buckwheat porridge with banana, walnuts and maple syrup

There's more to porridge than oats. Such a variety of other wholesome grains you can simmer in water or milk to warm up your winter mornings, how about millet, amaranth, rice or buckwheat?

Apart from cooking buckwheat pancakes made with buckwheat flour I hadn't cooked with buckwheat in its whole form until I was inspired to try it as porridge. Buckwheat is in fact a seed not a grain and there's not a pinch of wheat in it. Just another weird, unexplainable moment in English language, why call something wheat when it is not actually wheat?!

So, technically buckwheat is a gluten-free food but do check the packet to make sure it says gluten free because some gluten free grains get contaminated with gluten if they are processed on the same equipment as grains that contain gluten.

Some other buckwheat trivia for you - buckwheat is related to rhubarb, and good reasons to include it in your diet is that it is high in  essential amino acids and essential minerals zinc, copper, magnesium and manganese. A good way to start the day. You should be able to find buckwheat groats at your health food shop or for Australian grown buckwheat flour and groats sold online go here.

I decided to flavour this porridge with the same ingredients we would put on buckwheat pancakes. but you can add whatever ingredients you have, raisins, goji berries, coconut, almonds, chia seeds...you get the idea. Adding maple syrup to anything feels decidedly decadent and luxurious to me, especially for breakfast on a school morning. 

Buckwheat porridge with banana, walnuts and maple syrup

Wash one cup of buckwheat groats in cold water and then put in a pot and add two cups of boiling water. (This amount will be enough for about four servings)

Cover, reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes.

Serve with banana, walnuts, a dash of maple syrup (or honey) and milk of your choice (I used rice milk).

That simple! I hope you like it.

For another non oaty porrridge try my quinoa porridge with lemon, ginger and cinnamon. 

What's cooking for breakfast at you place?

apple, lemon, cinnamon and ginger quinoa porridge

This is my new favorite breakfast, so delicious. I couldn't wait to share it with you. The recipe came about because I am steering clear of oats for a while (I feel sooo sleepy right after I eat oats) but with the weather so crisp and cool here I wanted to eat porridge.

Quinoa was the answer. I looked around the kitchen for flavours to add and gathered lemon, ginger and cinnamon - all perfect winter medicine foods. Ginger and cinnamon for their warming properties, and I find anything with a lemony flavour to be so uplifting it is a great detoxifier.

Now, even though I said quinoa was the answer I have recently learned that for some quinoa is not that easy to digest. This was news to me! I was lucky enough to be invited to a cooking class at Feast Australia and it was there that Rachel van de Bosch chef and former naturopath shared with the class the dark side of quinoa. Quinoa is actually a seed not a grain that has a naturally occurring coating called saponin. Rachel explains, "It a bit of contentious issue, some saponins are good for you (help control cholesterol) and others can be mildly toxic, like thanes in quinoa.  Most suppliers would thoroughly wash them during processing, but just to be sure I always boil and strain my quinoa now rather than cooking by absorption. You will loose water soluble vitamins cooking this way but I make up for it with fresh veggies. The other option is to give it a good wash it under running water before cooking."

So while there is much to love about quinoa because of its versatility and its nutritional value containing essential amino acids, phosphorous, calcium, magnesium and iron perhaps if you have weak digestion it might be a good food to go easy on.

I enjoyed this breakfast on a rainy saturday morning while River and Sol played in their pyjamas til lunchtime and I drank a pot of good chai. All. To. Myself!

Apple, Lemon, Cinnamon and Ginger quinoa porridge

Ingredients

1/2 cup quinoa (I used tri-colour quinoa that I buy in the health section at my local supermarket)
1.5 cups of water
1 cinnamon quill
1/2 an apple
the zest of one small lemon
1/2 tsp grated fresh ginger

Wash the quinoa thoroughly.
Place all ingredients in a pot and bring to the boil.
Simmer until water is absorbed and quinoa is cooked (you can tell because you will see an outer ring and the centre will look translucent.)

Serve with your choice of milk and if you like it sweeter add some honey. Try it first before adding sweetener because the cinnamon gives it a lovely natural sweetness. I also added a few chopped walnuts once it was cooked. There are endless other flavours you could try. Write your favorites in the comments.

Happy monday xx

cereal wars

What is it with kids and packaged breakfast cereal?! One taste and they're hooked. Yes it is the sugar and salt. And the marketing. Mamas want their children to actually eat something in the morning, especially before they go to school so for many families they start their day with packaged cereal mainly because it is quick and children will eat it. But as we know, filling up on empty calories is not ideal for growing and learning. There must be another way.

My creative wholefood mama friend Robin emailed me her inspiring and creative approach to steering her school age children, Maya and Rye, to eating a nutritious wholefood breakfast I loved the story so much I asked Robin if I could share it here.

Robin writes:

"As far as my children’s eating goes, breakfast is one meal I feel is not as wholesome as it could be. I make my own muesli, but my husband prefers a packaged cereal which is predominately wheat based. 

I have been struggling with breakfast as there is “dad’s cereal” in the cupboard next to “mom’s” cereal and “dad’s” cereal keeps winning…hands down.

I thought about how I could try and persuade my children to eat something more wholesome for breakfast. Sure, we have egg morning, but on cereal morning, they kept going for “dad’s” cereal.

So about a week ago, I told them that they could make their own muesli. “Make our own muesli? What’s that mum?” 

“Well”, I explained, “I will take a bunch of jars from the pantry and you will choose what you want in your muesli, measure it, mix it and then jar it in your own jar.” 

The idea sat in their heads for a whole week until I started pulling jars from the pantry to make muesli bars for their lunch boxes. 

“Oh, mum. Are we going to make our own muesli now?” 

I was so happy- They had caught on to the idea of making their own personalised breakfast cereal.

On the day of the making, when Maya was almost done mixing she said “Ohhh mum, this looks so good.”

And about one hour after Rye bottled his, he came over and asked if he could eat some of his muesli now, “Just to make sure it is good for breakfast.”

SUCCESS!!! I sure hope so. I told them that they did have to finish what was in the jar that they made but if they did not like it, we could modify it for the next time. ”You could toast it, add more cinnamon, put more fruit in, more nuts, less of something you did not like.”

They both measured and wrote down their recipe so that they could remember what they put in the first go and then modify. Maybe we are on to something good! 

I personally believe that with all those jars open, their little bodies will tell them what they need to eat. And they were all great options! 

Here is the list…

Rolled Oats

Rice Puffs

Quinoa Puffs

Sunflower seeds

Pumpkin Seeds

Almonds

Sesame Seeds

Flax Seeds

Oat Bran

Wheat Bran Sticks

Raisins

Dried Figs

Dried Apricots

Goji Berries

Dried Cranberries

Parenting is a tight rope act…when is authoritative parenting the “right” answer, when are self-made choices the “best"? I really have no answer. But I am hoping that they will be excited for breakfast tomorrow because they made it, they chose what was in it, and because they can modify it. 

I really trust in their young intuition, their bodies, given the opportunity really will tell them what they need to be eating. And because I trust in that, I am happy to continually give them the space to modify.

When breakfast time came they both took the lids off their jars and smelled their muesli first.

"Oh Mama, smell mine!" "And Mine!!"

Thank you Robin for sharing your story so honestly. It is an inspiring read that shows how encouraging our children to eat well can be fun.

What's happening at the breakfast table in your house readers? Tell us your favorite breakfasts. 

Do you make your own muesli?