super happy with it!! It is quite quick to make (except for the baking time...) and it uses just a date and 1/2 banana to sweeten it. 

When I have my quark with pear or apple, I always grate is instead of slicing it in little pieces, the way how you cut your food influences the 'taste'. This may sound strange, but believe me if you have never done this before just try it out next time you put apple or pear in your oats or yoghurt. It is so good!

The orange and ginger make these baked oats more interesting, just adding cinnamon is good as well, but a bit boring though. The peccans add nice bite to the soufflé and because of separating the egg and beating the whites it rises and become fluffy and airy. But the best part of this breakfast is the moment you take the soufflé out of the oven, throw a dollop of peanutbutter on top, and start digging in to it.

I tested this recipe twice (both times were good). Promise me you make this soufflé before winter is really over. Enjoy guys!

Love,

Fleur

Servings: serves 1

Time: 40 minutes

Prep time: 10 minutes
Oven time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

Soufflé:

• 30 gr oats
• 1 pear
• 1 egg (at room temperature)
• 1/2 banana
• 1 date
• 150 ml rice-coconut milk
• 1 tsp hempseeds (optional)
• 1 tsp linseeds (optional)
• 3 tblsp dried coconut (about 15 grams)
• zest of 1 organic orange
• 30 gr peccans, chopped roughly
• 1 tsp grated ginger (or 1/2 tsp ground ginger)
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• pinch of seasalt
• coconut oil (for greasing)
  
  Toppings:

• 1 tblsp natural nutbutter (no added sugar/oil)
• 4 scoops of Greek yoghurt / low fat quark
• 60 gr berries (I used blueberries)
• more grated coconut
• more cinnamon

Method:

1. Turn the oven to a 185 degrees C.
2. Seperate the egg, put the yolk in a mixing bowl, and use a machine to beat the egg white until firm peaks (adding a little salt makes the eggwhite more firm).
3. Add banana, date, milk and cinnamon to the yolk and use a blender to blend it smooth.
4. Grate the pear using a box grater, you can leave one piece intact to go on top for decoration if you please.
5. Add oats, optional hemp- and linseeds, grated orange zest, ginger, peccans and dried coconut to the yolk and combine it al together.
6. Now gently add the egg white foam to the oat mixture little by little until fully mixed together, don't overwhisk it!! The batter needs to stay light in order for the soufflé to rise nicely. You don't want to beat all the air out of the white.
7. Pop the batter in a oven-safe dish, greased with coconut oil and put it in the oven for about 30 minutes. The soufflé is ready when the top is nice golden brown and the center is not completely 'wet' anymore (the soufflé has a quite 'wet' texture but it should not be liquid when you take it out of the oven). Your oven might differ from mine so be sure to check your piece of art at around 25 minutes, and leave it in longer if it is not yet ready after 30 minutes.
8. When ready, take it out and serve it with low fat quark or Greek yoghurt, nutbutter, berries and a good extra sprinkling of dried coconut and cinnamon.

Japanese Honey & Soy glazed Sweet Potato

Daigaku imo, a Japanese dish that is usually eating during autumn. I only learned about it today but I fell in love with it right away. Sweet potato chunks covered in a sweet, salty and sticky glaze authentically made out of soy sauce and sugar ... need I say more? The sweet potato is slightly crisp on the outside, soft on the inside. The toasted sesame seeds add amazing nutty flavour.

 I slightly tweaked the recipe replacing the sugar for slightly healthier honey and I added miso and a little but of garlic and spice to the glaze, just because I luv it. I'm roasting the sweet potato in the oven, traditionally the potato is fried until crisp using a lot of oil. By using the oven instead you only need a teaspoon full, saving youself a lot of calories.

I'm using a purple  skinned, white meat sweet potato which is most often used for this recipe but of course you can use any sweet potato type you like.You can make the sweet potato on its own or add my suggested sides to create an entire Japanese lunch feast!

Sayōnara
X Fleur

Servings: serves 1

Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients;

Glazed sweet potato:

• 1 medium sized (purple) sweet potato
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 1 tsp good quality soy sauce
• 1/2 to 1 tsp honey
• 1 tsp rice vinegar
• 1 tsp miso
• 1 tblsp sesame seeds
• sprinkle of cayennepepper (to taste)
• sprinkle of garlic powder (to taste)
• seasalt

Suggested sides:

• 1/2 avocado
• 1 egg
• 2 slices of smoked salmon
• 50 gr edamame beans
• 1/2 broccoli
• 1 clove of garlic, chopped
• 1/4 red chili, chopped
• 1 tsp coconut oil (for frying)

Method:

Sweet potato:

1. Turn the oven on to a 200 degrees Celsius.
2.  Chop the sweet potato in large 2 cm chunks, leave the skin on!
3. Pop the sweet potato chunks in a bowl of water and let them stand for a few minutes, wash the parts to clear them of excess starch (the water is a bit turbid in the beginning, wash them until the water runs clear again) and pet them dry using a clean tea towel.
4. Toss the sweet potato with the sesame oil and a sprinkle of seasalt, spread them out evenly on a baking tray and pop them in the oven for 25 minutes, turn the parts half way.
5. In the meantime make the glaze: in a small bowl whisk together honey, rice vinegar, miso, soy sauce, cayenne pepper and garlic powder.
6. In a frying pan, toast the sesame seeds until golden brown and set aside.
7. Put the same pan back on a low fire and pour in the glaze, let it thicken for a few minutes and add the sweet potato chunks. Toss the pan until the parts are evenly coated in the glaze and look shiney and delicious. Sprinkle the sweet potato with the toasted sesame seeds.

