My Porrage - Not So Quick Oatmeal!

I'm a little picky about porridge, or oatmeal as it's called in the US.  I have a pretty good excuse, during the winter months my dad used to make me and my brother porridge for breakfast almost everyday before we walked to school. We lived 15 miles from Glasgow on the very wet West of Scotland.  The short walk to school could be wet, freezing, snowy or all three, but we were fueled by oats and never felt cold!...well that's how my melancholy memory remembers it.

I didn't experience instant oatmeal until I moved to the US in my 20s. I was so underwhelmed and shocked at the sweetness.  I have now lived in the states for long enough to have got used to the sweetness of everything, but I just can't bring myself to eat instant oatmeal.

Twenty plus years later I am almost dairy-free and a mild health freak, so I don't make my porridge the same way as my dad it, but I'm sure he would approve of this version.

This recipe is enough for 2 people and takes about 25-30 minutes.  Don't make this if you're in a hurry, make it at the weekend when you have time to just zone-out and just enjoy stirring the pot!

• 1 cup rolled oats
• 2 cups unsweetened almond milk plus an additional cup
• pinch of salt
• 2 tbsp rough cut flax seeds
• 1/4 cup raisins
• 1/2 cup coconut milk

Optional toppings

• squirt of honey or sprinkle of palm sap sugar on the top
• small square of 70% cocoa chocolate or 1/2 tspn chocolate hazelnut butter

Add oats, salt and 2 cups of almond milk to a saucepan and bring to the boil while stirring moderately.

After 5-7 minutes you will see the oats starting to get thicker
After 10-12 minutes the oats should have swollen and the porridge should start to look lumpy and thick.
Add a third cup of milk (or you can add water to reduce the calories) and continue stirring - the thicker the porridge gets the more chance it will stick to the bottom.

After another 5-7 minutes the pot should look like a creamy bubbling witches cauldron (above right).
keep stirring for another 5 minutes until the rolled oats are almost indistinguishable and integrated into the creamy sauce.
Add the flax and raisins and heat through.

Pour porridge into two bowls and leave to set for a few minutes (don't leave in the pot as it will set there)
The porridge should pour freely into the bowls, if you need to spoon it out, it's too thick so add some milk or water.
You can add a topping at this time, but it doesn't really need a sweetener.


Before serving pour 1/8 cup of coconut milk over the top of each bowl of porridge and enjoy!

With no toppings this is about 440 calories per serving - enough to keep you going from 6am to noon!

You can make this with regular milk, rice milk or just almond milk, but I love the almond flavor in the porridge and cool coconut milk on top.

Blueberry & Coconut Treats

And I thought I'd be known for my muffin (sorry, that's a quote stolen from Betty White on Saturday Night Live) because everyone asks for my almond flour muffin recipe.  However, if I post anymore of these recipes I will be known for my balls!  I shouldn't be surprised, I am a little obsessed by these fruity and nutty treats!

This version is reminiscent of cookie dough, so they have become my instant favorite!

What you need;
1/2 cup of cashews
1 cup of shredded coconut
1/2 cup dried blueberries
1 Tbsp coconut oil
1/4 tspn Mixed Spice*





How to make them;

• Put the coconut in the food processer and buzz until yo have small flakes
• Add the cashews and spices and mix until they resemble really coarse sand
• Add blueberries and coconut oil and process until well mixed  
• Take rounded dessertspoon scoops and form into a ball in the palm of your hand; the ingredients should be crumbly, but hold it's form when pressed together
• Put the balls onto a tray or into small cake cups (if you have them)
• Put formed balls into the fridge to set for about an hour

There should be enough mix to make about 16 small walnut sized balls.  They will last a couple of weeks if stored in a cool dry place (tub/tin) if they aren't eaten before then :-)

Blueberry & Coconut photographed with Apricot & Nut (with coco) and Date & Nut.

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* Mixed Spice is popular in the UK, it is a mix of ground cinnamon, coriander, caraway, nutmeg, ginger and cloves.

Oat Flour Breakfast Pancakes

photo by mandymooo on Flickr

My husband makes these for me because they are wheat-free. I'm not a celiac so I don't need gluten free oat flour, I can tolerate regular oats just fine...and when we use the Star Wars molds they seem to taste even better....Yoda's ears are the best!

Many wheat-free and GF recipes have a complicated mixture of flours that try to mimic wheat flour and it's glutinous properties.  With these little guys it doesn't need seem to be so important. Don't get me wrong, they are not thick and airy IHOP style cakes, they're a little thinner but they have a nice (almost creamy) oaty taste that I love!

What you need:

• 1 cup oat flour
• 1 large egg (from happy pasture-raised chickens)
• 1 Tbsp vanilla
• 1 tspn baking soda
• pinch of salt
• enough milk to make a batter, about 1/2 cup (we use almond milk)

How you make them;

• Mix oat flour and baking soda in a bowl and set aside.
• Beat eggs together with milk and vanilla and then add to flour bowl and mix well to form a thick batter.
• Let the batter rest for a few minutes while you heat a skillet - we use an electric skillet set to about 350 F
• Slowly pour batter onto skillet and let it spread out into 5-6 inch disks.  Cook for about 3 minutes on each side.  Place in a warm place while you finish the remaining batter.

If you use a shaped form, spray the form with oil (Pam) before filling with batter.

They are not as fluffy as regular pancakes, but much nicer than ones made with rice flour or GF mixes...well I think they are!

Serve with  fresh fruit, apple sauce or fresh fruit stewed with a little stevia and frozen until needed.

