Experimental breakfast - porridge variation

It is rare that I wake up in the morning and my breakfast hasn't been soaking all night. But this morning I realised I had fallen asleep on the couch the night before and completely forgot to prepare my breakfast for the next day. It was cold (2 degrees Celsius if you want to know) so I knew I wanted something warm. I opened my pantry and started to experiment.

Ingredients

• 

  Amaranth plant

  1 tbsp millet
• 1 tbsp cracked buckwheat
• 1 tbsp amaranth
• 1 tbsp quinoa flakes
• 1/2 tbsp shredded organic coconut
• 1/4 tsp raw honey
• 1 tsp raw cocao nibs
• 1 small banana mashed
• 2 drops vanilla essence
• Boiling water
• Ground cinnamon for garnish

Method

• In a small saucepan, bring to the boil, 1 1/2 cups of boiling water, millet, cracked buckwheat, amaranth, coconut, honey and vanilla. 
• Cover and simmer for 10 minutes (add more water if needed)
• Add banana, cocao nibs and quinoa flakes, simmer for another 5-8 minutes stirring occasionally and adding water as needed.
• Serve and sprinkle with cinnamon and cocao nibs

Result

This will not be winning any awards for looks but it makes up for it with the lots of flavours and lots of textures. I could taste the goodness in every mouthful and I enjoyed the earthy chocolaty flavour of the cocao nibs.

Verdict

It obviously takes a little while to cook so it wouldn't be my choice for breakfast on a work day. From a texture perspective I think next time I would ditch the coconut. It might have been nice to have some sort of milkiness added such as almond or soy. Having said that, I love that this has so many different grains/seeds.

Creamy buckwheat and vegetable soup

Soup is one of my favourite things about cold weather. Tonight after driving through the rain and traffic that was double the congestion as I'm used to, I set to work brewing my dinner. On my detox I am required to have protein at lunch and dinner. I had chicken soup for lunch so I wasn't keen on having the same for dinner. I didn't have any fish at home and my affinity with beans still needs some work. Then I remembered a recipe a friend of mine had graciously shared with me. Her mother's chicken soup avgolemono - Greek egg-lemon chicken soup.

In true adventurous style I tested the question, 'can you use the avgolemono in any soup?'

Ingredients

• 1/2 carrot, peeled and chopped
• 1/4 zucchini, chopped
• 1 small stick celery, chopped
• 2 large button mushrooms, sliced
• 3 small flowerettes of broccoli, chopped
• 1 1/2 tbsp Bob's Red Mill Creamy Buckwheat (partially stone ground buckwheat)
• 750ml water
• Stock powder or cube
• Two eggs
• Juice of 1/2 lemon

Putting it together

• In a pot put all the vegetables (except the broccoli) in the pot with the water and stock.
• Bring to the boil
• Add the buckwheat and stir
• Cover and let simmer for about 7 minutes
• Whilst that is simmering separate your egg whites from your yolks
• Whisk your egg whites until you have very soft peaks
• Add your lemon juice and keep whisking
• Add your broccoli to your soup (not the egg mixture)
• Get a ladle and fill your ladle with the broth from your simmering soup
• Slowly add it to your egg whites and keep whisking them for about a minute
• Mix in the egg yolk to your egg white mixture
• By this stage it is looking less soft peaks and more frothy egg mix
• Making sure your soup isn't boiling, pour your egg mixture into it stirring the whole time. 
• Keep stirring for about 30 seconds then turn off the heat.
• Serve it up

Result

This is a protein rich, vegetable soup with the added umph of buckwheat. The flavour of lemon is delightfully tangy without being weird.  All and all, it's a winner. A complete meal in a bowl.

Verdict

This is definitely a keeper in my repertoire. You do need to watch that you don't boil the soup after you've added the egg mixture. If you do, your soup looks more like curds and whey than creamy soup. I really like the addition of the buckwheat.

Links and information

Benefits of buckwheat: Buckwheat is high in insoluble fibre and is a good source of protein and B vitamins and is rich in phosphorus, potassium, magnesium, iron, and calcium.
Learn more about buckwheat and its nutritional benefits

Bob's Red Mill products can be found and select supermarkets like IGAs or Leo's. They are also usually stocked at health food stores.

Buckwheat, Banana, Booyah!

I'm always a little skeptical of recipes that declare they are fail-safe. Sort of like when people told me that growing rosemary was childs play. Apparently I can kill the unkillable.

Despite my skepticism I decided to try the so-called fail-safe buckwheat banana bread recipe.

The recipe
The recipe comes from a website called Grain Free Living. Sounds like my kind of site so I figure they must know something about getting it right. As the recipe is mostly in ounces I'll translate below. I have made this both as a loaf and as muffins.

Buckwheat is not a cereal
but actually a fruit
seed related to rhubarb

Ingredients
300g - 400g of really ripe mashed banana
2 free range eggs
1/3 cup maple syrup (I've made this with honey too)
1/2 cup mild tasting oil (I just used olive oil)
1 tsp cream of tarter
1/2 tsp bicarb soda
150g buckwheat flour
I heaped dessert spoon of rice protein powder (totally optional)
2 tsp cinnamon

Method

1. Heat oven to 170 degrees
2. Grease and line either a loaf tin or use muffin/cup cake baking cups
3. Blend all the ingredients together (you can use a food processor or a blender)
4. Pour blended mixture into the prepared tin or baking cups
5. Bake in the oven for about 40 - 45 minutes for loaf, or 35 minutes for muffins (depending on your oven)
6. Basically bake until you can pull a skewer out clean
7. Let them or it cool for 5 - 10 minutes

Result
Firstly, it really is fail-safe! Even when I accidentally put in 1/2 tablespoon instead of 1/2 teaspoon of bicarb soda it still tasted great. Using the blender (and I have a very high powered blender) means the end product is really smooth. I added the cinnamon and the rice protein powder because I seem to have an aversion to sticking to the standard recipe. But it all worked and I've made it three times now. The muffins freeze really well too.

Verdict
Super easy, real food ingredients and yummy. My favourite combination.

Relevant links and information
Sunwarrior protein (a non-dairy, non-soy protein powder): http://www.sunwarrior.com.au/

Benefits of buckwheat: Buckwheat is high in insoluble fibre and is a good source of protein and B vitamins and is rich in phosphorus, potassium, magnesium, iron, and calcium.
Learn more about buckwheat and its nutritional benefits