Good-morning-Porridge

Porridge may seem dull to most of you, but there are so many advantages of eating porridge in the morning. It's warm (especially important in the winter), nutritious and fast to prepare. To me the most important one is that I'll stay full until just before lunch. And there are also endless ways of keeping it interesting! You can experiment with different kind of grain flakes, fruit, berries, spices, vegan milk options and so on.

This is my standard formula for making porridge in the morning:

1,5 dl grain flakes (eg. 1 dl Bircher Müsli and 0,5 dl oatmeal or spelt flakes...)
1 tbsp wheat bran
1 tsp Chia seeds
1/3 tsp spices (eg. cinnamon and cocoa powder)
2-3 dl water (depending on your microwave oven and preferred texture)

Microwave for 3 minutes on full or gently simmer on your stove.

Eat with milk (regular or vegan) and add fruits, berries, nuts and seeds to taste. You can also add the berries before cooking to make your porridge even more colorful. If I know I have to get up extra early the next day I'll prepare all the dry ingredients in a bowl the night before so that I just have to add water in the morning.

Lingonberries, Pumpkin seeds, Dates
and Figs on the side

So try this out this weekend when you have time to experiment with your breakfast and if you stick to it I can almost guarantee you that you will love it!

Raisins, Apricot sauce and Banana

Apple and Rhubarb sauce, Raisins,
Almonds

Chili con Quinoa

Found the recipe for this chili a while ago, but the weather hasn't quite been right for this kind of food until now. I fell in love with the taste and texture of this chili in an instant! It's very easy to prepare as well since you only have to cut up the onions and the chili. The rest ist just add as is. This is a batch suitable for about 4 persons. Total time less than one hour, and most of the time this dish simmers away on the stove with just occasional stirring.

1 tbsp canola oil
1 chopped yellow onion
2-3 chopped or pressed garlic cloves
Chopped green or red chillies (to taste)

2 dl uncooked quinoa (Gently rinse the quinoa in a coffee filter in hot water to get rid of saponin. Otherwise it may taste bitter)
2 cans of whole peeled tomatoes
3 tbsp tomato purée
5 dl vegetable stock

2,5 tsp chili powder
2 tsp cumin
2 tsp cocoa powder (trust me...)
1,5 tsp paprika
0,5 tsp sugar
0,5 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp cayenne pepper

2 cans of beans (kidney, black...)
1 can of corn

salt and black pepper
juice (and zest) from one lime

Cook the onions in the oil for a couple of minutes. Add the garlic and the chili the last half minute.
Add the peeled tomatoes, the tomato purée, the vegetable stock and the quinoa and all the spices and the cocoa powder. Let simmer uncovered for 20 minutes. Stor occasionally. Add the beans and corn and simmer for another 5-10 minutes. Add salt, black pepper, lime juice and zest to taste.

Enjoy with some cooked potatoes, corn chips or tortillas or on a slice of bread with cheese.

1 dl = 0,4 cups
1 tsp = 1 teaspoon
1 tbsp = 1 tablespoon

Original recipe in swedish here

Banana pancakes

Had some sad bananas laying around and what's more perfect than turning them into delicious pancakes!?

2 ripe bananas

1 cup oatmeal

1,5 cups (vegan) milk

0,5 cup flour

0,5 tsp salt

1 tbsp baking soda

Mix all the ingredients with a (hand) blender. Put some butter and some of the mixture in a frying pan and fry small pancakes on medium heat. Eat with berries, marmalade or vanilla ice. 

Enjoy!

My dear friend Daniela happened to make these pancakes today as well! Her turned out looking better than mine ;)

Original recipe in swedish