Dried Apricot & Nut Treats

I'm a bit of a raw ball freak these days, may be it's the cold weather or the fact they are so easy to make and I always have nuts and dried fruit in the pantry!

This is an adult version of a raw fruit and nut ball recipe.  I say "adult" as they are not very sweet because they are made with bitter dark chocolate powder that kids (and husbands) generally don't like.

What you need;
1/2 cup of almonds
1/2 cup of hazelnuts
dash ground ginger (about 1/8 to 1/4 of a tsp)
dash ground coriander (about 1/8 to 1/4 of a tsp)
1/2 cup dried apricots (roughly chopped)
2 Tbsps hazelnut oil (you could use any nut oil or flax or coconut oil)
2 Tbsps unsweetened dark coco powder 
Optional
dust lightly with stevia

How to make them;

• Put the nuts and spices into a food processor and mix until they resemble really coarse sand
• Add apricots, oil, coco powder and process until well mixed  
• Take rounded dessertspoon scoops and form into a ball in the palm of your hand; the ingredients should be crumbly, but hold it's form when pressed together
• Put the balls onto a tray or into small cake cups (if you have them)
• Put formed balls into the fridge to set for about an hour

There should be enough mix to make about 16 small walnut sized balls.  They will last a couple of weeks if stored in a cool dry place (tub/tin) if they aren't eaten before then :-)

Why not make a batch of Date & Nut Treats so you have a choice!

[vegan gluten-free dairy-free soy-free wheat-free]

Spinach Dip

My usual dilemma - what to do with green leafy stuff.  I blame it on the fact I grew up in Scotland; we had root vegetables and we imported citrus, everything else is sort of vague in my memory...though I do remember cabbage cooked in a pressure cooker.

Oh how I wish my mother was alive to taste this.

• The first thing you will notice is my spinach dip is green - It has spinach in it :-)
• It's not white with green flecks, it has spinach in it :->
• It has no cholesterol, but it does have spinach in it :-]

This is so easy, I can believe I didn't work this out years ago.

What you need:
1 bunch of fresh spinach (enough to fill a small 2 quart bowl...small soccer ball size...geeze I wish I'd weighed it!)
1/4 cup of cashew cream or sour cream or yogurt
1/4 cup Vegenaise (I use the grape seed oil version) or the mayonnaise of your choice
1 tsp onion powder
1 Tbsp nutritional yeast
1/2 tsp garlic powder
Salt to taste - you shouldn't need much since the nutritional yeast mimics saltiness

How you make it:

• Put spinach in a food processor and pulse to reduce the volume so you can add the other ingredients
• Add the rest of the ingredients and pulse to mix
• Serve with organic wheat-free corn tortillas

This recipe makes about 1 cup of dip.

Optional Modification - if you need more dip but don't have the spinach you can double the quantities of cashew cream and Vegenaise to make a less-green version.  I don't approve, but it can be done in extreme circumstances ;-)

Fishermans Pie...Ahoy there matey

I love seafood and I love any kind of baked fish pie.  Before I moved to the center of the US I had moved over 15 times but never lived more than 50 miles from a coast and always close to an abundance of fish protein.

Luckily where I live now there's an  Irish Bar that has a Fishermans Pie on the menu that I used to love before I worked out that my system couldn't cope too well with wheat and I also got used to a lower dairy consumption due to my husband being dairy-free.  Now, after-effects of the flaky pastry top and creamy sherry sauce don't appeal quite so much. I longed for something similar to satisfy my fish pie craving.
 
I thought an easy potato top would be nice and I thought about making a sauce, but then I decided to keep it simple; all I needed to do was bake the fish with vegetables and that would probably provide the moisture for the filling, ah ha!

This is roughly what you need:

For the topping
1 lb potatoes (or less if you want it thinner than a 1 inch topping)
2-3 Tbsp of Natural Balance or coconut oil (I used a mixture of both)
Breadcrumbs or a 50-50 mix of almond flour and nutritional yeast



For the pie filling
2 medium size carrots
1 stick of celery
1 zucchini/courgette
1/2 cup frozen corn or peas
2 pieces of fish (about 12 oz, I used all salmon -  I would use a white fish and salmon next time for variety)
1 cup of prawns or scallops, lightly chopped
1 tspn salt and herbs such as dill or tarragon, or your favorite fish seasoning
1/2 cup cheese (I used Daiya, dairy free cheese) 
Juice of half a lemon (use the other half for a garnish)

This is how you make it:

• Peel the potatoes, chop into 3/4 inch cubes and boil for 15 - 20 minutes.
• Set the oven to 375 F

• Meanwhile, grate the vegetables (I used the grater blade on the Cuisinart, zoom, zoom), add corn, coarsly chopped prawns, cubed fish and toss together well with seasonings and cheese. 
• Add to baking dish and squeeze half a lemon over the top (I used a 9 x 7 inch dish)

• Mash the cooked potatoes with Natural Balance or Coconut oil and add to the top of the vegetable and fish mixture. 
• Sprinkle breadcrumbs (or a GF alternative) to the top to help make the top a little crispy.
• Bake in a preheated oven for about 40 minutes until the top is lightly browned and your kitchen starts to smell like there is a wonderful fish pie near by :-)  
• Serve with a wedge of lemon and enjoy.

Regular size serving (1/4 of recipe)

This makes about 4 average size servings, but could be split into two "hungry person" portions!

This came out pretty well; who doesn't like mashed potatoes when it's below freezing outside?  The filling was moist and I didn't miss a creamy sauce as the potatoes provided some creaminess to the overall dish.  I may add a dash of sherry next time and not add as much of the seafood seasoning as I don't think it needed it.