Canadian Style Steel Cut Oat Maple Porridge & Peccans

Oh Canada, I think I loveeeee ya. I has been a week now since I'm back from maple syrup country, my second visit to British Colombia (Vancouver and Whistler) was a blessing. I had such a good time. I must say that I really like the Canadian quisine! It is very wholesome in my opinion with good grains, fresh fish, loads of dried fruits and nuts and of course that amazing Canadian maple syrup. 

For me this is porridge Canadian style to the max.. Everywhere I went and ordered porridge for breakfast this is what it looked like more or less with dried cranberries and raisins and of course that golden maple syrup.

Another feature that I found striking about porridge in Canada: everywhere I went they served steel cut oats instead of regular oatmeal or oatflakes. Which I love and what you can't really find in the Netherlands (yet).

Enjoy guys, i'm sure you will because this is a treat!

X Fleur

Ingredients:

• 40 gr steel cut oats (or use regular oatflakes / oatmeal)
• some water (see method)
• 150-200 ml unsweetened almond milk (or use soymilk, rice-coconutmilk. water)
• good pinch of cinnamon
• small hand dried cranberries
• small hand raisins
• small hand fresh forest berries (or blueberries)
• 30 gr peccans
• 1 tsp coconut oil
• 1 tblsp Canadian maple syrup
• small dollop of thick low fat (Greek) yoghurt

Method:

Put the steel cut oats in a bowl and cover with water. Put the bowl in the fridge and let the grains soak overnight (this will short the cooking time but it is not neccesary if you forgot to do this)

Next morning, drain the oats and give them a quick wash until the water runs clean. Add to a pan with the milk and let it cook on medium heat for about 10 minutes or until the oats are properly cooked (if you are using normal oats, prepare them how you normally would in the microwave or on the stove).

Melt the coconut oil (I use the microwave) and mix it with the peccans and 1 tsp of the maple syrup.

Roast the peccans on low to medium heat in a frying pan until golden (be careful they don't burn!) When they are done, take off the heat and let them cool (they get crispy when they cool and taste better than when eaten hot). (You could also roast them in the oven: about 10 minutes on 175 degrees C).

When the porridge is cooked, add a good pinch of cinnamon and the other 2 tsp of maple syrup.

Pour the porridge in a bowl and top with dried cranberries, raisins forest- or blueberries, peccans, small dot of thick low fat yoghurt and additional cinnamon.

Sunshine Curcuma Coconut & Cashew Oats

I think this is a super winter breakfast bowl. It is warming and healing (thank you curcuma) but also very uplifting and refreshing due to the beautiful yellow colour (again thank you curcuma) and slight acidity of the lemon, while remaining very sweet (thank you date).

Curcuma is one of the most healthy spices you can find. I add it after prepairing the porridge in order not too lose any nutrients by heating it. Be careful not too add too much or your porridge will taste bad though.

Sunshine in a bowl, enjoy.

X Fleur

Ingredients:

Porridge:

• 30 gr oats or oatflakes
• 150 ml coconut milk / rice-coconutmilk
• 1 tblsp unsweetened dried shredded coconut
• 1/4 tsp ground curcuma (tumeric)
• 1 date
• squeeze of lemon juice
• a bit of lemon zest of an organic lemon (optional)

Toppings:

• handfull of raspberries /strawberries /blueberries /blackberries or cherries
• 20 gr cashews
• few mint leaves, shredded
• hanfull of coconut flakes
• few spoons of either low fat Greek yoghurt / quark / coconut yoghurt  or coconut cream
  
  

Method:

Toast the cashews and coconut flakes in a dry griddle pan (no oil) on low heat (or use the oven: about 10 minutes on 175 degrees C)

Blend the coconut milk and date using a blender or cut the date in very small pieces. 

Prepare the oats as you normally would on the stove or microwave. I like to boil the milk and oats together in a pan on the stove until the porrdige is creamy.

Take of the heat or out of the microwave and stir through the ground curuma, shredded coconut, lemon juice and optional lemon zest

Top with toasted cashews, coconut flakes, berries, mint yoghurt and some additional shredded coconut

Date Caramel & Nutbutter Drizzled Baked Bananas

The baked breakfast banana is back! I eat this with some yoghurt for breakfast or on its own as a snack. It is quick, very sweettooth soothing and in my humble opinion, quite wholesome. Give it a go. 

For the date caramel drizzle you have to make a jar of my date dulce de leche first (don't worry it is a super quick recipe, only 2 neccesary ingredients are needed) or make an extra quick version by blending 1 Medjool date with enough water or plantbased milk, with optional addition of some salt and vanilla, to form a beautiful carmael sauce.

I do reccomend adding the toasted coconut flakes or some nuts to add some crunch to the bananas as the baking makes them very soft.

