Protein Pumpkin-Pie Porridge with Puffed Pumpkinseeds & Pecans

Protein Pumpkin Pie Porridge with Puffed Pumpkinseeds and maple roasted Pecans. I guess I just broke the record for recipe with most P's. Congrats to me. 

No seriously my friends, this has been one of the best oatmeals I have had in ma life.

By adding pumpkin to your breakfast you're not only eating veggies for breakfast (mum will be so proud of you) but you are also getting the most beautiful oatmeal flavour wise (it's sweet) and structure wise (it's fluffy).

The egg white binds the porridge together and adds protein. The puffed pumpkin seeds add great texture and I love their roasted flavour. The maple roasted peccans? Get them far away.
They are so yummy they are not safe around me.

Your toppings can also add to the protein level: by choosing a (low fat) high protein type of yoghurt such as Skyr, Greek yoghurt or quark for example. Flavourwise it is not neccesary to add the mixed hemp- / lin- / chiseeds but again: these add protein just like the pumpkinseeds, nutbutter and roasted peccans.

Happy cooking guys.

Love,

Fleur

Ingredients:

 Porridge:

• 30 gr oats 
• 1 egg white 
• 1/2 - 1 date
• 75-100 ml coconut milk
• 100 gr cooked / roasted pumpkin 
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp cinnamom
• 1/4 tsp pumpkin spice / gingerbread spice
• 1 tblsp (mixed) hempseeds / chiaseeds / linseeds (optional)

Puffed Pumpkinseeds:

• handful of pumpkinseeds

Candied pecans:

• 20 gr pecans
• 2 tsp maple syrup
• 1/2 tsp coconut oil

Add-ons:

• 2 scoops of low fat Greek yogurt / Skyr / low fat quark / coconut yogurt
• handful toasted coconut chips
• 1 tblsp all natural  almond butter / peanut butter

Method:

Add the pumpkin seeds to a dry (no oil) frying pan on medium heat. Bake the seeds for about 1-2 minutes until you hear them pop. Take of the heat and let them cool down (roasting the pumpkin seeds gives an amazing flavour!)

To make the candied pecans: add pecans and coconut oil in a frying pan. Roast them for about 10 minutes on low heat until golden and beautiful roasted. (Make sure the nuts are covered equally with coconut oil when it has melted).

Take the nuts of the heat and add maple syrup to the frying pan. Shake it around until all the nuts are coated with the syrup. Let the nuts cool on a clean surface (not in the pan or they will burn).

To make the porridge: blend the milk together with the date and cooked/roasted pumpkin. 

Add to a pan together with the oats, cinnamon, pumpkin spice, vanilla and optional seeds. Bring to a soft boil stirring regularly and let it bubble for about 1-2 minutes.

When nearly done: add the egg white and keep stirring for a minute more until the egg has mixed completely with the oats and has cooked through (you should see bits of cooked egg white, no more see through egg). You should have a beautiful thick and fluffy oatmeal.

Pour in a bowl or a deep plate and top with Skyr (or other low fat / high protein yogurt), puffed pumpkinseeds, maple pecans and optional toasted coconut flakes and nutbutter. 

Almondmilk Almond Porridge with Almondbutter, Almond Yoghurt & Maple Almonds

Oh my god. I have had the idea for an almond themed porridge in my head for a very long time. It started simple, with normal oat-based porridge cooked in almond milk as a base, topped with some nice simple almonds. But the idea grew bigger and bigger and turned out into this EXTREME ALMOND PORRIDGE galore.

I love it.

By boiling the almond flour you get a beautiful fluffy porridge structure, the egg white helps to bind all of it together, improves the thick fluffness and adds protein. It looks exactly like normal oatmeal!

You can add any fruit you like but if you make this porridge in winter time, add persimmon! They are big, juicy and cheap at the moment and go great with all of the almond flavours that are going on.

Almond butter and those addicting maple roasted almonds are a great topping but in my opinion the real stars that make this dish are the almond yoghurt and almond extract:

I'm using Abbot Kinneys newest addition: Almond Start. It's yoghurt that is made from actual almonds (wait, what, how?! Made by combining ground almonds, water and yoghurt cultures and bacteria you get almond yoghurt). I recommend using the same yoghurt or any other actual natural made almond yoghurt. So no almond flavoured yoghur  that is usually stuffed with added sugars.

