Food Babe's Parfait Porridge

Prep time:  10 mins.  Total time:  10 mins.   Serves: 1

The amount of ingredients in this is enough for my wife, but I tend to increase it by a half to double for myself.  Mind you, double is quite a hearty breakfast!

Like most of the other recipes I put up on this blog, which is basically for me and my friends edification, I chop and change ingredients regularly to suite seasonality, price and preference.  For example, I was in Denmark, WA in February and a fig tree down the road from the Backpacker I was managing was bursting with fruit.  I had a nectarine that was on the way out and my kefir was ready for consumption.  I also mixed in some Goji berries and dried cranberries with the currants for a bit of flair.  The top two photos reflect this batch.

I prefer to use kefir rather than almond milk, as the kefir keeps fermenting within the porridge and adds extra fridge life to the mix.  As a result, I make a weeks supply at a time.  Not to mention the probiotic benefits as well...

Making and using Kefir in lieu of almond milk

One weeks supply of Parfait Porridge and Kefir Quark to boot!

Ingredients:

    ¼ cup oat groats rinsed and drained
    ¼ cup ezekiel cereal, muesli, or ¼ cup steel or rolled oats (for texture)
    1 tsp of currants
    sprinkle of cinnamon
    4 ounces unsweetened almond milk
    1 tsp of chia seeds (optional)
    1 cup fresh or frozen fruit of your choice

Instructions:

    In a "to go" glass container of your choice: Place oat groats, ezekiel cereal/oats, cinnamon, currants, chia seeds, and almond milk in the container and stir
    Top mixture with fresh or frozen fruit
    Let mixture sit in fridge overnight or up to three days in fridge


Source:  Food Babe

1. I Like Food

Christmas Day 2013 in the kitchen

As can be deduced from the accompanying photos, I do enjoy my tucker.  I also get a buzz from cooking, particularly for the Misses.  In fact, at the moment, I am the chief cook and bottle washer!

But the biggest bugbear for me is figuring out what to have for dinner on a daily basis.  Being creative and trying to remember past recipe successes results in procrastination and wandering around the house in frustration, until I do something simple and slothful like rip open a packet of pasta and heat a jar of sauce!

The properties and health benefits of foods which includes the way they were grown and processed also interests me.  I am a notorious label reader and it often takes me ages to select a product from the supermarket shelf.  In some respects, I consider myself a bit of a food activist and proselytizing on behalf of organic, spray free and sustainable agriculture is frequently my downfall in social gatherings.  Factory farming and synthetic food are an anathema to me!  If I know I wouldn't be able to see it in the field or if I can't pronounce it, I won't eat it, or at least try not to.  And don't talk to me about numbers!

Poser

One of the great things about cooking is the sharing of a meal that you have made with friends and family.  A glass or two of wine and great conversation, particularly regarding the benefits of cooking from the ground up with pure ingredients, generates requests for recipes and food sources.


I have tried to keep recipe books, and product and ingredient property lists, without much success.  Even digital counterparts!  They are not always accessible and regularly get lost or forgotten among the piles of accumulated stuff that a life accumulates.

Thus this blog.  Available everywhere, accessible to everyone and tagged/labeled for easy search and referencing; regarding recipes, cooking style, ingredients, health properties and miscellaneous tips; I hope to find this blog a good memory adjunct and fun, as I descend into my senior years.

A note regarding measurements.  If you haven't gathered from the syntax, I am an Ozzie.  All measurements are in Australian and New Zealand standards, which does differ to the British and American standards.  I will include actual metric measures with the standard cup and teaspoon descriptions.  A good conversion site for weights and measurements can be found here.

Enjoy..

Pea and ham soup in the slow cooker and kefir in the jar.

Detox Turmeric Tea - Chai

Ingredients:-

3 heaped teaspoons turmeric (>15mls)
1 heaped teaspoon ground cloves (>5mls)
2 teaspoons ground cardamon (10mls)
2 teaspoons of cinnamon (10mls)
2 teaspoons ground ginger (10mls)
1.5 Litres or 3.5 pints of filtered water (2 days supply?)

I like to add Cayenne or Black Pepper, about 1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon. (1.2 - 2.5mls)

Honey to taste
nut milk optional

Method:-

Place all ingredients into a pot and bring to a boil, then simmer for 10 minutes.  Add honey or nut milk to taste.

Alternatively, I blend all the dry ingredients in a coffee grinder and use 2.5 teaspoons in 400 ml of water for a mug of tea and keep the rest in a jar.


 Thanks to GreenMed TV