Quinoa Oat Breakfast Porridge with Winter Spices

I've really been enjoying oats for breakfast this winter, especially a hearty bowl of steel cut oats. I originally made this recipe for a spontaneous special weekend breakfast/brunch after eyeing it in a cookbook. The recipe could easily be tweaked to suit your tastes and even the season!

Quinoa Oat Breakfast Porridge with Winter Spices

Adapted from The Candle Cafe Cookbook

Ingredients

• 2 C (non-dairy) milk
• 4 C water
• 1/2 vanilla bean, seeds scraped
• 3-4 tbsp coconut sugar (or use granulated)
• 1/4 tsp crushed cardamom seeds
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 cinnamon stick, optional
• 1/2 C quinoa, rinsed well
• 1 1/2 C steel cut oats

Method

1. Combine the milk, water, and vanilla bean pod and seeds in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium high heat.**
2. Add the spices, quinoa, and oats to the pan. Reduce heat to medium low and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. The mixture will thicken as it cooks.
3. Cover and remove from heat. Allow to sit for 10 minutes before serving or storing.

**Optionally steep the spices in the milk and water as you bring it to a boil. This will result in a stronger spice flavor.

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Breakfast Oats with Winter Fruit

Oatmeal gets pretty boring after a while. Sure, you can mix up the toppings, dressing it up with different dried or fresh fruits and nuts, but it's essentially the same thing morning after morning. So recently I started preparing raw oat groats at night, soaking them in water to be drained in the morning. These yield a much chewier oat than basic oatmeal and can be blended up and sweetened, sprinkled over yogurt, or served straight up with toppings.

With so many fall and winter fruits in stores, I put together this very seasonal bowl of oat groats topped with persimmon, pear, pomegranate seeds, and vegan sweet cream for an extra special touch. Feel free to sub in whatever fruits you like and have on hand.

Breakfast Oats with Winter Fruit

Ingredients

• 1/2 C raw oat groats
• 1/2 persimmon, cubed
• 1/4 pear, cubed
• 1/4 C pomegranate seeds
• 1-2 tbsp Sweet Dessert Cream

Method

1. Place oat groats in a bowl and cover with filtered water. Let sit overnight.
2. Drain and rinse the oat groats. Put oats in a bowl to serve. Top with the fruits, then drizzle with dessert cream before serving.

This would be equally good with fresh summer berries when the season arrives. Keep this recipe tucked away for summer berry season!

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The Perfect Fall Salad - For Breakfast!

I briefly mentioned my vision of a breakfast salad last week, chock full of various flavors and textures, including bacon fat roasted walnuts and a fresh pear dressing. Little did I know when I was dreaming this up that it would quickly become a favorite for breakfast! I served this up for brunch one weekend morning and even got the man stamp of approval! It not only has a nice variety of colors in the fruits and vegetables, but the mix of soft, juicy, crunchy, and meaty textures keep you coming back for more.

The ingredients in this salad are very versatile and are easily mixed and matched for other salad creations. Feel free to sub in whatever's fresh, in season, and/or on sale that week to suit your preferences. The salad is just as lovely without the bacon as well for those who are vegetarian or vegan. My favorite part? The ingredients are simple to prep and prepare ahead of time which means I can throw this together in a minute.

Fall Breakfast Salad

Ingredients

• 2 C salad greens of choice
• 2 strips crispy bacon, chopped
• 1/4 C pomegranate seeds
• 1/4 Hachiya persimmon, diced
• 2 tbsp Bacon Fat Roasted Vanilla Cinnamon Walnuts
• 1 tbspPear Vanilla Salad Dressing, or to taste

Method

1. Layer salad greens with bacon, pomegranate seeds, persimmon, and walnuts. Drizzle with salad dressing.

Yield: 1 serving

I've been calling this my "breakfast salad" since its inception, but the portions can easily be reduced or increased to suit any meal.

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Tropical Papaya Boat

I first had this at a roadside fruit stand while on vacation. I was simply going to buy some papayas when the man working the stand offered samples. By "sample", he meant half a papaya with some extra goodies! Quite the salesman because it got me to spend a couple extra dollars on more ingredients.

This is quite simple to make and I'm hoping to snag the tropical fruits at an Asian grocer. Fingers crossed!!

Tropical Papaya Boat

Ingredients

• 1 papaya, halved
• 2 passionfruits, halved
• 1/2 lemon

Method

1. Remove the seeds from each papaya half. Scoop the seeds from one whole passionfruit into each papaya cavity.
2. Squeeze a little lemon over the passionfruit seeds and stir. Make adjustments to the amount of lemon juice, to taste. You want it to be a little tart; this will complement the sweet papaya flesh.
3. Serve the papaya with a spoon, scooping a little flesh and seeds into each bite.

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Coconut Cream Oatmeal

Improvisation sometimes leads to inspired creations in the kitchen which is pretty exciting when it turns out for the better. This "recipe" came together this morning when I reached for some cream to top my oatmeal only to discover it had gone bad (serves me right for keeping it around for over a month!). Luckily I had just opened a pack of coconut cream I used to make ice cream just yesterday.

