Monday, June 16, 2014

Breakfast: Buckwheat Porridge, Homemade Granola + Bee Pollen and Chia Seeds


Hello Monday!

I used to hate breakfast. I always ate it because "it's the most important meal of the day" but I never really enjoyed it until about a few months ago. Since I adore food and preparing food I was determined to make breakfast my new favorite meal of the day. (Breakfast will never be as delicious and exciting as dinner but it sure is pretty close now.) So what did I do? I decided to make breakfast more interesting by not eating boring dry store bought muesli and runny yogurt or a cheese sandwich, and started looking up more exciting and healthy alternatives. I discovered tons and tons of warm and cold porridge recipes, both soaked, boiled, or baked, fun smoothie recipes and I've started to make my own granola so that I can manage the sugar content myself and I've started collecting jars of nuts seeds, and other super foods to top my yogurt/fil breakfasts. (Fil is a Swedish dairy product that tastes more like sour cream which I usually eat instead of yogurt. If I eat yogurt it's usually the Greek/Turkish kind. Oh and I always eat full fat.) 

I love waking up, going to the kitchen, boiling a kettle of tea and taking out all of my little jars and placing them on the breakfast table to top that mornings breakfast. Another great side effect of eating and enjoying a proper breakfast is that I feel so much better for the rest of the day. My energy is up and I'm satisfied until lunch time.

Time to share a few of my breakfast recipes and what's in my pantry. This is quite a long post, hopefully I won't bore you to death. :)




Homemade Granola is the easiest thing ever and doesn't have to be full of sugar. You can play around with tons of variations and flavors, so it's really fun too. 

My recipe for Homemade Crunchy Granola:

2 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup almond flour
1/2 cup buckwheat or an assortment of your favorite seeds
Pinch salt
1/2 tsp of Your choice of flavorings. Vanilla, cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg.
3 Tbsp coconut oil
3 Tbsp honey
1 egg white (this makes the granola clump together and extra crunchy, still great granola if you omit this ingredient.)

• Pre heat oven to 170°C/350°F with fan. 
• Mix together the dry ingredients in a large bowl.
• In a microwave safe dish melt the coconut oil and honey together for about 40 seconds.
• Whisk in the egg white into the melted coconut oil and honey. 
• Add to dry ingredients.
• Pour onto a parchment covered baking sheet in a thin layer.
• Baking time. Time can vary depending on your oven and if you have a fan or not on. If you've added the egg white bake for about 10 to 20 minutes until golden brown. Without the egg white half way through the cooking time mix the granola around.
• Allow to cool on baking sheet. Then break apart into small chunks and add to air tight container. 
• Enjoy on your morning yogurt etc.

So what do I keep in my pantry? I always have an assortment of seeds such as pumpkin, or sunflower seeds. I also love to have ground flax seeds as they're really good for you. I usually have some nuts as well such as almonds, cashews and walnuts. Roasted coconut is another fun favorite (Johan especially loves this). Coconut palm sugar is so delicious on it's own but great to add a little extra natural sugar sweetness to granola (or just take a spoonful when you've got a sweet craving.) And super foods! Bee pollen and chia seeds are really exciting and have sooooo many health benefits it's crazy!



I'm no expert on these new popular super foods so I highly recommend you google all the benefits of adding bee pollen and chia seeds to your diet. 


Chia is packed with protein and omega 3 fatty acids and much more so I adore adding it to my morning yogurt, or drinking water for added texture, plus it's tasteless which is nice. Chia triples in size as it soaks up added moisture and gets a bit of a tapioca texture. Kind of, it's difficult to describe... just try it!

Chia Pudding Recipe:

For 2 portions.
1 Tbsp Chia Seeds
3-4 Tbsp water, coconut water, coconut milk or other nut milk.

• Mix together and allow to sit for at least 2 hours or over night. I love the coconut option for mixing into my morning smoothie, yogurt or porridge.
• If making chia water, you don't have to wait for the chia to soak for more than 10 or 15 minutes. I recommend to add a squeeze of lemon or lime or even mint to your water for added flavor. And make sure to have a straw as the chia seeds tend to fall to the bottom so you'll need to mix them around.

Raspberry Chia Jam Recipe:

For 4 portions.
1 cup frozen raspberries
1 Tbsp Chia Seeds

• Defrost the raspberries and mush to a paste.
• Add the chia seeds and allow to set for 2 hours or overnight.
• Use as a traditional jam or add to your breakfast for added natural sweetness and tartness.

And my last recipe of this long breakfast post is a new favorite cold breakfast porridge from blog Green Kitchen Stories. I've adapted it only slightly.

Buckwheat Cashew Soaked Cold Porridge:

1/2 cup buckwheat soaked overnight
1/2 cup cashews soaked overnight
1 green apple, chopped
1 orange, just the juice

• Rinse the soaked buckwheat and cashews.
• Add to blender (or I like to use an emersion blender) with the apple chunks and the juice from 1 orange. 
• Blend until smooth-ish.
• Enjoy with fresh fruit, granola, chia jam, or anything you'd like.

Hope this was interesting! What do you eat for breakfast?


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