Sides:

1. Put a frying pan on high heat and let it get really hot.
2. Add broccoli florets and grill them until they are slightly brown coloured. Put aside.
3. Turn down the heat, add coconut oil and add garlic and red chili, toss until golden and add to the broccoli.
4. Boil the egg, slice the avocado.
5. Serve the sweet potato with avocado, edamame beans, egg and grilled broccoli.

Italian overnight Pistachio Porridge with orange & thyme

This overnight oat recipe is fresh, light and green using some of Italies most beautiful products: grapes, oranges,  zucchini, honey and of course: pistachios!! 

By toasting the pistachios you bring out their nutty flavour even better. The grated zucchini adds great nutrients to your breakfast and it makes them oats super creamy, without ruining the flavour. Try it and be amazed.

X
Fleur

Servings: 1

Time: Prep. time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

Overnight oats:

• 1 ripe banana (the browner = the sweeter, the better!)
• 30 gr oats (about 4 tablespoons)
• 1/4 zucchini
• 150 ml rice-coconut milk
• 1 tablespoon pistachio butter*
• zest of 1 organic orange (or to taste)
• small bunch of fresh thyme
• 1 sprig of fresh rosemary (only use the leaves)

*you can buy pistachio butter in organic supermarkets, the internet or make it yourself! Just blend roasted pistachios until smooth with a pinch of seasalt and optional other flavours, like you make peanutbutter. Check out http://www.coffeeandquinoa.com/2013/04/homemade-pistachio-butter/.

Toppings:

• 30 gr pistachios
• 1 teaspoon good quality honey (optional)
• 100 gr green grapes (or use two green kiwi's or 1 grated pear)

Method:

Overnight oats:

1. Grate the zucchini using a box grater and mash the banana using a fork or blender until creamy.
2. Chop up the rosemary leaves and thyme as fine as you can.
3. Grate the orange and put the zest aside.
4. In a bowl mix together oats, milk, zucchini, smashed banana, herbs, orange zest and pistachio butter. Cover the bowl and put it in the fridge to set overnight or for at least a couple of hours, until the oats have soaked up the moisture of the milk and have become soft.
5. Next morning (or couple of hours later) toast the pistachios in an oven for about 5-7 minutes on 175degrees C or in a frying pan, until slightly golden from the outside and they smell delicious, and chop them roughly.
6. Wash and chop up the grapes (or green kiwi/pear).
7. Top your porridge with pitachios, grapes and optional drizzle of honey. Enjoy!

Creamy Cappuchino oats & Coffee glazed Peccans

Wiehieheee I am so excited about this recipe!!!! This is my second Italian porridge recipe I created for you inspired by my time in Milan. It is sweet and energizing and if you are a coffeejunk lover like I am you are going to love love love this porridge recipe. 

It took some time before I was happy about this recipe, my first intention and attempt was to make it into a warm porridge, but I think that the coffee flavour is done more justice in overnight oats. It makes it less heavy as well so that you could easily have this breakky during the summer times that are coming closer.

The cacao nibs give a nice bite, something to chew on along the way and dates go really well with coffee as they have such a sweet and caramel-like flavour to pair with the slightly bitter coffee aroma. While at the same time dates have amazing health benefits: they are packed with fibre, vitamins and minerals. Beat that Starbucks caramel frappuchino.

To be completely honest with you, the milk foam on top is more for fun and decoration, you won't miss it if you decide not to make it flavourwise, but I think it just looks super nice. I'm using coconut-rice milk because I wanted a nice sweet milk to sweeten my porridge and to go on top, but I don't like using the sugar sweetened almond and soy milk they sell in the supermarkets and I did not have time to make my own natural sweetned plantbased milk. Coconut-rice milk has a natural sweet flavour of its own and it gives OK foam, but of course you can use any milk you like. I would have loved to use regular cow's milk as this would have given an amaaazing foam to go on top but this plantbased milk is a healthier option.

Buon appetito!!