While shopping in one of my favourite cooking shops I stumbled upon the amazing assorment of Nielsen Massey. They make beautiful natural extracts (buy online / cooking shops / good supermarkets) of orange, coffee, mint, lemon etc. The bottles are quite expensive (about 7 euros for a 60 ml bottle) but you only need a very little amount of it so you can use it many times. The taste is absolutely worth it. This almond porridge tastes good without it but if you want actual almond flavour you need this in your life.

Not persuaded yet? It tastes like marzipan. There.

p.s. if this porridge is too extreme for you, use normal oats to make the porridge and skip the almond extract. Not reccomended though!

Love,

Fleur

Ingredients:

Almond Porridge:

• 1 tblsp almond flour 
• 20 gr shredded coconut
• 1 egg
• 100 ml unsweetened (roasted) almond milk
• 1 tsp maple syrup
• 1/2 tsp natural almond extrac
• good pinch of cinnamon

Toppings:

• 1 heaping tblsp almond butter
• fruit, of choice
• 100 gr natural (Abbot Kinneys) almond yoghurt 

Almond brittle:

• 20 gr almonds
• 1/2 tsp coconut oil
• 2 tsp maple syrup

Method:

To make the maple roasted almonds: add the coconut oil and almonds in a frying pan and roast for approx. 10 minutes on low heat until golden. (Make sure the almonds are equally covered with coconut oil when it has melted).

Add the maple syrup to the pan and shake it around until all of the almonds are covered with it.

Take the almonds out of the pan immediately and let them cool down.

To make the porridge: add milk, almond flour, shredded coconut in a different pan, put on medium heat and bring to a soft boil stirring regularly.

When it has thickened a little bit, add the egg white. Stir until the egg white has combined with the almond porridge and is completely cooked through (you should not be able to see any uncooked egg floating around any more).

Take the almond porridge of the heat. Stir cinnamon, maple syrup and almond extract through the porridge. Taste, add more maple syrup if not sweet enough.

Top with maple roasted almonds, almond butter, fruit, almond yoghurt and optional more cinnamon. 

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Baked & Loaded Sweet Potato Breakfast

Eating veggies for breakfast? Yes please.

You can make endless variations with this recipe here! Use whatever is in season and whatever you have hanging around in your kitchen cupboard.

Think about using different kinds of yoghurt, nuts and fruit. You can even add some dried fruits such as raisins and dates... Super good as well.

Have fun with this recipe!

 


Servings: serves 1

Total time: + 40 minutes

Bake time: 30-40 minutes
Prep time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 medium-big sized sweet potato (200-300 gr)
• few scoops of low fat quark / low fat Greek yoghurt / coconut yoghurt
• pinch of cinnamon
• 1 tblsp natural peanutbutter / almond butter
• 20 gr almonds / peccans / walnuts / cashews / pistachios
• mixed hempseeds / flaxseeds / chiaseeds / cacaonibs / goyiberries (all optional)
• 1 banana, sliced (or other fruit)
• small handfull of toasted coconut flakes
• few mint leaves, chopped
• 1-2 tsp maple syrup

Method:

1. Wash the sweet potato, leave the skin on.

2. Poke some holes in the sweet potato using a fork (this prevents the potato from exploding in the oven).

3. Bake the sweet potato in a preheated oven at 175-200 degrees C for about 30-40 minutes until the sweet potato is soft inside. 

*Tip: I baked the sweet potato the night before while preparing dinner because I usually don't have so much time in the morning. If you do this: heat the potato again in the morning in the microwave.

4. Slice the potato lengthwise halfway through.

5. Stuff the potato with the sliced banana, nuts, mint, seeds and scoop the yoghurt and nutbutter on top and drizzle maple syrup all over. Sprinkle the sweet potato with cinnamon and enjoy. 

Dutch-Canadian Maple & Oat Apple Pie with Peccans

Ingredients:

Apple pie:

• 150 gr + 50 gr good quality coconut oil 
• 80-100 gr maple syrup (to taste)
• 1-2 tsp vanilla extract / powder 
• zest + juice of 1 organic lemon
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp gingerbread spice
• seasalt
• 3 eggs
• 50 gr wholegrain speltlour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 125 gr oats
• 500-700 gr apple (about 3-5 apples)
• 50 gr raisins
• 40 gr peccans

Coconut-Maple whipped cream:

• 1 can coconut milk
• 1 Tblsp maple syrup
• small squeeze of lemon juice
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Method:

Preheat the oven on 190 degrees C.