It's a simple idea really: use coconut cream to top oatmeal instead of dairy cream. Coconut cream is thicker than regular cream which I quite enjoyed. A little bit decadent in itself, I also added a few more toppings to my oatmeal: fresh flaxseed meal, pecan pieces, and a drizzle of maple syrup. Yum!

Oatmeal with coconut cream

You can see in the picture that the coconut cream gets a little melty and starts to blend in with the toppings. It also adds a subtle hint of coconut flavor, adding a slight twist to your standard morning bowl of oats.

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Almond Flour Waffles

I love making and eating waffles but almost never get around to doing it. This week I found a recipe for Almond & Yogurt Waffles which sounded good enough for me to whip out the waffle iron for a batch. For mine, I used fresh ground almond flour and added a couple teaspoons of vanilla with the wet ingredients.

The waffles have a hearty, rustic feel to them courtesy of the almond flour, but it goes quite nicely with a little butter and some maple syrup, YUM.

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Raspberry Tropical Smoothie

I'm trying to perfect my smoothie technique. When not following recipes and making my own, I tend to over-do it in terms of quantity and end up with 40 ounces of smoothie. But today, success! I had some "tropical" produce around (pineapple, mango, banana) and thought the combination would pair well with some fresh raspberries.

Raspberry Tropical Smoothie

Ingredients

• 1 C mango, cubed
• 1/2 C pineapple, cubed
• 3/4 C raspberries
• 1 large orange, juiced
• 6 ice cubes

Method

1. In a blender, combine the mango, pineapple, raspberries, an orange juice until well blended.
2. Add the ice cubes and blend until it reaches a smooth consistency.

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Eggnog French Toast

Lost and forgotten in the depths of the archives, I just found this recipe which I never got around to posting. Not overly fitting to be posting a recipe with eggnog in the middle of the summer, but perhaps it'll get you thinking ahead...? Here's to hoping :)

This recipe came about during a post dinner dessert hunt. With eggnog and maple syrup in the refrigerator and a loaf of crusty bread going unused on the counter, why not make some french toast? I cut the bread into little rounds using a biscuit cutter and garnished with chocolate chips.

Eggnog French Toast

Ingredients

• 6 tbsp eggnog
• 1 tbsp dark rum
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg, freshly grated
• 1 egg
  Crusty bread, sliced

Method

1. Preheat a skillet over medium heat.
2. In a bowl, whisk all ingredients until thoroughly combined.
3. When skillet is hot, dip bread slices into egg batter until coated, and cook for 3-4 minutes per side or until golden brown.

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Simple Cinnamon Roll Filling

I was watching Everyday Italian the other day and Giada was making hazelnut cinnamon rolls. Now, I am not a fan of hazelnut but got to thinking how good walnuts might be in its place. Next thing you know, I'm making cinnamon rolls with apples, cherries, and walnuts.

One of the best cinnamon rolls I've ever had, if not the best, were those a coworker brought in at work. Let me tell you, they were so good I think I ate three of them (and they were HUGE)! There's no way I'll ever get that recipe and I'd be lucky to stumble across anything as good.

If you're not into making bread dough, try store bought dough as Giada recommends. Otherwise, any sweet dough will do. Roll out your dough into rectangles.

Simple Cinnamon Roll Filling

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/8 tsp ground cloves
• Dash vanilla extract

Optional mix-ins:

• 1 Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored, and diced
• 1/4 C dried cherries or cranberries, diced
• 1/4 C walnuts, chopped

Method

1. Mix ingredients thoroughly in a bowl. Add optional mix-ins, if desired.
2. Spread evenly onto dough, then roll, cut, and bake as normal.

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Bagels

I had my first cheese bagel the other week and was blown away by how delicious it was. I decided I needed to make my own, as spending $1.50 for an impulse snack seems unnecessary, especially since bagels are so easy!

Here is my favorite bagel recipe: http://www.tammysrecipes.com/homemade_bagels

I've made this recipe several times, last time I believe was around Mother's Day for brunch. They are really easy to make, especially if you have experience working with yeast, as this can sometimes be tricky.

To make these "cheese bagels", simply sprinkle with shredded cheddar after brushing with egg, and bake for the specified time.

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Pumpkin and Yogurt Corn Muffins

You know what it's like when you've let the dishes pile up in the sink, the bathroom get too dirty, or the laundry become a bit too daunting? Yeah, I have neglected this blog for a couple weeks now which means I've got several things to post today.

I found this mini corn muffin recipe on justbento a few weeks ago and thought it sounded really tasty. Plus, I had some leftover yogurt I needed to use up. Unfortunately, I over baked the muffins and they were practically inedible :( If baked properly, I recommend serving them with some maple butter--mix together softened/melted butter with maple syrup and allow to refirm.

Pumpkin and Yogurt Corn Muffins

Ingredients

• 1 cup cornmeal
• 1 cup minus 2 tbsp flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice mix
• 3 tbsp raw cane sugar
• 2 eggs
• 3 tbsp canola oil
• 1 cup canned pumpkin
• 1/3 cup lowfat plain yogurt

Method

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a mini muffin tin.
2. Whisk the dry ingredients together in a bowl. In a separate bowl, mix together the wet ingredients. Add the wet to the dry and mix until just blended.
3. Spoon into muffin tins and bake for 20 minutes or so. Be sure not to overbake or they will be dry!

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