Ingredients:

Overnight porridge:

• 30 gr oats
• 1/4 zucchini (optional, but makes porridge creamy and is a good source of vitamins)
• 1 espresso (30 ml strong coffee)
• 100 ml rice-coconut milk
• 1 date
• 1 tblsp mixed hempseeds / linseeds / chiaseeds (optional)
• 1 tablespoon cacao nibs

Toppings:

• 120 gr strawberries / blueberries / raspberries
• 30 gr peccans 
• 1 teaspoon coconut oil
• pinch of seasalt
• 1/2 teaspoon instant coffee powder / powdered coffee
• 1 teaspoon pure maple syrup
• 100 ml rice-coconut milk (optional, you only use a couple of tablespoons of milk froth for your porridge, see method)
• additional sprinkle of cinnamon

-> This breakfast has 11/2 of your daily two pieces of fruit. You could cut the 1/2 leftover banana in slices and have it with your porridge alingside the strawberries or you could have for example a kiwi, 2 apricots or prumes later on the day.

Method:

1. (Prep at night). Grate the zucchini using a box grater.
2. In a bowl, mix together oats, linseeds, hempseeds, cinnamon, grated zucchini, milk, espresso and add the date so that it can soak in the moisture and turn soft. Cover the bowl and put it in the fridge to soak overnight or for at least 4 hours (the oats need to soak up the moisture and turn soft).
3. In the morning: turn on the oven to a 175 degrees C.
4. Melt the coconut oil and combine it with the maple syrup, instant espresso powder and a pinch of seasalt. Stir the peccans through this mixture and make sure they are all covered evenly with the coffee glaze.
5. Pop the nuts in the oven for about 6-8 minutes, make sure they don't burn!
6. Scoop out the date and a few tablespoons of soaked oats and blend this until smooth together with the banana half, pop the mixture back in the bowl and stir until combined evenely. (You could blend the complete mixture turning it into a sort of cream, which isalso nice but you lose the porridge texture this way, and a lot of fibre!)
7. Stir the cacao nibs through the oat mixture, and pop your overnight oats in a nice serving bowl or deep plate.
8. Froth the milk until you have a nice foam and gently scoop a few spoons of foam on top of your oats. Use the rest of the warm coconut-rice milk to make yourself a nice cappuchino to go with your breakfast!
9. Top the porridge with the glazed peccans and fresh strawberries and an additional sprinkle of cinnamon. 

Savoury Italian Pesto Porridge

Ciao amici! This recipe came to me inspired by my Milano adventure! This is the second time I tried savoury oats and even though you might find savoury oats odd and a bit scary, I'd really reccomend you give it a go! For me it's the perfect winter comfort food. And a nice variation to salads. This porridge is full of all the good Italian flavours that I love so much, the zucchini makes the porridge super creamy and the pinenuts and crispy garlic pieces add a nice bite! 

I'm using super good pesto Genovese that I brought from Italy. Good pesto's are a little more expensive but for me the taste is worth it. Also, the cheaper pesto's are usually a bit unhealthy as they have added sugar and use cheese, nuts and oil of inferior quality.

The same goes for the olive oil, only add it to top your porridge if it's a good quality one, this not only adds amazing flavour but also has many health benefits!

Try it out and enjoy!

Love,

Fleur

Time: 

Prep. time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons pinenuts
• 30 gr oats (approx. 4 tablespoons)
• approx. 150-200 ml water (depending on how thick you like your oatmeal)
• 1/4 zucchini
• 6 medium sized mushrooms
• 2 sprigs of fresh rosemary (you can use dried as well)
• small bunch of fresh thyme (you can use dried, I prefer fresh)
• 1 clove of garlic
• 1 tablespoon good quality pesto (or homemade)
• few cherry tomatoes
• 2 sundried tomatoes
• 20 gr freshly grated parmezan cheese 
• fresh basil leaves 
• 1 teaspoon coconut oil
• 1 teaspoon colled press extra virgin oil
• seasalt & pepper (to taste)

Method:

1. Put a frying pan on low to medium heat (no need to add oil, nuts have enough fat of themselves) and toss in your pinenuts, stir occasionally and fry them until golden brown, keep an eye on them while you continue cooking and make sure they don't burn!
2. Grate the zucchini using a box grater
3. Chop up the thyme, rosemary (leaves only!) and garlic as fine as you can.
4. Chop or break up the mushrooms in quarters.
5. Put another frying pan to medium heat and add coconut oil.
6. Add the garlic and about 1/4 of the  thyme and rosemary and gently stir until the garlic has turned light golden and you get a wonderful smell from the herbs (don't turn the fire to high, herbs and garlic burn easily!).
7. Add the mushrooms to the frying pan and mix them with the herbs and garlic, add salt and pepper. Fry the mushies until golden and set aside.
8. Put a saucepan to medium heat and add oats, water and the rest of the herbs. Let it cook softly for a few minutes, stirring occasionally until the oats have cooked and your porridge is thick and creamy. 
9. Take it of the heat and stirr through the pesto and parmezan cheese, add freshly ground pepper to taste.
10. Pour your porridge in a bowl and topp with cherry tomatoes, sundried tomatoes, toasted pinenuts, mushrooms and optional extra chopped up basil leaves and extra virgin olive oil.