Happy Veteran’s Day! Thank you to all of the men and women who have diligently served our country and risked their lives for us. We are all so very grateful for your service. God bless you!
———
It snowed yesterday!
http://instagram.com/p/vOzowso-mR/?modal=true
The boys enjoyed playing in the snow while I attempted to shovel the snow that melted and refroze on our driveway. I ended up using an ice pick to break up the snow and then shoveled the ice chunks. Ice is heavy, ladies. Very heavy. It made for a fabulous workout!
In honor of the first snow I really wanted to make a hearty, grain-free porridge for the boys. Both of my little guys love steel cut oatmeal, but, alas, it does not love them back. Since going (mostly) grain-free last March I have tried several grain-free porridge recipes, but none of them had the right chew and heartiness to appeal to my oatmeal-loving boys… until yesterday.
See, I think the problem was that most grain-free porridge recipes rely solely on nuts and/or seeds for their heft while others rely on flours and dried coconut for their chew. I figured if I combined the two I would most likely get a similar chewy, yet soft texture of soaked oatmeal.
The other issue we had with other recipes was that there are so many calories in a small bowl of nut-based, grain-free porridge that my boys are put off by the tiny bowl of oatmeal that counts as a “serving”. So, I decided to amp up the serving + carbs + sweetness by adding pumpkin and banana. The resulting porridge was amazing and both boys asked for seconds.
Please don’t be put off by the seemingly long ingredients list, this recipe can easily be prepared the night before in as little as 5 minutes. Simply measure the nuts into a 4 cup glass measuring cup, add the salt, cover with water and place in the fridge overnight. Place the rest of the ingredients in a medium-sized bowl, there is no need to mix anything, just throw them all in the bowl together and place it in the fridge. In the morning drain and rinse the nuts and combine them in the food processor with the other ingredients from the medium-sized bowl and process until smooth. Heat and serve.
To amp up the protein of our breakfast we enjoyed some reheated bacon, leftover from Sunday morning’s breakfast, and a few eggs. I have found that the perfect over medium egg can be achieved by cracking it into a warmed cast iron griddle with a bit of coconut oil or bacon fat, seasoned with sea salt and pepper and allowed to cook until “sunny side up”. Before removing from the pan turn the egg over and sear for 30 seconds. Perfect every time. The resulting egg will have a soft, yet firm yoke.
Back to that pumpkin porridge recipe. We topped our porridge with homemade almond milk, raisins and additional shredded coconut. It was so good that the boys asked for seconds! Please note that the recipe below is a doubled serving of porridge, enough to feed 12 people. The reason for this is because you will want leftovers to use in the recipe that I am sharing tomorrow that features the last two pieces of a crustless pumpkin pie that we enjoyed over the weekend!
What is your favorite way to celebrate the first snowfall?
Pumpkin Pie Porridge
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Ingredients (serves 12)
- 1 cup cashews
- 1 cup pecans or walnuts
- 1 cup almonds
- 1/2 c hemp seeds, optional
- 1 cup shredded, dried coconut
- 1 ripe banana
- 1 cup almond milk
- 1 cup canned coconut milk
- 1 tsbp cinnamon
- 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
- pinch sea salt
- 1 cup pumpkin
- 2 tbsp maple syrup, optional
Instructions
Measure cashews, pecans or walnuts and almonds into a 4 cup glass measuring cup, add a pinch of sea salt and cover with water. Cover and place in the fridge overnight.
Optional: combine remaning ingredients in a medium-sized bowl, cover and refrigerate until morning. This will reduce your morning prep time.
In the morning, rinse the nuts 2-3 times until the water runs clear. Pour into the bowl of a food processor.
Place the remaining ingredients into the bowl of a food processor and process until smooth.
Using a spatula place the contents of the food processor into a medium saucepan and heat, stirring often, over medium heat until warm.
Top with almond or coconut milk, shredded coconut, raisins, nut or seed butter, sliced bananas or pumpkin butter.
Porridge can be stored in the fridge for 3-5 days and reheated in a saucepan for quick and easy breakfasts. Or use half of this recipe to make Baked Pumpkin Pie Porridge tomorrow.
*Note: you can use water in place of almond milk
[…] Casserole, which was delicious, and figured I could do something similar using the leftover Pumpkin Pie Porridge and Crustless Pumpkin Pie I had in the […]