Asian Spiced Rice Porridge

Today I wanted to eat something Asian. Since I bought rice flakes, I thought I could also make a porridge of them rather than oats. It was really delicious and I added no sugar, so it is up to you if you want to make your porridge sweeter in adding sweets (I prefer coconutsugar or agave syrup) to your porridge while shimmering or at the end as toppings!

Asian Rice Porridge

 

Recipe (one big serving):

2/3 c    rice flakes
1    c    water
1/2 c    non-dairy milk
1 tsp    pumpkinseeds
1/4 tsp ground ginger (add more if you like)
1/4 tsp cardamon
1/4 tsp cloves
1 pinch vanilla
1 pinch ground black pepper

First, roast the rice flakes and pumpkinseeds in a pot and try stiring occasionally to prevent burning the flakes. If they reached a slightly brown colour, add water and turn the heat lower.
If the rice flakes mostly absorbed the water, add the milk for more creaminess. Let the rice flakes shimmer until they almost absorbed the milk. Then take the pot from the stove and add all spices (trust me, the black pepper is harmless and give a nice switch) and stir well.
Top your porridge with sweet fruit purée, coconutsugar, peanutbutter, pecans and other favourite toppings.

Enjoy!!

Super Sweet yet Healthy Breakfast Ideas

Since we know breakfast is the most important meal of the day, we should consider to eat healthy in the mornings because this will assure us to feel better and to be able to manage the day. However, some need to or want to eat a sweet breakfast but that is not a problem! You can still have healthy and sweet breakfasts.

You might ask, how is that possible? Let me explain. There are several fruits which have a super sweet flavour like bananas or raspberries. Those can be used without compunction. You can also use dried fruits like apricots, coconut chips or especially dates as they are often referred to have a caramel taste.

Additionally, adding nuts or even nutbutters (addictive!) to your breakfast will give you the essential proteins, fiber and healthy fats you need. Nuts are nutritious and the source of energy. Although they might have many calorins, you still eat them because they are healthy and bring along many benefits like protecting you from heart diseases and of course take in those calorins and fats are better than those from fast and junk foods. Furthermore you do not need to buy those expensive nutbutters in shops because you can easily prepare your own nutbutters if you have a good blender (always a good investment). 

There are also some sweet stuff you should always have at home. I recommend you to substitute agave syrup by honey. Ok, you can use honey and also sugar beetroot syrup but I also like to usw agave since it has a nice taste. You may also find many internet websites which predict that agave is not healthy but rather dangerous but I do not believe in them. It is up to you if you want to skip everything which might be unhealthy but then you will not have so much to eat. Another natural sweetener are bee pollen. They might be a little expensive but it is worth having them. You just need a little sprinkle of bee pollen and your meal will be so sweet. 

But you can also put chocolate cream on your bread as well. Try to use a little of it because the amount of consuming such creams is the important fact. If you just eat a spoonful, that is ok! Nevertheless a dark chocolate cream is much better than nutella. It is always better to eat the darker one. You can even buy cacao nibs which are pure cacao beans thus also bitter but you will like them! 

Examples of combination for a sweet breakfast. 

- One bread slice with banana coins and date sticks, drizzled with hemp butter and bee pollen.
- Another bread slice with banana coins and date sticks, drizzled with dark choco cream and coconut chips.
- The next with banana coins with coconut sugar and sprinkled chopped almonds.
- The last one with banana coins, drizzled tahini and a sprinkle of muskat powder.

Hemp seeds and butter contain essential amino acids and are rich in unsaturated fatty acids. Those need the human body because it cannot produce 8 from 21 amino acids, thus, it has to be intaken with foods. 

Tahini is a pure sesame paste full of vitamins (esp. B1, B2 and B6) and calcium. I always buy a glas of tahini in turkish or arabic shops, think they are cheaper there than elsewhere. 

Coconut sugar has a kind of caramel taste, containing potassium, magnesium, zinc and iron but also rich in vitamins and amino acids.

So do you need more suggestions? I think that it will be so easy to eat a sweet and healthy breakfast as you now know the benefits of these ingredients.  Bon appétit!

Spicy Detox Greensmoothie

Happy new year folks! I hope you all had a great New Year's Eve. For me, it was a great celebration among wonderful friends with raclette and too much alcohol but that's ok since New Year's Eve is a special day thus should be celebrated. I also wrote down some resolutions and I am keen to fulfil everyone! In the Glamour Magazin I read an article about resolutions in which they also suggested to write each resolution on a sheet of paper and put all in a jar. Each month you pick one sheet and check if you have done it so far. If not it is time to accomplish it. Great idea right? I guess this year will be so exciting. There are several things I want to do but they are also time consuming. But if you do not try you can never win.


Now, let's have a look at the greensmoothie recipe. If you are following me on Instagram you will know that I love to have a smoothie in the mornings for a fresh and healthy start. So I also like to experimentalise with different greens and ingredients. My basis greensmoothie only needs 3 ingredients; orange juice, frozen spinach and a banana. That's so simple since you can storage the spinach in the freezer and take blocks if you need some. In that case I am able to prepare greensmoothie whenever I like.

However, this greensmoothie is really a detox drink and spicy as well. So if you want to try a greensmoothie for the first time, use more fruits and only spinach or kale for greens. They have not a really strong taste thus you will not exactly taste the greens. Now, back to my smoothie creation.

Spicy Detox Greensmoothie

 

Recipe ( one serving )

1 handful spinach or 5-6 frozen spinach blocks
1 handful chopped cucumber
1 celleric stack
1 small ginger stick
1 tsp turmeric
splash of orange juice ( use more if it's too thick)

First, I recommend you to blend the spinach, celleric with orange juice. This step assures a smooth drink without any chunks (celleric is not easy to blend). Then, add the other ingredients and blend well again. 
You can also put all ingredients at once but be aware that you have to blend it three times longer than a fruit smoothie.

PS: I did not use any fruits besides the orange juice. You can definitely add fruits to it. Add a banana for sweetness and creaminess or an apple for a refreshing drink.

PS no.2: Put your smoothie in a bowl and make a smoothiebowl by adding granola, nuts, seeds and spices! This is how I do it when I have a smoothie for breakfast. Bon appétit !