First make the base of the apple pie: blend the oats together with the 150 gr coconut oil (no need to melt it), maple syrup, lemon zest, cinnamon, gingerbread spice, seasalt, spelt flour and baking powder. 

At last add vanilla extract and eggs and mix until well combined.

Line a cake tin with greaseproof paper and grease the sides with some coconut oil.

Pop the base dough onto the cake tin and press it down using your finger tips or the flat side of a spoon. Make a slight edge for the apples.

Wash the apples (no need to take off the peel but you can if you want) and either cut into 1 cm cubes, slides or grate it using a box grater or kitchen machine. Combine with raisins, some extra cinnamon and a small squeeze of lemon juice.

Pop the apple-raisin mixture onto the crust, make sure the apples are at the same height as the crust.

Sprinkle the peccans over the surface of the pie and pop it into the oven. You might want to put the cake tin on top of some silver foil to prevent coconut oil from leaking on your oven bottom (happened to me and it makes a mess).

Divide the 50 gr of coconut oil into chunks over the surface of the pie. This is for extra firmness once the pie is baked. Otherwise the apple chunks might fall apart when you cut the pie.

Bake for around 50-60 minutes.

Take out the solid part of the coconut milk can and combine with the other coconut whipped cream ingredients.

Serve the apple pie with a dollop of coconut whipped cream.

Healthy Snack Bar Review: Doctor's Orders

I enjoy making my own healthy bars or snacks to have as a quick breakfast or snack on the go. But I don't always have time or the ingredients to do so. Those are the times that I am so thankful that there are so many healthy snack options available in kiosks and supermarkets nowadays.

Doctor's Orders bars are the new kids in healthy bar town. In the last few years or so I have seen such a giantic rise in amount of companies and brands selling healthy snacks on the go. I have (and still am) trying as many different bars as possible. In these reviews I will let you know what I think about them.

Flavours

Doctor's Orders has 3 different flavours at the moment:

-Nuts & Vanilla

-Cranberry & Orange

-Cacao & Nuts

Ingredients & Nutritional Value

First let's take a look at the ingredients. These are the ingredients all three bars have in common:

18% wholegrain wheat flour

rasins

chicory root fibre

oat bran

grass butter

barn chicken egg

baking yeast

wheat germs

crushed linseeds

sourdough cultures

malted wheat flour

Bourbon vanilla

seasalt

These are the ingredients that differ per bar.

1. Nuts & Vanilla - 147 calories p/bar :

26% Nuts (pecans, almonds in coat, cashews, hazlenuts in coat)

4% honey

2. Cranberry & Orangem- 127 calories p/bar:

14% dried cranberries (51% dried cranberry, apple juice concentrate)

apricots

nuts (almonds, hazlenuts)

0,7 % orange peel

0,7 % concentrated cranberry juice

oange blossom water

4% honey

3. Cacao & Nuts - 150 calories p/bar:

11% pure cacao

2% honey 

17% nuts (pecans, almonds, hazlenuts, cashews)

rasped coconut

cayenne pepper

Wait, what is going on?!

The bars contain chicory root fibre. Sounds scary? It isn't. Chicory root fibre, also known as inulin, is just a type of plantbased fibre. Which, if you have any knowledge about digestion is a good thing!

Tips

The bars tend to be a little bit dry, the basic Nuts & Vanilla more than the others.

Some of my 'testpanel' thought that the bars are not sweet enough, but for me they are perfectly good. 

Tops

What I especially like about these bars is that they are different from other healthy bars. 90% of wholesome bars in the supermarket are made out of mainly dates which makes them very much like one another.

Another top: Doctor's Orders only uses good quality ingredients such as Bourbon vanilla, grass butter and barn eggs. That is something that I really respect in companies especially young ones like Doctor's Orders.

The bars are refined sugar free, only using natural sweeteners such as honey and dried fruit. Even the dried cranberries are preserved in a natural way using fruit juice concentrate (many brands do use refined sugar for this process). On top of this they also contain only whole grains. This prevents your bloodsugar from rising sky high making it a great snack.

What I also like about these bars is that they only contain around 150 calories per par, unlike some of the 'healthy' bars around that contain nearly 300 calories per snack. This makes Doctor's Orders bars a healthy choice in my opinion.

Favourite 1-3

1. Cacao & Nuts
2. Cranberry & Orange
3. Nuts & Vanilla