I love breakfast. I really do. Up until a few years ago I never really ate breakfast or at least very little. These days I feel it's the most important meal of the day. My favourite are weekend breakfasts in the garden with pancakes or french toast. During the week things have to be a bit faster as my mornings start early and days are busy. Porridge is just perfect for these days and I love it.
I always liked it but after I had to go gluten-free it was one of the things that were off limits. Gluten-free oats were not really a thing here in Germany until two or three years ago. And while celiac people have to be careful with the amount they consume they work just perfectly for me. Well truth be told the first time I had gluten-free oats, didn't go so well. We were on a vacation in Scotland and I had been dying to try them, as a knew Great Britain has them. Well I ate a lot and I had a very very unpleasant journey home! So if you are sensitive to gluten maybe try to incorporate them slowly into you diet and don't just stuff yourself with them. That's what I did the second time I tried them and it worked wonders.
I also use gluten-free oat flour in many of my recipes as I feel it adds a bit more flavour to the cake and is less dry than many other gluten-free flours. Gluten-free oat flour works without xanthan gum as well, which is another reason why i like it... For some reason I am not the biggest fan of xanthan gum. I know it works and it is used in really small amounts but it is not really natural, so if I can avoid it I will.
Back to breakfast and porridge and another simple reason I like it. It's healthy. Oats are high in beta glucans which help to level out you blood sugar and insulin and is an excellent source of magnesium. It also usually keeps me going until lunch where many other breakfasts seem to fail.
While you can top porridge with almost everything, this is my seasonal favourite. This year I've been loving cherries and chocolate and cherries and almonds, so I figured all three of them together must be bomb and they are! I would recommend to prepare the toppings the before unless you have a lot of time in morning. It would also totally work to make regular overnight oats and put the toppings on in the morning. However I much prefer my oat cooked.... Enjoy!
Prep Time: 30 min Cooking Time: 5-10 min Serves: 2
Ingredients:
For the Cherries:
2 cups cherries pitted and halved
1/4 water
1 Tb lemon juice
2 tb maple syrup or more to taste
For the porridge:
2 cups gluten-free oats
1 cup almond milk
1 cup coconut milk (keep in fridge overnight and use only the hard part)
3 tb maple syrup or more to taste
1/2 ts vanilla
Toppings:
1/4 cup toasted almonds
50 g chocolate, chopped
Instructions:
The night before: wash, pit and half the cherries. Put them in a small pot with the rest of the ingredients and simmer on medium low heat for 20-30 min (until most liquid is gone and they have a syrupy consistency). While cherries are simmering chop the chocolate and toast the almonds. Put everything in containers and store overnight. Store the cherries in the fridge and the rest at room temperature.
Put all der ingredients for the porridge in a small pot and cook at medium heat until oats are soft and creamy. Top with almonds, cherries and chocolate (chocolate will melt, but that's intended). Enjoy!
If you tried this, please let me now how you liked it in the comment section down below and if you want to get notified about more recipes like this, a subscription is just three clicks away.