You could easily grill the bananas in a pan on low to medium heat to get the same results if you don't have an oven or if you don't have time to preheat the oven. Just to be safe to keep the bananas from breaking the oven works better for me.

If your nutbutter or date caramel is too creamy for drizzling, just add some water to make it more liquidy.

Smearing the bananas with a little bit of sugar before putting them in the oven prevents them from turning grey-ish and slightly disgusting looking. The maple syrup makes them beautiful golden coloured.

Enjoy!

X Fleur

Ingredients:

• 1 banana 
• 1 tsp melted coconut oil
• 1/2 tsp maple syrup / rice syrup / honey / date syrup / coconut palm sugar
• 1 tblsp natural almondbutter / peanutbutter / cashewbutter (no added fat/sugars)
• 1 tblsp date caramel*
• few mint leaves, shredded
• small handful of (toasted) coconut flakes (or some nuts, to add crunch)

*see my date dulce de leche recipe

Method:

Turn the oven on to 180-200 degrees C

Cut the banana in the length and take off the peel

Drizzle the banana halves with melted coconut oil and maple syrup (or other sweetener)

Put the bananas in the preheated oven for 10-15 minutes until soft and slightly golden brown coloured

Drizzle with nutbutter and date caramel

Sprinkle over shredded mint leaves and coconut flakes

Quick Date Dulce de Leche (Milk Caramel)

Dulce de leche, milk caramel. It's the first word that comes to mind when I think of Argentina. The Argentinians live for it. They put it in pastries, ice cream, cookies and yes they even spread it on bread for breakfast or afternoon tea (while I was there I put dulce de leche in my oatmeal). It's so good and so bad at the same time! Time for a healthy update. 

While traditional dulce de leche, made with just sugar and milk and sometimes a hint of vanilla, takes hours to boil in order for the caramel to form, this version is done in minutes. Of course, flavourwise it is not the same but believe me when I tell you that it is super good, very satisfying and reminds me of the good times dulce de leche and I shared in Argentina.

This is a super thing to have hanging around in your fridge so that you can use it whenever you are craving something sweet to put in your breakfast or bakings.

You might want to play with the amount of milk you add, for me 105 ml's was the perfect amount for the consistency that I like. I like thick dulce de leche. Easy spreadable but not too liquidy. I advise to start with about 100-105 ml's and add more until you reach the perfect thickness.

I made my dade dulce de leche with (unsweetened!) almond milk, but you can try it with any milk you want. Keep in mind that the type of milk you use affects the flavour of your caramel. I figure that by using coconut milk it will become more sweet etc. I will ley you know my findings with the next jar I make. Because ay dios mio, I will make this more often. That is for sure.

X Fleur

Ingredients:

• 6 Medjool dates
• 105 ml almond milk (or use coconut milk / water / unsweetened soy milk / rice-coconut milk)
• big pinch of salt (important!)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract or seeds of 1 vanilla bean (do not use vanilla essence)
• small squeeze of lemon juice (to taste)
• pinch of ground cinnamon (optional, not traditional but good)

Method:

Soak the dates in the milk. The longer you soak them, the softer they get and therefore it becomes more easy to blend them. I soaked them for a few hours.

Blend the dates, milk, salt, vanilla and lemon juice and optional cinnamon until smooth. Add more milk or water if neccesary to get the desired consistancy. 

Store in an airtight jar or container in the fridge, up to a few weeks.

Homemade Orange & Ginger Yoghurt

Ever since my trip to Argentina I am in love with jam. In Argentina, they have toasted bread and jam or marmelade ('tostadas con mermelada') for breakfast, and again around teatime. And well, after 2 months of living surrounded by Argentinians, it just got to me. 

French brand St. Dalfour has a series of amazing 100% natural jams which I highly reccomend. This weekend while doing grocery shopping I bought a jar of St. Dalfour's orange & ginger jam, which inspired me to make this breakky! If you cannot find yourself a decent orange jam without added sugar, just make it yourself! It's easy.

This is a beautiful breakfast recipe to ease the transition from summer to fall.

Enjoy!

x Fleur























Ingredients:

• 200 gr low fat Greek yoghurt / low fat quark
• zest of 1/2 (organic!) orange + the fruit, cut in little parts
• 1/2 cm fresh ginger (or use a few pinches of powdered ginger)
• pinch of cinnamon
• 20 gr peccans 
• spoon of orange ( & ginger) jam (go for one without added sugars or homemade, I'm using St. Dalfour orange & ginger jam)
• few mint leaves, shredded

Method:

Add orange zest and grated ginger to the yoghurt (both to taste) and give a good stir

Peel the orange, using a sharp, serrated knife and cut into parts. Squeeze the leftover peel over the yoghurt bowl to use up all of the orange juice that is left

Dress the yoghurt with orange parts, peccans, shredded mint, orange jam and cinnamon