Frozen Fruit Granola Bowl

During a trip I tasted a lovely breakfast bowl with a base of açaí purée, topped with granola and fresh fruit. And I thought: I can make that. One key component was that the purée was very cold, almost frozen, and that was a big part of why it was delicious on a hot summer morning.

I had fresh banana and frozen raspberries, so I blended them with a bit of water. I added some granola (a simple version, made with oats, sunflower seeds, almond flakes and agave), then I topped it off with a fresh nectarine.

The second time I made it, I used frozen banana and peach juice, and topped it with blueberries. It was less visually striking but the taste was even better.

The third time I used frozen bananas, water, and fresh blueberries and topped it with melons.

The best results were with frozen banana and fruit juice. Adding water dilutes the fruit purée too much.

Porridge with Plums and Blueberries

After enjoying most of the plum compote on soda bread, I put the remainder in my water porridge with some blueberries. I topped it with some of the muesli I made.

Breakfast Granola

Homemade granola is nice sprinkled over yoghurt, on top of porridge, or just as a snack.

The granola itself contains just salt, agave syrup, grain flakes, seeds, dried fruits and nuts.

Gluten-free, vegan, yeast-free dinner rolls

I’ve been looking for a bread recipe that is gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free and yeast-free to prepare for someone who needs to avoid these ingredients. It should have a nice taste and texture, and not crumble. I think I finally found what I was looking for, once I modified it to rely on baking powder instead of yeast. The taste was pleasant and the structure was good.

I made the following modifications:

• I did not use oregano, garlic, or basil
• I replaced the yeast with an extra .5 teaspoon of baking powder
• I added the optional 1/2 teaspoon of xanthan gum
• I used brown rice flour instead of white rice flour
• I mixed the sugar in with the flours instead of adding it to the water
• After mixing the dough, I immediately turned on the oven and baked it as soon as the oven was warm instead of letting it sit for 20 minutes covered, and for 10 minutes after putting them in the pan –  neither rising period is necessary without yeast
• I used the oven steaming method

Brown Soda Bread

Brown soda bread is an excellent companion for cabbage soup. I have made this using wheat germ or replacing the wheat germ with buckwheat flour. I have also used date syrup instead of brown sugar, and tried replacing 1/2 cup of buttermilk with butternut squash purée and topping the loaf with pumpkin seeds. The biggest tip I can offer is to make sure the parchment paper is really, really well-greased.

The loaf in these pictures is made with wheat germ, a generous 2 tablespoons of date syrup, butternut squash and pumpkin seeds – my favourite combination. It stays fresh for several days.

 

 

 

Sunny Breakfast Porridge

To make this porridge I used a mix of millet and oat flakes in water (a nut milk could be used to add protein) and added chia seeds, a touch of turmeric powder, cinnamon, raisins, a pinch of salt, and chopped apple. It is sweetened with stevia and agave, and sprinkled with a mix of goji berries and ground flaxseed. It only takes a couple of minutes to make a breakfast like this, but it’s quite satisfying on a cold, rainy day.

Blueberry Rhubarb Crisp

I used some early rhubarb and blueberries to make this crisp, which I topped with unsweetened Greek yoghurt.

Playing with my Food: Bread with Circles

This is another milk (part rye) loaf, topped with oatmeal flakes. I used pumpkin to keep it moist. Inside, I created a pattern of circles using Dutch-process cocoa powder and matcha powder.

I was inspired after looking at pictures of giraffe-, leopard- and watermelon-pattern bread.

Oatmeal Pumpkin Chia Bread

This is another milk bread, which is my bread of choice because it stays soft and fresh for days, which is helpful when you know the bread won’t be completely eaten the day it is made. I added oat flakes to the scalded milk and melted butter and then added the yeast when it cooled. I combined this with a mix of wheat and rye flour, salt, lemon juice, chia seeds and pumpkin purée. After the first rise,when the bread was shaped, I brushed it with milk, sprinkled oat flakes on top, and cut it.

The pumpkin was not part of my original plan for this loaf, but after baking a pumpkin earlier in the week and preparing pumpkin pancakes (twice), pumpkin hemp bread and pumpkin cake, I still had some purée left which need to be used. I like the golden colour it gives the loaf and the flavour in the pumpkin hemp loaf was unobtrusive, so I figured I’d make use of the pumpkin before it went bad. Next time I should buy a smaller pumpkin, or prepare for pumpkin to again invade most of what I cook for a week!

I should probably also consider replacing my silicon bread pan with a firmer pan as the bread tends to bulge a lot at the sides (the overly-deep cut didn’t help, either).

Baked Oatmeal

Today’s breakfast consisted of baked oatmeal. I used a mix of agave syrup and stevia to sweeten, with a maple sugar and pecan topping. For the berries I used raspberries on the bottom and blueberries on top.  It was pretty good, especially with a bit of lightly sweetened yoghurt.